Meet Our New Executive Director Glenn Phillips

Meet Our New Executive Director Glenn Phillips

Golden Gate Bird Alliance is delighted to introduce our new Executive Director, Glenn Phillips.

Phillips, who grew up in the East Bay, brings a wealth of experience in bird conservation, urban nature education, and non-profit management. A lifelong birder, he was executive director of New York City Audubon for seven years. He is also the first openly gay executive director in GGBA’s 105-year history.

“We are fortunate to have someone as experienced as Glenn assuming the role of our new Executive Director,” said Eric Schroeder, President of the GGBA Board of Directors. “Glenn’s leadership and vision will help guide us towards our goal of creating North America’s most bird-friendly urban community.”

Having recently moved back to the Bay Area with his husband and two children, Phillips said he can’t imagine a better homecoming than his new role at GGBA.

Glen PhillipsGlenn Phillips, our new Executive Director

“As a kid growing up in the East Bay, the forests, chaparral, grasslands, and wetlands around the bay were my playgrounds, looking for wildflowers, reptiles, and birds,” he said. “When I moved to New York after college, my mother asked, ‘Why is my nature boy moving to New York City?’ After 30 years and stints at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Prospect Park, and New York City Audubon, the Golden Gate has called me home.”

Over his seven years at New York City Audubon, Phillips grew its membership by 50 percent and increased its revenue from $650,000 to $1 million. Before working at Audubon, he served as vice president for education at the Prospect Park Alliance in Brooklyn and manager of programs at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. After his time at Audubon, he worked for the American Bird Conservancy, doing advocacy to prevent bird-building collisions.

Now—as the country starts to emerge from a year of Covid-19 lockdowns—the time is ripe for new leadership and ambitious new initiatives at GGBA.

“The pandemic opened so many new eyes to the wonder of birds in our own backyards,” Phillips said. “Now we have an opportunity to work together to make our neighborhoods better for both birds and people. We need to reduce our footprint on the planet, seek environmental justice for those who have borne the brunt of short-term thinking, and build a stronger, more diverse group of stakeholders committed to protecting birds and the remaining open spaces in our communities. In this era of #MeToo and #BlackLives Matter, we must also ensure that the birding community is safe and welcoming for all.”…

Our Centennial exhibit comes to Lindsay Wildlife

Our Centennial exhibit comes to Lindsay Wildlife

The traveling exhibit celebrating our 100th anniversary is now on display at Lindsay Wildlife Experience in Walnut Creek, through February 2018.

Lindsay Wildlife Experience is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesdays through Sundays. It’s located at 1931 First Avenue in Walnut Creek. For directions, parking, and other visitor information, see https://lindsaywildlife.org/hours-prices-directions/.
Centennial exhibit at the Presidio / Photo by Billy Douglas

Lindsay Wildlife Experience is the final stop for our Centennial exhibit during 2017.ggas_centenniallogo_cmyk_fnl

Other venues included:

State of California Building Atrium.
January 3-30, 2017

Tilden Regional Park Environmental Education Center
February 1 – March 31, 2017

Oakland City Hall & Dalziel Building
May 24 – July 7, 2017

Tides Thoreau Center at the Presidio
July 10 – September 29, 2017

Lindsay Wildlife Experience
October 3, 2017 – February 28, 2018

Coyote Hills Regional Park Visitor Center
July 18, 2018 – 

 

Viewing the Centennial exhibit in San Francisco Viewing part of the Centennial exhibit in Berkeley

 

Special Centennial issue of The Gull

We also have other Centennial-related events planned for 2017, including monthly guest speakers on species and topics related to our history and field trips to parks that we have helped protect or restore. Click here to download the special Centennial issue of our Gull newsletter, which tells the fascinating story of our first 100 years.

Our overall goal for the year is to strengthen Golden Gate Bird Alliance so that we can be an even more effective advocate for Bay Area birds and wildlife in the coming century. We are proud of our achievements — from stopping oil dumping off the Farallon Islands in the 1920s to protecting Alameda’s endangered Least Tern nesting colony in the 2000s — and we hope to share them with with our existing members as well as thousands of people who are new to Golden Gate Bird Alliance.

You can help! How?

