The American Wildlife Conservation Foundation (AWCF) is dissolving, and its assets will be transferred to another Wildlife Conservation organization. Effective immediately, AWCF will no longer accept grant applications or make grants available.

October 12, 2023:

Due to drastically declining membership and current key board members retiring, the number of our active people has declined. The grants committee continued to fulfill all the selection and grants award functions. Still, we have been unable to garner additional members to take over the other tasks at a level we once enjoyed.

So, to continue the mission of funding wildlife research under the AWCF name, the board voted unanimously to dissolve the AWCF and transfer all portfolio assets to the Boone & Crockett Club to be placed into a dedicated AWCF endowment to fund wildlife research.

If you read the material below, you can see that B&C is the forerunner of AWCF (in its early form) and still has a membership base that will continue to grow and utilize the AWCF portfolio for research.

The board wishes to thank all past and present members for their support and work in funding wildlife research.

Brian Dam, President

Established in 1887 by Theodore Roosevelt and George Bird Grinnell, the Boone and Crockett Club was founded by hunters who dedicated their lives to the conservation of wildlife. As the turn of the 20th century approached our nation, these men had to make a choice: stand by and watch our cherished wildlife disappear or work for the protection and propagation of our wildlife resource. Thankfully, they rose to the challenge and chose the latter.

Today, the Boone and Crockett Club continues to build upon the legacy of wildlife conservation established by Roosevelt and Grinnell and continues the fight for conservation so future generations can enjoy the bounty of our wildlife resource.

In 1911, visionary conservationists Harry Leonard and William Clark of the Winchester Arms Company established the American Game Protective and Propagation Association. Leonard and Clark realized that strong measures were needed to reverse the rampant slaughter of game in the absence of state and federal laws.

The Association pledged to preserve game and fish by initiating protective legislation, establishing reserves, educating the public, and organizing societies and government authorities in a nationwide conservation effort. The Association’s grand idea was reflected in its motto: “The Game of a Continent – Ours to Perpetuate.”

Guiding the Association were conservation notables John Burnham, William Haskell, George Shiras III, George Grinnell, Carlos Avery, and Seth Gordon, among others.

President Theodore Roosevelt gave the young organization his blessing. Their energy led them to their greatest achievement – Congressional passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, signed by President Taft on March 13, 1913.

In 1970, the American Game Protective and Propagation Association joined the New York State Conservation Council Foundation and American Game Association Foundation, renamed in 1978 as the American Wildlife Research Foundation. In 2003, the name was finally changed to American Wildlife Conservation Foundation to reflect its broader mission and program more accurately.

The purposes of the Foundation, as outlined in its Certificate of Incorporation, are to aid in the formulation and establishment of sound policies and practices designed to conserve, protect, restore and perpetuate forests, wildlife, scenic and recreational areas in North America, to the general end that the present and succeeding generations may continue to enjoy and use these great natural resources.

The Boone and Crockett Club Foundation and the American Wildlife Conservation Endowment

The American Wildlife Conservation Endowment will provide support for research, public policy, and public education toward enhancing scientific wildlife management and conservation of wild habitats in North America.

The goal is to ensure that wild animals and the ecosystems sustaining them will thrive for the long term, conserved for the enjoyment of present and future generations.

The Mission is to aid in sustaining and enhancing North America's fish and wildlife resources, by funding conservation, research, public policy, and public education initiatives so that present and future generations may continue to enjoy these resources.

The funding priority is given to research and public outreach projects that focus on wildlife-habitat relationships or human-wildlife interactions.