06/01/2026
Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges is seeking a volunteer Treasurer to serve on our Board of Directors. The Treasurer will work with our bookkeeper to track income/expenses and with Foraker Financial Services to ensure accounting is in compliance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). In addition to overseeing the Friends general account the Treasurer works closely with the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival Program Coordinator to track Festival income and expenses.
As outlined in our Board documents:
The Treasurer shall, subject to the direction, guidance, and control of the board, have general charge of the financial affairs of the Corporation and shall keep complete and accurate books and records of the accounts and finances in accordance with such standards as the board determines.
Friends is the nonprofit partner to the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge for the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival, largest wildlife festival in the state, and handles all the expenditures and ticketing. In addition, Friends give grants to fund refuge projects based on requests for proposals from the 16 refuges. In FY26 Friends granted $95,000, the highest amount ever, with grants varying from $200 to fund a refuge event to $1000 to subsidize school buses for field trips to the refuges, to $6000 to charter a boat or plane to carry scientists to the field as almost all refuges have lost their pilots to a $20,000 pass through donation from a private individual to save a long term seabird monitoring project that had lost its federal funding. Friends maintains designated funds for several refuges.
Friends has an active finance committee to set financial policy.
Board of Directors: Voluntary, legal governing body of a nonprofit.
Our Mission: Promote the stewardship of all 16 of Alaska's unique national wildlife refuges through education, direct support, and advocacy.
Our Values: We value all wildlife and the habitats that support them both for their intrinsic value, scientific value, role in the ecosytem, and the joy they give to people.
Purpose: Assist the refuges whose funding and staffing has been in steep decline for 15 years now with habitat protection, gathering scientific information, teaching children, and sharing with the public informtion and wildlife enjoyment activities.
Passionate about wildlife, public lands and national wildlife refuges in particular. Collaborative and consensus building. This is a hard working board where members tend to stay on a long time - 10 years or more because the work is interesting and for such a good cause.
We strive to recruit organizational leaders that increase diversity with respect to age, gender, cultures, and geographic distribution, with emphasis on more rural locations and a diversity of uses of Alaska’s refuges, including appreciation by people who may never visit a refuge. Diversity is important to us. `Native villages surround all refuges.
We would like to have more Native people in leadership in our organization but recruitment has been challenging. We have supported numerous projects including "culture camps" in villages on refuges, the Migratory Bird Calendar contest for village children, and the Refuge Information Technician Program (village based liaisons between the villages and the refuge) with funding and volunteers.
PO Box 2617
Homer AK 99603
Website: https://alaskarefugefriends.org/Website
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alaskarefugefriendsFacebook
EIN:
20-3839754
Year of Incorporation:
2006
Location: Statewide
Focus: Environment
Operating Budget: $100k-$500k
Number of Staff: 0.5
Number of Board Members: 9
Guidestar page:
https://app.candid.org/profile/7025065/friends-of-alaska-national-wildlife-refuges-20-3839754
Primary Contact for Board Recruitment:
Poppy Benson
