# The Bobolink Foundation

The Bobolink Foundation is an Endowment / Foundation based in Chicago, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Endowment / Foundation
- **Headquarters:** Chicago, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** Chicago, IL, United States
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** bobolinkfoundation.org
- **LinkedIn:** https://linkedin.com/company/the-bobolink-foundation

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

The Bobolink Foundation was established by Henry "Hank" Paulson and his wife Wendy, a prominent ornithologist and environmental educator. The foundation channels the family's wealth into land conservation, focusing on biodiversity protection through direct real-asset ownership. Wendy Paulson chairs the foundation, while the couple's son Merritt and daughter Amanda Clark Paulson serve as trustees, keeping governance entirely within the family. The foundation's strategy centers on acquiring and protecting tracts of ecologically significant land. Unlike many conservation funds that participate in pooled vehicles or grant cycles, Bobolink purchases properties outright and manages them for long-term stewardship. Confirmed holdings span multiple U.S. ecoregions: Cannon's Point Preserve on St. Simons Island, Georgia; Tamarack Farms in Richmond, Illinois; the Canoochee Sandhills Wildlife Management Area in Bulloch County, Georgia; and Chase County Prairieland in Kansas. The foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals, instead sourcing opportunities through a network of conservation collaborators including The Nature Conservancy, where Wendy Paulson chaired the Illinois and New York chapters. While the foundation's total acreage and asset value remain undisclosed, its footprint spans at least four states with a concentration in southeastern coastal and midwestern grassland ecosystems. The family's operational involvement is deep: Amanda Paulson is a former Christian Science Monitor environmental writer who serves on the steering committee of NEXUS Global Climate Change Working Group and the board of Rare. Merritt Paulson is best known as the owner of the Portland Timbers and Portland Thorns, but he also serves as a trustee of the foundation. The foundation's work is complemented by The Paulson Institute, Hank Paulson's separate policy-focused entity centered on U.S.-China relations and sustainable economic growth. The foundation's structure is its differentiator: a family-run landowner and secondary-market buyer of conservation properties, not a grantmaking foundation. It operates more like a private real-asset holding company for biodiversity, acquiring and stewarding land directly. This architecture gives the Paulsons permanent control over the properties they protect, insulating them from the fundraising cycles and governance compromises that shape institutional conservation investing.

## Sectors

- Real Estate
- AgriTech & FoodTech

## People

- Wendy Paulson — Chairman
- Henry "Hank" Paulson — Founder
- Henry Merritt Paulson III — Trustee
- Amanda Clark Paulson — Trustee and Special Projects Officer

## Questions

### How does The Bobolink Foundation source its conservation properties?

Bobolink does not accept unsolicited proposals. It identifies opportunities through a network of long-term conservation collaborators, most notably The Nature Conservancy, where Wendy Paulson formerly chaired the Illinois and New York chapters. Other partner networks include Rare, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and BirdLife International, all of which have Wendy Paulson or Amanda Paulson on their boards.

### Does The Bobolink Foundation make grants or does it acquire land directly?

The foundation operates primarily as a direct acquirer of conservation land, not as a grantmaking institution. Its disclosed holdings include Cannon's Point Preserve (Georgia), Tamarack Farms (Illinois), Canoochee Sandhills Wildlife Management Area (Georgia), and Chase County Prairieland (Kansas). These are owned and stewarded by the foundation, not held via third-party managers or conservation easement funds.

### Is The Bobolink Foundation related to The Paulson Institute?

They are distinct entities serving separate purposes. The Bobolink Foundation is the family's conservation land-acquisition vehicle, chaired by Wendy Paulson. The Paulson Institute was founded by Hank Paulson and focuses on policy work around U.S.-China relations and sustainable economic growth. There is no indication of capital commingling or overlapping investment mandates between the two.

### What regions and ecosystems does The Bobolink Foundation focus on?

The foundation's conservation holdings span multiple U.S. ecoregions with a concentration in southeastern coastal and midwestern grassland ecosystems. Confirmed properties include a barrier island preserve on the Georgia coast, sandhills habitat in Bulloch County, Georgia, prairieland in Chase County, Kansas, and farmland in Richmond, Illinois.

## Related profiles

- [The Bend Foundation](https://altss.com/profile/the-bend-foundation)
- [The Charity for Civil Servants](https://altss.com/profile/the-charity-for-civil-servants-csbf)

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Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z

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