Carolina Leon, Flickr

One of Biodiversity Project’s greatest strengths is our ability to work with coalitions or networks of organizations that share similar goals. Biodiversity Project possesses a unique set of skills that allow us to build, work with and expand coalitions. We build consensus among groups through facilitation, data collection, mission and goal writing and brainstorming sessions.

Because there is strength in numbers, especially when communicating environmental messages, we work with coalitions and networks to develop shared message and complimentary communications strategies to maximize both individual and collective resources to reach shared goals.
We are prepared to guide and support your network or coalition in:

• Conducting, or synthesizing existing, public opinion research to inform your targeted communications efforts.
• Devising a communications strategy that identifies your goals and objectives and provides a roadmap for achieving them utilizing the strengths of all your members.
• Crafting unified messages and materials that can be used by all your members.
  Providing tools and trainings to help your members adopt and adapt messages and materials for their own communications work.
• Overseeing the implementation of the communications plan by coordinating the work of all members.

In addition, as our mission states, we are dedicated to building the communications capacity of environmental groups. We feel this is a critical component of achieving environmental and conservation goals, yet we know that many groups work with tight budgets that don't provide adequate internal capacity. Biodiversity Project works to increase individual and coalition-wide communications capacity through workshops. Typically half-day or full day, workshop topics range from basic "do's and don'ts" to the methods for designing a strategic communications plan.

Through our workshops we share our knowledge of applicable public opinion research and teach participants how to use the data to meet their organization's or the coalition’s goals. Recognizing the increasing cost of travel (both financially and environmentally), Biodiversity Project also offers online trainings and workshops. These computer- and conference call-based sessions are usually one to two hours in length and offer increased flexibility for our participants.

Zestbiewbeautouz, Flickr

An Example of Our Work: Hine's Emerald Dragonfly Conservation

Creating a Habitat Conservation Plan for the endangered Hine’s emerald dragonfly required the collaboration of entities with dramatically diverse missions and purposes: energy and mining industries, state and federal environmental agencies, transportation departments, local municipal governments, engineering companies and a variety of other stakeholders. Initially hired by three industrial partners to create an education and outreach campaign for the project, the partners expanded Biodiversity Project’s involvement to manage the process of getting this diverse group organized and working forward to complete a technically complex and lengthy document that will help protect the biodiversity of Will County, Illinois.

To begin this work, we recruited supporting partners, land owners and managers in the area to be part of a coalition to help protect the region surrounding the dragonfly's habitat. By having these partners in the coalition, we were not only directly protecting the habitat, but we were also protecting the water sources from the areas surrounding the habitat to increase the likelihood of recovering the species. This recruitment process involved setting up meetings with town, university and airport managers, the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service and engineers to both educate the potential partners on the species and the proposed project and show how their involvement could benefit their individual interests.

As we help build this coalition, our work has included getting the right people at the right time together with dozens of small meetings to solve individual stakeholder issues and facilitating large meetings with 30 or more representatives. Biodiversity Project came into this project four years after it began and, with internal communications, partnership building and goal setting, has been able to collect years of data, past histories and move all the players toward a final plan that will satisfy the needs of stakeholders and the needs of the threatened species.