About Our New Name

The Fort Collins Audubon Society is now the Northern Colorado Bird Alliance

In February 2025, we changed our name from Fort Collins Audubon Society (FCAS) to Northern Colorado Bird Alliance. This is not the first time our name has changed. Below you will find summaries of how our organization has changed through the years, the reasons for the most recent name change, and the process we used before deciding on the most recent name change. We also explain what dropping “Audubon” from our name means for our relationship to the National Audubon Society (NAS) and other local NAS chapters.

History of our organization/changes through the years

  • Our organization was first established in 1962. The original name was Fort Collins Bird Club. The organization remained an informal club for more than a decade.
  • In the 1970s, we formally incorporated the organization, renamed it Fort Collins Audubon Society (FCAS), and joined a national network of hundreds of independent local organizations affiliated with the National Audubon Society (NAS).
  • In February 2025, we adopted our current name, Northern Colorado Bird Alliance. The reasons for this latest name change and the process we followed before making the change are summarized below.
  • Throughout our history, the geographic boundaries of the organization (i.e., the communities we serve and where our members reside) have gradually expanded.

Reasons for the latest name change

Our previous name, Fort Collins Audubon Society, was problematic for two key reasons:

  • ”Fort Collins“ does not adequately describe the current geographic scope of our organization's members or the work we do. As a result of the most recent expansion in our boundaries, in 2021, we now have members in virtually all of Larimer County and in many communities in Weld County. Nearly half of our members (~45%) do not live in Fort Collins. Having “Fort Collins” in our name made it more difficult for us to influence conservation decisions in the 16 other communities we serve, as some local leaders incorrectly assumed we had no ties to their community and were simply meddling in their business.
  • The name “Audubon” has become increasingly controversial and polarizing in recent years, as awareness has grown about the fact that the namesake, John James Audubon, enslaved human beings. Our chapter, as well as NAS and many other local chapters in the NAS network, faced a difficult decision: should we stick with a recognized “brand name” that has a century-plus record of conservation victories, but may be offensive to large segments of the population and limiting our ability to attract more members and allies when we need them more than ever?
  • In 2023, the Board of Directors recommended to our members that we find a new name that would address the two key problems and make our organization more welcoming and inclusive to all people in all the communities we serve. In an October 2023 referendum, a decisive majority of our members agreed with the Board's recommendation. Learn more about the name change process below.
  • The decision to change our name had nothing to do with being “politically correct” or “woke.” The Board felt (and still feels) that the long-term survival of the organization and the success of our organizational mission depends on a sincere commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Bird populations are plummeting, we could be on the cusp of a mass extinction event fueled by habitat loss and climate change, and we need to attract more members and every possible ally to stave off this potential catastrophe. The Board believed the Audubon name was getting in the way of that imperative.

Name change process

  • In April 2023, the Board of Directors began internal discussions about whether pursuing a name change might be appropriate. We held several special meetings outside of our regularly scheduled Board meetings to consider the key problems described above, whether they warranted all the work that an organizational name change would require, and (if so) how we would seek the consent of our members.
  • The Board unanimously approved a “Resolution expressing the need to rename the Fort Collins Audubon Society” and decided that we would let members vote on whether they approved or opposed the Resolution. We further decided that a two-thirds majority would be required to approve the Resolution, a threshold consistent with what is required to amend our chapter Bylaws.
  • The Resolution was published to the FCAS website in August 2023, announced in the September 2023 newsletter, and presented to members at our September 2023 monthly meeting.
  • All members in good standing were given the opportunity to vote in October 2023 on whether they supported or opposed the Resolution. We used a secure, online voting platform (Opavote) and kept the vote open for nearly three weeks. The voting system ensured that only members in good standing could vote, they could only vote once, and nobody—not even members of the Board of Directors—could see how they voted. Ultimately, 224 members cast ballots and 69% of those voting supported the resolution, meaning it passed.
  • By approving the Resolution, members did “…authorize and direct the Board of Directors to determine, with input from members and others in our community, at least two potential new names for the organization that do not include the name Audubon and better reflect the geographic breadth of our chapter boundaries, present the potential new names to members at a future meeting, and then take all necessary and affirmative steps towards renaming and rebranding the organization based on an option that garners broad support from members.”
  • Early in 2024, the Board of Directors formed an ad hoc Name Change Committee to lead our search for potential new names and advise the Board on implementation of the Resolution. The Committee’s work included forming an advisory group of volunteers representing a range of perspectives regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion and consulting with the group about potential new names and other actions to make the organization more welcoming and inclusive.
  • In November 2024, members were presented with three potential new names identified by the Name Change Committee and approved by the Board of Directors. Members had the opportunity to cast a secret ballot on which they could rank any of the names they supported in order of their personal preference, while leaving off the ballot any names they could not support.
  • Ballots were cast by 265 members. Although all three options were supported by a strong majority of voters, the clear winner among the three options was Northern Colorado Bird Alliance. This option was supported by 89% of voters and was the first pick for an outright majority of voters (53%). It ranked first or second for 80% of voters, a much higher number than either of the other options.
  • Members present at the chapter’s regularly scheduled meeting on February 13, 2025, voted unanimously to amend the chapter's constitution and bylaws to officially change the name of the organization to Northern Colorado Bird Alliance.

Impact of the name change on our relationship with NAS and the Audubon network of local chapters

  • The ~500 local chapters in the NAS network are fully independent organizations (legally and financially) with similar mission statements that enjoy mutually beneficial relationships with NAS.
  • NAS imposes no requirements or restrictions on the names of local chapters.
  • The Resolution was published to the FCAS website in August 2023, announced in the September 2023 newsletter, and presented to members at our September 2023 monthly meeting.
  • In recent years, approximately 10% of NAS chapters nationwide decided, as we have, to drop “Audubon” from their names (as of January 2025). Our decision to drop the Audubon name will have no impact on the positive relationship we have with NAS or any of the other local chapters in the network.
  • In summary, our affiliation with NAS continues today and will continue into the future in the same manner it has for half a century. We have deep respect and gratitude for the work NAS and its regional and state offices (e.g., Audubon Rockies) do and the support they give to local chapters like ours.

Join us for this informative program. It is free and the public is welcomed!