Case Study: Conservation Lands Foundation achieves scaled grassroots impact protecting U.S. lands with NationBuilder

Conservation Lands Foundation equips 80+ nonprofits to scale their impact protecting U.S. lands

The Conservation Lands Foundation, a Durango, Colorado–based nonprofit that funds and supports 80+ local conservation groups, faced a scaling challenge: their growing network outgrew a basic CRM and separate email and website tools, making it hard to segment supporters, automate outreach, and share data across partners. In 2018 they moved to NationBuilder to gain an integrated platform that could serve both a central headquarters and affiliated local organizations.

Using NationBuilder’s Network offering, CLF built a headquarters “nation” linked to networked nations for partners, launched built‑in action pages, targeted segmentation and automated communications, and developed story maps and a Climate Atlas for data‑driven advocacy. The result was stronger fundraising and mobilization—11.6K+ total supporters and 1.2K individual donations in 2021—helping coordinate the wide petition, email and donation campaigns that contributed to the October 2021 restoration of Grand Staircase–Escalante and Bears Ears; NationBuilder continues to power CLF’s networked organizing and measurable impact.

Conservation Lands Foundation

Andres Esparza

Grassroots Engagement Director