Ducks Unlimited Names Top 100, President’s Elite Chapters

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – April 9, 2015 –Ducks Unlimited recently announced the top volunteer chapters across the nation honored with Top 100 and President’s Elite standings. The Top 100 designation is reserved for the top 100 chapters that raise up to $100,000 in grassroots income for DU’s conservation mission. Chapters that raise more than $100,000 are recognized with the President’s Elite award.

“These fundraising events are the backbone of DU’s habitat conservation efforts, and the volunteers who make up these chapters are the grassroots force making a difference for North American waterfowl populations,” said DU President George Dunklin. “It takes a great deal of effort to achieve these levels, and these chapters deserve to be congratulated by every person who enjoys the outdoors.”

The chapters honored this year earned their spots on the nationally recognized lists out of more than 2,700 DU chapters nationwide. DU’s grassroots fundraising system has become a model for other conservation organizations worldwide and has helped conserve more than 13 million acres of waterfowl habitat since 1937.

The top chapters of 2014 also have the distinction of being honored during DU’s upcoming 78th National Convention in Milwaukee at the end of May, with many chapter representatives in attendance.

“DU chapters across the country are showing that the future of waterfowl populations and the wetlands that filter our drinking water and protect us from flooding are important to them and to their communities,” Dunklin said. “The more money we raise, the more habitat we can conserve and the closer we are to preserving our waterfowl hunting heritage. I would like to personally thank all our top chapters for their achievement and look forward to seeing them among our distinguished chapters again next year.”

Ducks Unlimited Inc. is the world’s largest non-profit organization dedicated to conserving North America’s continually disappearing waterfowl habitats. Established in 1937, Ducks Unlimited has conserved more than 13 million acres thanks to contributions from more than a million supporters across the continent. Guided by science and dedicated to program efficiency, DU works toward the vision of wetlands sufficient to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow and forever. For more information on our work, visit www.ducks.org. Connect with us on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/DucksUnlimited, follow our tweets at www.twitter.com/DucksUnlimited and watch DU videos at www.youtube.com/DucksUnlimitedInc.

Ducks Unlimited

Ducks Unlimited is the world's leader in wetlands and waterfowl conservation. DU got its start in 1937 during the Dust Bowl when North America’s drought-plagued waterfowl populations had plunged to unprecedented lows. Determined not to sit idly by as the continent’s waterfowl dwindled beyond recovery, a small group of sportsmen joined together to form an organization that became known as Ducks Unlimited. Its mission: habitat conservation. Thanks to decades of abiding by that single mission, Ducks Unlimited is now the world’s largest and most effective private waterfowl and wetlands conservation organization. DU is able to multilaterally deliver its work through a series of partnerships with private individuals, landowners, agencies, scientific communities and other entities.