Environmental interest groups

National Wildlife Federation National Wildlife Federation National Wildlife Federation (NWF) is the United States’ largest private environmental interest group and advocacy organization. This nonprofit organization works with more than four million members and supporters, and has 47 territorial and state affiliated organizations. This organization was formed with intent to resolve wildlife issues by creating state and territorial groups of individuals who have common wildlife interests. The NWF’s mission statement is “ to inspire Americans to protect wildlife for our children’s future”. An individual can become the volunteer of NWF at free cost by making online registration under “ Volunteer” option in organization’s website. The NWF offers its members a flexible benefit package that contains variety of options; and this package allows the members or employees to customize the benefits in accordance with their individual/family needs. The NWF unites broad spectrum of people who maintain great concern on the sustainability of wildlife; and this group generally includes ‘ wildlife gardeners, bird watchers, nature lovers, outdoor enthusiasts, and others’ (Siemann, 2009). Global warming is one of the potential current topics to NWF. In addition, human interference with nature is another current challenge that the organization takes into account. Unfair human interaction leads to a series of threats to wildlife conservation, air quality, and water resources. Sale of NWF’s Nature Education Merchandise constitutes one of the main revenue sources of the organization. Donations from members, organizations, and other persons are other sources of income for National Wildlife Federation. For instance, the Mobile Giving Foundation is assisting NWF by raising funds for the Gulf oil spill. In order to effectively and quickly achieve its mission, the NWF offers wide ranges of services to its members, including leadership training, information outreach, conservation training, and networking opportunities. The organization’s main areas of focus are “ connecting people to nature; revising global warming; and protecting and restoring critical wildlife habitats” (‘ Siemann’). This broad scope has assisted the NWF to explore large numbers of potential resources. It seems that the National Wildlife Federation always wishes to partner with other conservation organizations in order to improve its functionality. As Reiger (1986) points out, NWF educates all categories of people by publishing various wildlife magazines such as Wild Animal Baby and Your Big Backyard and by the Backyard Habitat series. In addition to magazine publication, the organization also deals with TV shows and movie partnerships. It provides training and support for habitat restoration by way of Schoolyard Habitat programs (Reiger). The NWF has created 109 summits till date and most of them were with notable environmental educators, authors, artists, and naturalists. Restoration of America’s waterways, finding solutions to global warming, and amendment of Endangered Species Act are some of the specific conservation priorities of NWF. The organization runs a series of volunteer programs that ensures the participation of millions of people. All these fruitful organizational features assist the NWF to get closer to it goals. Above all, huge man power resource is found to be one of the most competitive advantages of the NWF. References Reiger, G. (July 1986). “ Lost in Locustville”. Field Stream. 21. Siemann, D. (March 9, 2009). “ Safeguarding floodplains and costs for fish, wildlife and people”. NWF . retrieved from http://online. nwf. org/site/DocServer/Protecting_Floodplains_NFIP_BiOp-_distribute_3-10. pdf? docID= 10581