MEMORANDUM

TO:
FROM:
SUBJECT:
DATE:

JESSICA JORGENSON
JADE MONROE
INTERVIEW MEMO
APRIL 28, 2015

Introduction

Throughout the course of my undergraduate experience, I have developed a strong
interest and sincere passion for conservation and advocating for sustainable land use.
While it is easy to paint a picture with industry on the negative and conserved land on
the right, my time at NDSU has been spent understanding and empathizing with a
diverse number of stakeholders, working to find pragmatic solutions to our
contemporary issues regarding land use.
My career goals directly align with these interests. While working on the North
Dakotans for Clean Water, Wildlife and Parks Campaign, I was able to meet and work
with a number of leaders within the Midwestern Conservation community. Through
their leadership and the demands of the campaign, I quickly realized that funding
conservation efforts is a challenging and rigorous feat. While much of the funding for
the campaign came from grassroots organized fundraising, private out-of-state donors,
and contributions from nonprofit groups, I was curious to know where these nonprofit
organizations found the funds the ended up contributing to the cause.
Understanding that fundraising can be a complicated and timely endeavor, I contacted
Marshal Johnson from Dakota Audubon, a chapter of the Audubon Society, for this
interview assignment. The Audubon Societys main mission is to conserve and restore
natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, benefiting the earths diversity and human
populations. These values directly align with what I would like to dedicate my career
towards, so speaking with Marshal was an ideal fit.
The Interview
For the interview, I met Marshal Johnson at Audubon Dakotas headquarters, in the
Historic Black Building in downtown Fargo. Their organization actually took over our
campaign headquarters office, so it was nice seeing what he did with the office space.
We began the interview conversationally, catching up on what we both have been busy
working on since the campaign ended in November.

I began the interview processes with some questions inquiring about Marshalls
educational background, personal interests in the field, and what drew him to the
Audubon Society in general. Although I was able to get to know Marshal fairly well
throughout the course of the campaign, some of his responses were unexpected. For
example, he obtained his undergraduate from the University of Minnesota Crookston,
majoring in Business Administration. It was not until he was Student Body President
when a cohort of Natural Resource Management majors approached him on making the
dorms LEED certified, a sustainable approach to infrastructure development, that he
became aware and interested in conservation issues.
After this moment, Marshal has always maintained a passion for the outdoors, and got
involved with Audubon Dakota through a conservation campaign in 2008. Shortly after,
they promoted him to the Director of the Audubon Dakota branch, and he has been
working as a regional leader in conservation advocacy ever since.
Next, I inquired on the work they are currently doing with Audubon Dakota. My
questions asked what their primary goals were, what some of their current and future
projects are, and what challenges they might encounter throughout these processes.
Audubon Dakotas primary goal is congruent with the Audubons Society mission to
preserve bird habitats and conservation efforts for human populations and the value of
the earths diversity. This mission directly aligns with two of the major projects
Audubon Dakota has been executing this year.
Marshal has been working with the Red River Urban Woods and Prairies Initiative,
working across the Red River Valley, instilling over 1,000 acres of prairie habitat for bird
populations to flourish. Additionally, Audubon Dakota has partnered with ranchers
within the region to promote bird friendly beef, cattle grassing techniques that will
benefit grass fed cattle and bird populations. Challenges with these projects include
dealing with diverse stakeholders, maintaining birding populations with climate and
natural factors that can vary from season to season, and having adequate funding for
these projects.
The final set of questions for the interview inquired on how Audubon Dakota funds their
efforts. Marshal informed me that the key to funding any nonprofit work is diversifying
the income, so the organization does not depend too heavily on one revenue stream.
While grant writing is a prominent source of revenue for Audubon Dakota, they also
obtain funds from renting land to farmers and cooperative efforts with hunters, anglers,
and ranchers. This can easily fluctuate, Marshal made a point to mention, so applying to
diverse and varied sources of granting opportunities is vital to sustain and fund their
projects.

Learning & Continued Interest

In addition to learning that diversification is the key to a successful funding model, I also
learned how important persuasion and telling a story is within the grant writing process.
Marshal shared with me that it can be frustrating when grant reviewers may only read
the text you provide them, usually never seeing the proposed project sight, or the
detailed vision their organization has.
One of the biggest challenges Marshal noted was the challenge of communicating these
needs in such a short word space, while keeping to the integrity of the project. He
continued to mention there is a way to work around these barriers, where networking
and community organizing can play a pivotal roll on meeting and potentially speaking
with granting entities. When these avenues are not available, however, he stated the
best course of action is to rely on asking for feedback if they did not receive the grant
that time around.
Similarly, I learned how important asking for feedback is when writing grants and
proposals. By asking for feedback, I can continue to improve on your skills, no matter
how improved my writing skills are at the moment. Marshal emphasized this point, in
that even if he gets the grants, he makes a point to chat with the granting entity, to
obtain feedback, as well as to continue building networking connections. All and all, a
continued dialogue seemed key to success, regardless of the grant-writing genre.
I finished the interview by thanking Marshal for his time right at the thirty-minute mark.
Understanding they are rather busy, I did not want to take up any additional time for
the interview. If I would have had more time I would have liked to see an example of
one of their grant applications, and to learn more about how to write within the specific
genre of conservation grant applications. Overall, it was a rewarding experience and I
was glad to gain the insight and direction I obtained through speaking with Marshal at
the Audubon Dakotas headquarters.