National Audubon Society
“To protect birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow.”
The origin
How they started
The National Audubon Society is one of the oldest conservation organizations in the country, founded in 1905 and named for the painter John James Audubon. It works through a network of chapters in nearly every state, and while its banner is birds, its fight is habitat: the refuges, wetlands, and public lands that birds and everything else depend on. Audubon is a party in the litigation over oil and gas leasing on the Arctic Refuge coastal plain, one of the most consequential public-lands cases in the country.
Every year they sign one sentence and file it with the federal government: “AUDUBON'S MISSION IS TO PROTECT BIRDS AND THE PLACES THEY NEED, TODAY AND TOMORROW.”
Follow the dollar
80 cents of every dollar goes to the work
That ratio is a good sign, not a scorecard. Plenty of great groups run leaner and lumpier. What matters is the extremes, and National Audubon Society is nowhere near one.
Backed on the record by David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Walton Family Foundation, William & Flora Hewlett Foundation and 8 others, latest filing FY24.
$159,093,147 programs, $10,625,582 management, $29,774,744 fundraising. Form 990, FY2025.
The people
Who does the work
Honesty note: leadership comes from each year’s federal filing, so it can run a year behind. Orgs that claim their page can update it same-day. Work at NAS? Claim this page.
Those 7,500 volunteers are people who decided this ground was theirs to defend. If NAS is fighting for your place too, the matchmaker will find your way in.
Make it 7,501The record
The court record
And 2 more in our case database: a selection we track, not their full docket.
14 years of filings
Total revenue by fiscal year, as filed. Point at the line for any year.
| Year | Revenue |
|---|---|
| 2011 | $103,215,363 |
| 2012 | $96,206,883 |
| 2013 | $88,949,736 |
| 2014 | $99,121,414 |
| 2015 | $115,240,284 |
| 2016 | $99,654,623 |
| 2017 | $109,825,623 |
| 2018 | $133,511,772 |
| 2019 | $140,724,390 |
| 2020 | $157,358,989 |
| 2021 | $171,155,404 |
| 2022 | $150,045,491 |
| 2023 | $156,129,262 |
| 2025 | $197,300,511 |
From $103.2M in 2011 to $197.3M in FY25, across 14 public filings.
Fights alongside Center for Biological Diversity (5 shared cases), Natural Resources Defense Council (5 shared cases), Defenders of Wildlife (4 shared cases), Sierra Club (4 shared cases) and Alaska Wilderness League (3 shared cases) and 12 more. Same case, same side, on the federal docket.
The record
On the Hill
National Audubon Society has hired federal lobbyists: 51 filings from 2019 to 2026, naming 7 bills. The filings, at the Senate.
Most filed on budget/appropriations, natural resources and agriculture.
Their ground
The places they defend
Rallied nearly 20,000 supporters urging Interior to keep the 2024 NPR-A rule after decades of work defending Teshekpuk Lake, a globally significant bird area with 600,000 nesting shorebirds.
Who’s defending it In the fightArctic National Wildlife RefugeCo-plaintiff against the coastal plain oil leasing program
Who’s defending it In the fightEverglades National ParkA century of wading-bird science and Everglades advocacy
Who’s defending itSee every threatened place on one map, and who stands for each.
National Audubon Society files 6 related organizations on its return: National Audubon Society Of Coastal Ct (501(c)(3)), National Audubon Society Of Sharon INC (501(c)(3)), Lincoln Audubon Society (501(c)(3)), National Audubon Society Of Greenwich (501(c)(3)), East Park Leadership & Conservation Center (501(c)(3)) and National Audubon Society Action Fund (501(c)(4)). A related organization shares people or purpose; it does not share the books.
Ways in
How to help
80 cents of your dollar goes straight to the work above.
Give on their site ↗Show upVolunteer with themFind their volunteer door on their own site.
Find it on their site ↗SpeakComment and callOpen comment windows and call scripts for fights like these, ready to send.
Public Lands Action NetworkFollowWatch the mapEvery threatened place in the country, tracked, with who stands for each.
Threatened Lands MapStand with National Audubon Society
121 years on the ground, 7,500 volunteers, 1 live lawsuit, 80 cents of every dollar on the line. That is who is holding it. There is room for one more.