On firmer footing - Sierra Club's financial position and environmental campaigns - The Sierra Club Bulletin

Sierra, Nov-Dec, 1995 by J. Robert Cox

A year ago, the Sierra Club found itself in a perilous financial situation. At about the same time, the 104th Congress rolled into Washington, determined to gut the environmental protections that the Club has fought so hard for over the past 25 years. It was, to say the least, a challenging confluence of events: the Sierra Club needed to improve its own health even as it marshaled its forces to get the word out about Congress, War on the Environment.

We immediately began work on both fronts. Internally, we embarked on the painful process of reducing expenses by eliminating 10 percent of our national staff positions; we are still saddened by the departure of these experienced and loyal staff members. As we scaled back, we also reorganized, being careful to preserve our essential conservation programs to protect public lands and critical pollution laws. Less crucial activities were either reduced in scope or eliminated. The effort is paying off: we expect to show a modest operating surplus in 1995--a major improvement over our 1994 operating deficit of almost $1.5 million.

At the same time, we have tried to serve our members better, in ways as simple as responding more efficiently to member requests or as visionary as tapping the possibilities of the Internet to open new doors to those wanting to be active in local or national issues.

As a result of these efforts--assisted, of course, by a sobering political climate--membership has increased, as has the Club's income from dues and donations. At the end of June our membership numbered a healthy 543,000.

Throughout this process, we have preserved and even strengthened our conservation capabilities. How do you get more while spending less? By focusing on our not-so-secret weapon: our grassroots activists. While corporate special interests have practically been given pass keys to the back rooms of Capitol Hill, they can't match the Sierra Club's ability to organize a nationwide grassroots response that holds members of Congress accountable in their districts.

The number of volunteers now working on the Sierra Club's priority campaigns has increased by more than 3,000 in our War on the Environment campaign alone. With a massive outpouring of letters, faxes, phone calls, media alerts, and outraged editorials in newspapers around the country, we are turning the tide in the battle for a safe and healthy environment.

Through your efforts we have held off three attempts in the Senate to push through a regulatory-reform bill that would tie up environmental laws in miles of red tape and cost billions of dollars; we helped gather more than a million signatures on our Environmental Bill of Rights; and we put the word out that we would not forget votes in favor of the "Dirty Water Bill" next election day.

In Utah, more than 400 activists turned out to protest at a public hearing on Congressman James Hansen's bogus wilderness bill. Conservationists flooded an August hearing on the decertification of Voyageurs National Park in remote International Falls, Minnesota. In Washington State, Club members gained three times the number of signatures they needed to put an anti-takings initiative on the ballot.

Whether the environment wins or loses depends largely on how each one of us responds--by writing to a local newspaper, by calling a radio talk show, or by letting our representatives know directly that we expect them to protect every American's right to a healthy environment. It is the Club's job to make sure those individual voices are heard loud and long.