  • Bring your friends to the exhibit or to other GGBA events during 2017.
  • Recruit a new member for GGBA. Help us grow! Every current member who gets a friend to join GGBA for the first time will receive a beautiful enamel pin with our Centennial logo… one for you and one for your friend! Have your friend sign up at goldengatebirdalliance.org/bring100 to take advantage of the Centennial pin offer.
  • Volunteer to help with the exhibit, a Centennial reception, or other GGBA outreach activities such as staffing an information table at a community event or wildlife festival.
Join or renew your GGBA membership for 2017

Join or renew your GGBA membership for 2017

It’s time to renew your Golden Gate Bird Alliance membership for 2017. Or if you haven’t become an official supporting member yet… time to join!

Our memberships run on a calendar year basis, from January 1st through December 31st. If you renew now, you can relax and take one item off your year-end to-do list. Plus we won’t have to bug you again!

Next year will be a very special one — the 100th anniversary of GGBA’s founding in 1917. We will have a lot of special events and celebrations, starting in January. Renew or join now to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the fun.

Join Now

NOTE: If you’re already a member of National Audubon, please consider joining Golden Gate Bird Alliance too! It costs as little as $35 a year, or $25 for students/seniors.

Although we’re a chapter of National Audubon, we are an independent 501c3 nonprofit and must raise all the funds to support our local conservation, environmental education, and birding activities. We rely on supporting members like you to maintain our role as the leading advocate for Bay Area birds.

As a member of Golden Gate Bird Alliance, you’ll enjoy:

  • Over 150 free expert-led field trips each year.
  • Free admission to our monthly Speaker Series.
  • Discounts on birding classes, pelagic trips, merchandise, and subscriptions to Bay Nature magazine.
  • Our quarterly print Gull magazine and monthly e-Gull e-newsletter.
  • Meaningful and fun volunteer opportunities.
  • Special events like the Christmas Bird Count and Birdathon.
  • Action Alerts with opportunities to speak out for local bries and their critical habitats.
  • Above all: The satisfaction of being part of a community that loves and works to protect Bay Area birds. 

NOTE: As part of our Centennial celebration, we’re hoping to grow!  Our goal is 100 new members in our 100th year. As part of that, we’re offering a special thank-you gift to the first 100 members who convince a friend to join GGBA – a striking cloisonné pin with our Centennial logo, both for you and your friend.

Invite a new member: If you know people who have been coming on GGBA field trips but are not yet members, encourage them to join! The Centennial pin gift makes this a particularly timely opportunity. Tell them how much you enjoy your GGBA membership and invite them to become a member too… you’ll both get a pin.

New members can sign up at https://goldengatebirdalliance.org/join

Bring 100 for 100

Bring 100 for 100

Launch a successful second century for Golden Gate Bird Alliance by helping us grow! Our goal is 100 new members in our 100th year. As part of that, we’re offering a special thank-you gift to the first 100 members who convince a friend to join GGBA – a striking cloisonné pin with our Centennial logo, both for you and your friend.

Invite a new member: If you know people who have been coming on GGBA field trips but are not yet members, encourage them to join! The Centennial pin gift makes this a particularly timely opportunity. Tell them how much you enjoy your GGBA membership and invite them to become a member too… you’ll both get a pin!

Gift a new member: A GGBA membership makes a terrific gift for birthdays, retirements, graduations, and other occasions. It’s a great way to introduce a friend to birding, or encourage a novice birder to get more involved. Your friend will receive all the benefits of GGBA membership including The Gull, discounts on classes and boat trips, and free admission to our Speaker Series. And you’ll both receive the Centennial pin.

New members can sign up at https://goldengatebirdalliance.org/join.

Then email us at ggas@goldengatebirdalliance.org and tell us both your name and the name of the new member whom you invited. We will send Centennial pins to both of you!

ggas_centenniallogo_cmyk_fnl

Thank you for supporting Golden Gate Bird Alliance as we enter our second 100 years. With your help we will be larger, stronger, and even more effective as advocates for Bay Area birds and wildlife.

Note: To be eligible for the Centennial pin gift, the new member must be someone who has never been a member of Golden Gate Audubon Society before. National Audubon Society members are eligible if they have not previously been supporting members of the Golden Gate Bird Alliance chapter. 

End of content

End of content