Welcome to the 57th season of the Washington Conservation Guild!
At the end of last season, WCG sent out a survey asking for feedback and suggestions for improving the organization to better suit the needs of our members. The Board has reviewed the survey results – which will be available to members soon – and is busy making changes and planning events for an exciting 2023–2024 season based on that feedback. One of the most apparent themes was the difficulty our members have in attending in-person meetings. Some people would like to see our meetings held earlier in the day, while others would like to see them held later in the evening to accommodate work schedules. We hope that means we are in a sweet spot with our timing to catch as many people as possible. Contradictory survey results notwithstanding, please know that we are listening! For those who cannot attend in-person, we will continue to post video recordings on our YouTube channel. Since many of our members are interested in and can more easily attend virtual meetings, we have decided to host more Zoom meetings this season and reserve in-person meetings for special events.
One of these special events will be the return of the Community Partnership Project. WCG has been in touch with the caretakers of the Black Lives Matters Protest Memorial Collection to plan a one-day, pro-bono event. Volunteers will have the opportunity to help with mold mitigation of a portion of this important collection of over 1600 pieces of memorabilia, which were exposed to precipitation while secured to a fence in front of the White House in 2020. The event is still in the planning and funding stages but will hopefully take place in the winter of 2023–2024. Other exciting events include a tour of the Congressional Cemetery in September, the Safety and Cultural Heritage Summit returning in-person in October, and a Private Practice Workshop planned for the Spring.
To fund these in-person events, WCG is continuing the sponsorship opportunities that were started last season. The Sponsorship program was created in 2022 to help cover the cost of building a new WCG website, which was an enormous project a few years in the making. The website was successfully launched in April 2023. Thanks to the hard work of the WCG website team to keep the project on the low end of the projected budget and to our Sponsors who helped cover costs, WCG again has enough savings to cover unforeseen expenses in the future. Since our accounts are replenished, we can now do more to give back to our members, speakers, and cultural heritage partners this season. Please consider donating to WCG to help us continue our educational programming, such as subsidized, conservation-related workshops, lab tours, and networking events, as well as reduced memberships to Emerging Professionals.
Speaking of Emerging Professionals, WCG is proud to extend the Williston Fund to support all Emerging Professionals by offering their first season of membership free. WCG will also be covering the cost of AIC membership to those who apply to and are awarded the Willison Fund Grant, which will be advertised in the Fall. Please consider donating to the Williston Fund to sponsor an emerging professional, and make sure to tell any emerging professionals in the DMV about the benefits of applying!
As always, we want to hear from you. What do you want to see from WCG? Please contact us with ideas for speakers, venues, workshops, outreach possibilities, or if you want to get involved.
We are always looking for volunteers. Current opportunities include:
- Emerging Professionals Committee
- Meeting Logistics/Refreshments Coordinators
- Social Media Team
- DEAI Committee
Feel free to email me directly at president@washingtonconservationguild.org or email our general mailbox at wcg@washingtonconservationguild.org if you want to provide feedback or to volunteer for one of our open roles.
Don’t forget to renew your membership so you don’t miss out on any important WCG news. Unsure of your membership status? Contact membership@washingtonconservationguild.org.
We look forward to seeing you at the next WCG event!
Sincerely,
Rachel Greenberg
President, Washington Conservation Guild
