President's Corner
It's Official! Northern Colorado Bird Alliance
by John Shenot
I am so excited to start this new era! Over the coming months, the Board of Directors will work on gradually transitioning everything — website, bank account, social media accounts, etc. — to our new name. We also will launch our new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. We have a long to-do list.
You may see “Fort Collins Audubon Society” on some things for a while (e.g., previously printed brochures and handouts). The fact is, we are an all-volunteer organization. We simply don't have the capacity to completely “rebrand” ourselves overnight. Our goal is to complete the transition in about one year, hopefully less. We will keep members informed when important changes, such as the URL for our website, are implemented.
I want to thank our members for engaging in the process that led us to this point. Literally hundreds of you voted to drop “Fort Collins” and “Audubon” from our name, suggested possible new names for the chapter and criteria for weighing our options, voted to make Northern Colorado Bird Alliance our new name, and voted to approve the bylaws amendments that made the change official. I appreciate that you remained engaged and patient throughout this two-year process.
I also want to thank the Name Change Committee that led our efforts to find a new name: Kit Gray (chair), Kate Burgess, Bill Cushman, Alan Godwin, Sabrina Jones, Barb Patterson, and Judd Patterson. The good judgment and creativity of these individuals, along with the many hours of volunteer time they contributed, led us to this successful outcome.
And I want to thank the four anonymous members of our Name Change Committee's Advisory Group. These individuals, who were not members of our chapter, provided feedback and invaluable advice to the committee on how a name change could and should fit into broader efforts to make the chapter more welcoming and inclusive to the entire population of the communities we serve, especially people who don't know who we are, or what we do, or who question whether they would fit in with us. This group emphasized that changing our name should be just one step in broadening our chapter's appeal to the entire community—and the Board received this message loud and clear.
Finally, I want to assure members that our chapter's excellent relationship with National Audubon Society will continue unaltered. In fact, we have followed in the footsteps of 35 other local chapters of the National Audubon Society that have similarly adopted “Bird Alliance” as a core part of their chapter name.
In summary, we have a new name, but the same mission we've always had: to promote the appreciation, conservation, and restoration of ecosystems, focusing on birds and other wildlife, through education, participation, stewardship, and advocacy. So, let's get back to work on that!
