The Nature Conservancy's powerful partner in preserving the Earth
Earth Day 2017 asks us to educate everyone on the concepts of environmental preservation and climate change's unprecedented threat to our planet. By empowering the global citizenry with knowledge, they hope to inspire action for environmental protection.
This Earth Day, Box.org is highlighting the tremendous work of The Nature Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to creating a world which people and nature can thrive. By working with a diverse array of partners, the Conservancy can create, share and innovate solutions to the world’s increasing global challenges.
The Nature Conservancy exemplifies Earth Day's mission. But to do their amazing work, they need a helping hand from the right technology. We talked with Megan Sheehan, Associate Director of Digital Content at The Nature Conservancy, about how Box helps coordinate their efforts and streamline communication.
What is The Nature Conservancy's mission — and how far does your work reach?
The Nature Conservancy's mission is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. Our vision is a world where the diversity of life thrives, and people act to conserve nature for its own sake and its ability to fulfill our needs and enrich our lives.
Our work spans 69 countries worldwide, including chapters in all 50 of the United States. We employ a diverse staff, including 600+ scientists, and utilize a vast network of partners, individual governments, local nonprofits and corporations. That's how we've been able to advance our cause of conservation worldwide.
How does Box help facilitate your day-to-day work?
As we operate globally, we need to coordinate our staff in chapters all across the Earth; sometimes there are several chapters within states. This includes 208 social media accounts and the 150+ social media admins who work to put forth our message everyday.
Box helps us in two major ways — first, by providing a way to corral all the content in one location and second, by removing the difficulty of communication amongst dispersed staff. By having every digital project located in a single repository, it allows us to operate in a unified way; it also allows seamless sharing in real-time, which just makes collaboration so easy.
So, every time we have a new project or initiative that we want to promote, we have to distribute that information to every single chapter. With Box, you simply create a folder with the assets and share with whomever needs the information — just like that, your message can be amplified. It's really quite powerful.
Bigger picture, what does that mean for The Nature Conservancy?
Naturally, when everyone is operating on the same page, you lessen the need for managing the nit-picky type details. This ultimately lets you focus on the bigger mission, and making sure you're really accomplishing what you've set out to do.