Practical AI for Refuge Friends: Saving Time, Strengthening Outreach & Understanding the Environmental Impact

Join us for a Refuge Friends webinar with Janelle Wicks, Dustin Braden, and Willem Stoeller exploring practical ways Friends organizations can use artificial intelligence to save staff and volunteer time, strengthen outreach, and reduce administrative work.

This webinar will cover manageable uses of AI for communications, fundraising, financial reporting, program evaluation, volunteer coordination, environmental monitoring, and other day-to-day organizational needs. Rather than focusing on large or highly technical projects, the presenters will share accessible examples that Friends groups can adapt to their own work.

Presenters will also provide an overview of artificial intelligence and discuss the environmental impacts associated with AI and data centers, offering a balanced look at both the opportunities and considerations that come with using these tools.

Presenters

• Janelle Wicks has served as Executive Director of Friends of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge since 2018. Her connection to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began in 2006 as a volunteer at a Service fish hatchery laboratory in Pennsylvania. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology with concentrations in Environmental Sciences and Marine Biology, and her career has included work with federal public-land agencies and nonprofit education and program management.
• Dustin Braden is a Director at Large with the Coalition of Refuge Friends and Advocates and a nonprofit consultant specializing in technology, data visualization, grant writing, and web development. He also teaches Environment and Sustainability at Ohio Wesleyan University and holds a master’s degree in Geography and Spatial Sciences from the University of Delaware.
• Willem Stoeller serves as a Director at Large with the Coalition of Refuge Friends and Advocates and is a board member of Friends of Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge Complex. He has more than 35 years of experience working with nonprofit and volunteer organizations and has volunteered at Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge as a visitor-center volunteer and naturalist since 2014. He previously served as the Friends group’s Treasurer and Vice President and chaired its Governance Committee.

Sign Up!