National Audubon Society
“To protect birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow.”
1 live lawsuit, 22 comments to the agencies, 80 cents of every dollar to the work.
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.
Follow the dollar
80 cents of every dollar goes to the work
A good sign, not a scorecard: what matters is the extremes, and this is nowhere near one.
$159,093,147 programs, $10,625,582 management, $29,774,744 fundraising. Form 990, FY2025.
The backers
Backed on the record by David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Walton Family Foundation, William & Flora Hewlett Foundation and 8 others, latest filing FY24.
The people
Who does the work
Honesty note: leadership comes from each year’s federal filing, so it can run a year behind. If it’s out of date, tell us. Work at the National Audubon Society? Claim this page.
Those 7,500 volunteers are people who decided this ground was theirs to defend. If the National Audubon Society is fighting for your place too, the matchmaker will find your way in.
Find your way inThe record
The court record
And 1 more in our case database: a selection we track, not their full docket.
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 11 more. Same case, same side, on the federal docket.
The filings
14 years of filings
Total revenue by fiscal year, as filed. Point at or tap 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 (none on record for 2024).
On the Hill
The National Audubon Society has hired federal lobbyists: 52 filings from 2019 to 2026, naming 7 bills. The filings, at the Senate.
Most filed on the budget, natural resources and agriculture.
The record
On the record with the agencies
22 comments on federal decisions since 2023, each filed under the group’s own name on regulations.gov. The latest on decisions we track:
Year by year
The record, in order
- 1905National Audubon Society is formed.the return, formation year
- 2008Wyoming v. United States Department of Agriculture: intervenor, closed.the docket
- 2014In re Big Thorne Project & 2008 Tongass Forest Plan: plaintiff, lost.the docket
- 2018Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. U.S. Department of the Interior: plaintiff, closed.the docket
- 2020Natural Resources Defense Council v. Bureau of Land Management: plaintiff, still in court.the docket
- 2 cases filed, all closed: Organized Village of Kake v. Vilsack; Friends of Alaska Nat’l v. Debra Haaland.the docket
- 2022First appears in the grants of David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Walton Family Foundation, William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, 444S Foundation and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.the funders’ returns
- 20234 comments to federal agencies, NOAA among them, under the group’s own name.regulations.gov
- First appears in Resources Legacy Fund’s grants.the funder’s return
- 2024First appears in the grants of Pew Charitable Trusts and Robertson Foundation.the funders’ returns
- 202512 comments, most to the Fish and Wildlife Service, under the group’s own name.regulations.gov
- 20266 comments to federal agencies, NOAA among them, under the group’s own name.regulations.gov
Rust, a case still in court. Green, a funder’s return. Hollow, a filing. Every row is a record we hold: 6 federal cases with the group on the docket, 22 comments filed under its own name, 11 funders whose returns name it. Nothing here is written from memory.
Their ground
The places they defend
Audubon Alaska welcomed BLM’s April 2024 choice of no Ambler road as the best path for the Brooks Range
Who’s defending it In the fight · Critical threatArctic National Wildlife RefugeCo-plaintiff against the coastal plain oil leasing program
Who’s defending it On the ground · Critical threatNPR-A Teshekpuk Lake Special AreaRallied 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 fight · On watchEverglades National ParkA century of wading-bird science and Everglades advocacy
Who’s defending itMost urgent first: open comment windows, then live federal cases, then the threat level. See 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
Straight to their own donation page. Your dollar never passes through us.
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 the National Audubon Society
The mission is theirs. The backing is yours.