In nature, water harnesses energy and manifests in powerful waves that can carve majestic canyons, alter coastlines, reshape landscapes, and influence weather patterns. Similarly, WRA’s ability to drive state-level action is powered by many donors coming together to make an impact. While gifts vary in magnitude, each embodies a shared aspiration to be part of something greater
Darcy Morel, Director of Development
Most of Morel’s favorite memories are from time spent outdoors with family.
Crystal Parrish, Associate Director of Foundation Relations
Parrish enjoys hiking in the Lost Sierra region of her home state, Nevada.
Elizabeth O’Connell, Associate Director of Donor Relations
One reason O’Connell feels lucky to live in the West is the variety of landscapes to explore.
Among the many achievements WRA celebrated in 2023 was a record-breaking fundraising year. Raising $18 million in a single year exponentially expands our capacity in future years to address complex conservation and environmental issues. Our scope of work nearly tripled between 2017 and 2023, which means we have more experts on the ground developing and scaling winning solutions across the West. This growth also sets the development team up to evolve and maximize its capacity and outreach.
In 2024, WRA hired Darcy Morel as the development director and promoted Elizabeth O’Connell to associate director of donor relations and Crystal Parrish to associate director of foundation relations. Morel empowers the development team with needed strategy and tools, while O’Connell oversees individual donor outreach and Parrish manages ongoing and new partnerships with foundations. O’Connell and Parrish have a combined eight years of service to WRA and have built relationships that are fundamental to our ongoing success.
Donors are also fueling other trends that make WRA even more effective. One meaningful change we’ve seen has been the diversification of our sources of support. Funding from individuals, including donor-advised funds and private and family foundations, increased from 15% in 2017 to 58% in 2023. The greater the number of supporters behind WRA, the stronger our collective impact becomes.
“This transformation provides the financial sustainability and resilience needed to tackle the climate crisis,” shares Morel. Foundations continue to be instrumental to WRA’s work, providing $4.4 million in support in 2023. In 2024, a new partnership with a foundation that funds clean energy work nationally is expanding WRA’s power sector, markets, and building decarbonization efforts across our region – key strategies in the transition to a zero-emission future.
Early last year, a new funder to WRA made a seven-figure multi-year grant toward the strategic plan For Home, For Nature. “They were clearly inspired by our vision for the future and plan to achieve it, and trusted WRA as a respected partner to invest in,” Parrish reflects.
Another shift comes from a larger percentage of donations made without restrictions, offering financial flexibility and stability. Unrestricted gifts position WRA to be nimble and responsive to the dynamic nature of our work. By supporting organization-wide efforts, such as the strategic plan, donors can amplify their impact. For example, expanded funding allowed WRA to grow its equity, government affairs, and marketing and communications teams, whose expertise complemented our lands policy development to fuel achievements like this year’s historic investment in the Land of Enchantment Legacy Fund in New Mexico.
More multi-year commitments are driving the sophisticated policy needed to solve complicated conservation problems through sustained support. Often, WRA’s strategies require foresight and patience that take time, but that result in compounded success. The 2024 legislation prohibiting nonfunctional turf in Colorado built upon a bill WRA passed in 2021 and illustrates the cumulative effect of policy change. Donors recognize the strength in leveraging these gifts to multiply wins across the West. For Home, For Nature accelerates WRA’s efforts at a pace and scale aligned with what our challenges call for – and donors are scaling their investments as a result. A donor made a $4.5 million multi-year pledge in support of the plan last year, the largest gift WRA
has received.
O’Connell shares, “It’s been so energizing to witness donors respond to the ambition in our strategic plan.”
In fact, donor support nearly doubled from 2022 to 2023, illustrating the magnitude at which philanthropy is responding to climate change along with a trust in WRA to move the needle. WRA is harnessing the invaluable support of donors to expand our work across the West, effectively reducing emissions and protecting rivers and lands in the face of climate change. We can meet the moment we are in thanks to the collective energy and resources of many people and partners. Together, we are making waves of impact that are leading to a brighter climate future.
