2025 Annual Meeting re-cap
Thank you to all who were able to attend our virtual Annual Meeting on December 18 - we appreciate your support! For those unable to attend, you can view a PDF of the presentation slides here.
Board President, Buck O’Herin, with Co-Executive Directors Stephanie Hanner and Kristin Pennock during the Annual Meeting at the Waldoboro office.
The meeting opened with Board President, Buck O’Herin’s welcome and gratitude message. He then provided information about recent Bylaw updates, and called for two votes (regarding a Bylaw update to include the ability to hold meetings virtually, as well as new Board members - Anne Cekuta, Susan Cottle, Christian Schorn, and Mark Steele), both passed.
Kathy Stevens, incoming Board President echoed gratitude to all supporters, and particularly the Board members terming off (Buck O’Herin, Joanne Steneck, and Chuck Dinsmore). She also provided an overview of the Strategic Plan completed earlier this year, and emphasized how the focus areas guide our work.
Stephanie Hanner, Co-Executive Director of Engagement, then began the staff-led portion of the meeting, providing information about each of the focus areas: Land Conservation, Land Stewardship, Water Quality Protection and Ecosystem Healthy, Connecting People to Nature, and Organizational Excellence and Sustainability.
Program leaders each spoke about their department’s individual projects and accomplishments with the continual theme of thoughtful, strategic, and collaborative conservation. By working with partners and supporters, we’re able to protect more land and focus on watershed health, in more meaningful ways, for the benefit of both people and nature.
Director of Stewardship, Isobel Curtis, provided a salient reminder that humans can have a positive, generative, relationship with the land, and confidence that the health of our human and ecological communities are inextricably intertwined, saying, “Healthy lands and waters support healthy societies, and vice versa. One begets the other.”
After program staff concluded their presentations, Kristin Pennock, Co-Executive Director of Operations shared information about the health of the organization, financials, and administrative updates. She noted that in a tough fundraising environment we are holding our own making new foundation connections, assessing and planning to take advantage of diverse earned revenue opportunities and continuing the conservation work that assures donors that an investment in Midcoast Conservancy is a sound one. (Fun fact: every unrestricted dollar invested in the organization returns $3.33 in conservation impacts or a 233% return on your investment.)
The event ended with answers to questions that had been submitted prior to the meeting, and closing remarks of gratitude to all members, supporters, donors, volunteers, and collaborators engaged in our conservation conversations.
Kristin said, “At a time when the world is being challenged by greed, Midcoast Conservancy embodies a resilient micro community. All of us on staff, board, all of our volunteers, partners, members and supporters share our common mission and vision of a more healthy midcoast Maine - ecologically and socially. This conservation community is a great comfort and we hope it is to all of you. We are so thankful and honored to be standing beside you in this work.”
