The results from our 2017 community survey are in! Thanks to everyone who took time to give valuable feedback on our work and help us plan for the years ahead.
Here’s what people in our community think…
Who we are
The ACF community is nearly half a million people who speak out, show up and act for a world where reefs, rivers, forests and wildlife thrive. We are advocates, friends, explorers and leaders. We are people who love a beach, a critter, a solar panel, a mountain range and a patch of bush. We come from communities right across the country...
Our community is growing fast!
We are strong in our diversity
We are a vibrant community of people who contribute in different ways. We are...
- 53,941 donors (including 21,281 monthly donors)
- 12,352 members
- 21 local groups and over 1,200 volunteers
- 467,086 taking action
... and many other people who come to events, leave bequests, give pro bono support, follow us on social media and much more.
We step up, speak out and act
Every action, large or small, goes a long way to creating a better future for people and the planet. These are some of the ways people in our community would contribute to campaigns they care about.
Three words to describe our community
We asked people in our community to describe what ACF means to them. These were the most common words:
What should ACF keep doing?
We also asked people to imagine they were our CEO, Kelly, for the day. These are just a few ideas:
"Educat[ing] and mobilis[ing] the people to make a stand. We need to demand our voices be heard for the sake of the planet and future generations."
"Lobbying politicians to make legal changes to protect the environment and move to a renewable energy future and be the conduit for the community to do the same."
"Fighting the good fight. Listening to ordinary people and championing our flora and fauna while supporting that with solid evidence and science."
What we care about
With so many important problems to solve, we asked for thoughts on what should be our top priorities.
As a community, the top three issues people want to address are:
1. Cutting pollution
So we can keep enjoying life on our beautiful planet, we must stop companies digging up and burning dirty fuels like coal, oil and gas. Together, we will ramp up the call on governments to #StopAdani, phase out polluting fuels, and rule out new coal mines and gas fields. We'll urge our representatives to help affected workers and communities prepare for jobs with a future and make sure the transition is fair.
2. Shifting to clean energy
To give our children a liveable planet, our government has an urgent responsibility to cut climate pollution and shift Australia to clean energy. As a community, we are calling on businesses and elected representatives to remove barriers and create incentives so Australia can be powered by 100% clean energy by 2030 – or sooner.
3. Protecting nature
Under current environment laws, elected representatives are letting companies mine more, frack faster and dredge deeper with little oversight. Together, we'll keep up the pressure on elected leaders to create a new generation of laws that protect our reefs, rivers, forests and wildlife. Plus, we have an exciting new nature campaign launching soon.
Already, we have made great progress in solving these problems. See what we've done so far and what’s in store for 2018.
Photo: Doug Gimesy
Approaches we want to prioritise
To win campaigns, we know we need to work in many different ways. We need an ecosystem of solutions. So we asked our community what strategies to prioritise. People said:
1. Advocate directly to politicians and key decision makers
From the very beginning of ACF, our campaigners have worked at every level – from the halls of Parliament to town hall meetings, from the news rooms to the boardrooms. Every step of the way, they are reminding our elected representatives of their responsibility to make good choices for people and our planet.
2. Empower communities to advocate and take action
The ACF community is growing exponentially, as passionate people step up, show up act for what really matters. To scale up our impact, we will keep growing a vibrant community of civically engaged citizens. We will empower volunteer-led ACF groups to run strategic local campaigns across Australia. And we will use our numbers to hold decision makers to account, challenge the vested interests and create a thriving, transparent democracy.
3. Tell stories to move people to action
Today, the stories we see and hear – in media, our news feeds and conversation – are justifying destruction and making us feel hopeless. Our job is to change the story – from destruction, greed and corruption to hope, connection and creativity. We are already doing this and will continue to tell compelling stories of solutions that inspire people to connect and take action.
Thank you!
Our strength lies in the energy, ideas and passion of our community. Thanks for taking the time to share your ideas on the future of our work. For speaking out for our air, water, wildlife, communities – and the planet we call home.
People made this crisis – and together we can solve it!
