Ducks Unlimited’s 2023 Annual Report | Ducks Unlimited (2024)

Over the past 86 years, Ducks Unlimited’s volunteers, members, and supporters have conserved more than 16 million acres of waterfowl habitat. We have worked with our partners to protect 1 billion acres of the Canadian Boreal Forest. And Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) was another example of how 684,000 members and more than 1 million supporters continue to save the wetlands and waterfowl we love. Since 1937, it has always been about mud, money, and members.

MUD AND MONEY

Team DU produced exceptional numbers in FY23, protecting and restoring 641,000 acres of habitat in the United Stated alone. FY23 also saw Ducks Unlimited generate impressive revenues of $318.5 million. And 30,000 Ducks Unlimited volunteers hosted more than 560,000 attendees at 4,555 events in FY23. Event income set an all-time organizational record with $91.7 million.

Each year, Ducks Unlimited promises to spend at least 80 percent of all funds raised on our conservation mission. We met that goal again in FY23, with 84 percent of our expenditures going toward our habitat delivery and conservation education mission. FY23 habitat delivery revenue from government grants and partnerships was a record-breaking $155 million, $28 million above budget, with $2 million in additional philanthropy going to the prairies for wetlands and grassland conservation. Major gift commitments totaled $54.4 million, while major gift cash exceeded $54.6 million ($10.6 million above budget). In addition, planned giving commitments surpassed $29 million.

MEMBERS AND SUPPORTERS

We couldn’t achieve great things without our more than 1 million supporters and partners, such as our latest Corporate Conservation Achievement Award winner, First Horizon Bank. Established in 1864, First Horizon has more than 400 locations across the southern United States and invests in causes and communities where they can positively impact the people they serve. Headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, First Horizon has been a proud partner in conservation on several fronts, and they support DU as our primary banking partner. In 2021, the First Horizon Foundation awarded a lead gift of $1 million for the Ducks Unlimited Park in West Memphis, Arkansas. And First Horizon Foundation is a presenting sponsor of the Wings Over Water IMAX film.

Bass Pro Shops is another crucial supporter of DU's mission. In the last three years alone, Bass Pro Shops has contributed more than $2 million, which has conserved over 76,000 acres of habitat. In addition, we are working with Bass Pro Shops and country music artist Garth Brooks to raise more funds for conservation in the coming year.

THE MOTIVATION

We are making a difference and having fun doing it. And that difference, over the last 86 years, continues to be based on science and sustainability. We protect wetland habitat. We partner with farmers, ranchers, and landowners. We do this because it works, and it works at a continental scale. For example, in February 2023, more than 65 members of Team DU, including state chairs, state policy chairs, senior volunteers, and members of the DU board of directors, gathered in Washington, DC, to meet with members of Congress and advocate for legislation to protect and restore wetlands and migratory bird habitat. Farmers and ranchers feed the nation and are great stewards of the land. Our members know that successful conservation delivery starts with successful public policy, and there’s no better place to deliver that message than in our nation’s capital.

Ducks Unlimited Inc., Ducks Unlimited Canada, Ducks Unlimited de México, and Wetlands America Trust are continuing to make DU's vision of abundant wetlands a reality through a new $3 billion comprehensive campaign: “Conservation for a Continent. Our Wetlands. Our Legacy.” We launched this ambitious effort at DU's 86th Annual National Convention in Las Vegas with a goal of significantly expanding on the more than 16 million acres that DU, Ducks Unlimited Canada, and Ducks Unlimited de México have already conserved across North America.

We are proud of our collective success in FY23 as well as DU’s growing sustainability efforts across North America and the volunteers who passionately drive our mission. Thank you for supporting DU and all you do for the ducks!

Download the annual report in PDF format.

View the Honor Roll of Donors in PDF format.