from Glenn Olson, Director, Field Programs
(ph: 916/481-5332; e-mail: slewis@audubon.org).

In July 1998 we will enter the fourth year of implementation the Audubon Strategic Plan. Phenomenal progress has been made in the first three years. In July we will establish our 16th state office (Iowa). Soon to follow, with funding plans in place, will be Wyoming, Ohio, and South Carolina. In May we launched our Latin America/Caribbean Program. By the end of the fiscal year we will have 19 state programs serving 311 chapters.

In each of these states we have laid the foundation for our state executive directors and their staff to work in partnership with our extraordinary network of chapter leaders, our members, and supporters to design and implement the Audubon conservation and education agenda for their state as well as our national campaigns and Western Hemisphere initiatives. This is how we will achieve our goal of creating a culture of conservation in communities throughout the Americas.

In this fiscal year we are rolling out a new field support structure. It has the dual goals of: (1) helping new state offices succeed and (2) providing service to chapters in states without state offices. In addition to Susan Lewis and myself (located in Sacramento, California), we will have 4 staff directing these field support services:

1. Director of Field Support, #1 -- Carol Warden has been on staff for over a year. She is located in Boulder, Colorado; 303/415-0130, or e-mail: cwarden@audubon.org. She has, and will continue to, assist chapters and councils as they develop their strategic planning initiatives to launch a state office. Her expertise is in developing and implementing fundraising plans.
2. Director of Field Support, #2 -- We will hire a second Director of Field Support to augment the service and assistance Carol Warden is providing to both chapters and new state offices. In particular, this position will provide support in designing and implementing strategic and organizational development plans. The location is flexible, although we are leaning toward the eastern third of the country.
3. Director of the Audubon Academy -- We will hire a director and an assistant to oversee the design and development of training programs for our chapter leaders, activists, and staff. One of the highest needs expressed by our chapter leaders has been for assistance to help them recruit new volunteer leaders and activists who will participate in building the capacity of the chapter to succeed in impacting their community. We want to be a training and learning organization where our best chapter leaders, staff, and board members can share their leadership skills and strategies to achieve important conservation victories. Training programs will be located throughout the country. We will launch the Academy at this summer's NAS Convention in Estes Park.
4. Chapter Development Director -- The person hired will have primary responsibility for the administration of the chapter network, communications with chapters and ombudsman-type work with chapters. The Chapter Networker newsletter, which is sent to all chapter officers, board members and committee chairs in each of our 518 chapters, will continue. However, in addition to providing information, we envision it developing a significant leadership training and development focus.

We hope to have these new programs launched and staff hired by September 1998, when most chapters gear up with their fall programs. Our goal is to provide the best service possible.

As we continue to phase out the regional office structure and estabish the new state office structure with significantly increased resources in the field, it is important that chapters know whom to contact with questions, concerns, or suggestions.

A state-by-state contact list for each chapter follows:

NAS Staff Contact List for Chapters

This is a state-by-state list of National Audubon staff contacts for chapters within each listed state. This list is subject to change as new field offices and staff are added. Changes will be noted in future issues of the Chapter Networker. Notification of any changes will also be sent to specific chapter presidents.