Our Story
Join Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance (formerly Madison Audubon) for a day of giving back! The Big Share is a day of online giving for 70 member organizations of Community Shares of Wisconsin, all focused on social and environmental justice. We are honored to be one of them.
We helped birds AND people in 2024. Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance has provided programs, inspiration, and land for exploring throughout the past year, and we need to increase our impact in 2025. That's why our goal is to raise $30,000 on March 4.
By donating, you can make a BIG difference for local birds, land, and kids. No matter what the amount—$5 or $1,000—your donation is important and valuable. As an added bonus, Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance Board and Friends have chipped in to offer a $16,550 (and growing!) MATCH—they will match your donation dollar for dollar until we reach $16,550, doubling your gift to birds (BIG thanks to our Board and Friends Match donors: Darcy Kind & Marc Vitale; Liz Abel; Jean & Walter Meanwell; Stacey & Walter Meanwell; and Kathleen & Lawrence Svabek).
Resident birds like owls and cardinals have made this winter magical; migrating birds are already returning to southern Wisconsin as spring approaches. Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance is thrilled to share the wonders of birds with new audiences through in-person programming; habitat protection for wildlife; and ensuring that everyone can enjoy the beautiful outdoors and its amazing birds.
To make an even BIGGER impact, tune in to one of these special activities:
6:00 am Early Bird Power Hour — donate to help us earn a $1,000 cash prize if we raise the most dollars or receive gifts from highest number of individual donors during this one-hour period.
*We've won this prize many years in a row and want to secure that extra $1,000 for birds again this year!
7:45 am Match Minute — donate during this exact minute and your donation will be matched.
3:30 pm Match Minute — donate during this exact minute and your donation will be matched.
11:59 pm Last Donation prize — be the very last person to donate on March 4 (before the clock strikes midnight) and SoWBA could win an extra $750.
We value our members and supporters every day of the year, with or without a dedicated day of giving. Thank you for the many ways you help birds and nature!
About Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance:
Your love for birds is at the heart of our work. Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance strives to conserve and celebrate Wisconsin’s birds through land restoration and protection on our sanctuaries, innovative K-to-gray education programs teaching everything from bird ecology to stream insect identification, and science-based advocacy on issues that impact birds in southern Wisconsin.
We want everyone to feel welcome to celebrate, learn about, and protect birds, which is why we changed our name from Madison Audubon to Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance.
We host free public field trips and events, work with classrooms and after-school programs, coordinate citizen science programs, and spend hundreds of hours per year restoring habitats: collecting and planting native plant seeds, pulling invasive species, conducting prescribed burns, and more. And we are one of the country's only chapters that is also a nationally-accredited land trust! Learn more at swibirds.org.
Photo credits: Mallard, Grayson Smith/USFWS. Young naturalist, SoWBA. Seeds in pails, David Musolf. Bald Eagle and waterfowl, Monica Hall. Prairie, SoWBA.