Turning Support into Impact: How We Use Donor Funds

Every gift to the Wolf River Conservancy helps keep our watershed and our aquifer healthy, accessible, and resilient. I want to take a moment to explain five important ways in which the funds our supporters entrust to us are put to work: the kinds of projects we fund, how we leverage grants and partnerships, and the direct ways your donations benefit people across the region.

1) Protecting land
A core and visible use of our funds is land conservation. The Conservancy works to identify ecologically valuable parcels - wetlands, riparian corridors, connected habitat, and more - and to protect them either by acquiring property outright or by securing conservation easements that protect the land in perpetuity. To date the Conservancy has helped protect more than 20,000 acres across the watershed. Conserving land is central to our mission.  

2) Leveraging grants and partnerships to multiply impact
Your donations also allow us to compete for and provide the local match for larger public and private grants. These grants dramatically multiply the conservation impact of donor dollars. For example, a major NAWCA (North American Wetlands Conservation Act) award using matching funds supported the protection of thousands of acres in the region. Projects made possible by combining grant dollars with local fundraising and partnership work. We also pursue strategic land acquisitions with partners like TWRA, Ducks Unlimited and others.  

3) Restoring habitat and improving water quality
Donations support on-the-ground restoration work in the watershed. Conservancy service projects remove invasive plants, stabilize eroding banks, restore wetlands, and improve in-stream and riparian habitat. Restoration projects improve water quality, create better habitat for wildlife, and reduce flood impacts. These benefits ripple through both the natural systems and the communities which rely on clean water.

4) Community education, youth programs, and public access
We invest in environmental education for students of all ages. Community outreach, guided paddles and hikes, and stewardship programs that connect people to the river are core pieces of our mission. These programs use funds to provide free or low-cost field experiences, classroom materials, and service-learning projects that teach watershed science and hands-on conservation skills, creating the conservation constituency which will protect our environment and carry forward the work of the Conservancy in the future.  

5) Building the Wolf River Greenway
A portion of support goes to planning, advocacy, and partnerships to build the Wolf River Greenway. The Greenway project is a world class trail system offering ideal spaces for walking, biking, and wildlife viewing. The Greenway provides recreational and health benefits for neighborhoods across Memphis and helps link communities to the natural beauty Memphis has to offer.  

We take stewardship of donor dollars seriously. The Conservancy publishes annual financial and impact reports, including Form 990s and audits so supporters can see how revenue is used and which programs are supported by funds raised. Public financial filings also show the scale of our operations and how we steward philanthropic, grant, and earned income to deliver conservation outcomes.  

Gifts to the Wolf River Conservancy are invested in protecting important land and wetlands, leveraging grants and partnerships to multiply impact, restoring habitat and water quality, educating and engaging our community, expanding greenway and public access to the green spaces around them, and transparent, responsible stewardship of all funds. That mix of land protection, restoration, education, and public access is what turns donations into lasting benefits for the watershed and the people who live here.

If you’d like more detail about our recent projects, or ways to support a specific program, please visit our website or contact our team. We’re always happy to talk through how gifts are used. Thank you for standing with the Wolf River Conservancy. Together we protect not just land, but the quality of life and natural heritage of our community.

Erik Houston

Erik Houston  Executive Director

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