How the Friends pursue Our Mission

What following "one pager" is a DRAFT, reflecting the thoughts of many. We invite you to contribute to this thinking. We, the Friends, are only seven years old, changing and growing all the time. Want to contribute?

Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves

How the Friends pursue Our Mission

Most of the work of the Friends is done by thousands of volunteer stewards and advocates. In addition to the “boots on the ground” stewardship, this work includes most of the planning, creativity, and strategizing. Really? Volunteers do that?

Because of need, for many funding and legal reasons, we the Friends “have” a corporation, insurance, staff, and board. Are they the boss?

No.  A goal of the Friends is to be a core of the broad community of smart, generous, and happy people who save, first, our highest quality preserves – woodlands, savannas, prairies, and wetlands. (Also, humbly, as we grow, we hope to help the ecological health of the planet generally.)

The Friends organization was started by volunteers. We are committed to maintaining unpaid citizens as a central part of our leadership. Here’s: our division of labor:

·      Volunteer Stewards are the on-the-ground folks who cut brush, help rare species, conduct controlled burns, and whatever. 

·      Strategic Advocates work with media and partners to win more friends among agency decision makers, elected officials, and the broad public.

·      The goal of our staff Field Reps is primarily to recognize and mentor and facilitate volunteers who believe in and want to lead components of this mission. 

·      Other staff, some part time, see to publications, media, administration, fund-raising etc. 

·      The board (all volunteers) has legal authority but defers most decisions to stewards, advocates, and staff. 

Dedicated staff (of the Friends and our partner organizations) are crucial. But we're so much more. Scattered among communities around the state, most of us rarely see each other. But we achieve local successes that build powerful community. Success inspires success. On occasion we meet at workshops, through media (social and otherwise), and at our Wild Things conferences, all of which change as we grow. Everyone is welcome to learn and lead. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Contributions to our thinking (and our work) (and our funding) are so welcome.

Comment below, or go to our website.