National Wildlife Federation
{{Infobox organization | name = National Wildlife Federation | logo = 7794285-logo.jpg | alt = Logo of National Wildlife Federaton | type = 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization<ref>"National Wildlife Federation. Tax Exempt Organization Search. Internal Revenue Service. Retrieved June 29, 2018.</ref> | tax_id = 53-0204616 | founded_date = | formerly = North American Wildlife Conference | founder = Jay Norwood Darling | headquarters = Reston, Virginia, U.S. | area_served = United States | leader_title = President, Chief Executive Officer | leader_name = Collin O'Mara | focus = Environmentalism | method = Education, training, research, lobbying | revenue = $91,065,465 | revenue_year = 2017 | expenses = $83,063,340 | expenses_year = 2017 | employees = 353 | employees_year = 2016 | volunteers = 4,000 | volunteers_year = 2016 | endowment = $12,828,801 (2017) | subsidiaries = National Wildlife Federation Endowment (501(c)(3)) | num_members = Over 4,000,000 | Non-profit_slogan = "America's largest conservation organization uniting all Americans to ensure wildlife thrive in a rapidly-changing world." | website = }} The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) is the United States' largest private, nonprofit conservation education and advocacy organization, with over six million members and supporters, and 51 state and territorial affiliated organizations (including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands). History On March 10, 1934, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace appointed political cartoonist Jay Norwood "Ding" Darling to be the chief of the U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey. Darling asked Congress repeatedly to fund environmental conservation work around the country, but Congress did not do so. Frustrated with the lack of funding to preserve and reestablish wildlife, Darling resigned from the position in late 1935. At Darling's request, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt convened the North American Wildlife Conference in Washington, D.C., with the goal of uniting individuals, organizations, and agencies interested in the restoration and conservation of wildlife resources. The North American Wildlife Conference took place between February 3 and February 7, 1936."History of the NWF". National Wildlife Federation. With over 1,000 individuals in attendance, there were people from every U.S. state as well as one from Canada and one from Mexico. At the conference, Darling spoke passionately about the contamination of the United States' environmental resources, which he said had resulted from years of neglect. Darling criticized people who considered themselves conservationists but whose actions were limited to hanging a bird feeder and subscribing to an outdoors magazine. Darling said that true action was required in order to reverse the damage that had already occurred. Darling encouraged voting against political candidates who refused to help the environment. At the conference on February 5, 1936, an organization called the General Wildlife Federation was created. Darling was elected the organization's first president, and its first vice presidents were former Senator Frederic C. Walcott, L.T. Quinn, and William L. Finley. The mission of the group was to organize all parties interested in restoration and conservation of wildlife, to develop a comprehensive plan to restore and conserve wildlife, and to educate the public about the restoration and conservation of