FOFriends Of Aransas & Matagorda
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About Friends Of Aransas & Matagorda
At the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, support can look like a free wildlife guide in a visitor’s hands, a cared-for pollinator garden, or a volunteer helping at the visitor center or on a trail. Friends of Aransas & Matagorda backs the refuge through education, outreach, habitat support, and conservation-related projects, including a life-size steel sculpture of a family of whooping cranes. Your gift helps support the Aransas and Matagorda Island National Wildlife Refuges and the people who come to learn about them.
Friends of Aransas & Matagorda focuses specifically on the Aransas and Matagorda Island National Wildlife Refuges. Its work is easy to see, from the refuge Nature Store and free pocket guides to pollinator garden workdays, Highway 35 advertising, and a commissioned whooping crane sculpture at the visitor center.
Programs
The concrete work this nonprofit runs. Each program may later become a fundable project.
Nature Store
Operates a nature store at the refuge, at other events, and online, selling books, collectibles, and other items that promote the refuge and conservation. Store proceeds support the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.
Refuge outreach
Provides representatives and materials for nature-related events in the Coastal Bend area to inform the public about Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and Friends of Aransas NWR.
Refuge wildlife and pollinator guides
Reprints pocket guides about refuge wildlife and pollination in the refuge garden, providing them free to visitors and educational programs.
Pollinator Garden
Supports and maintains a pollinator garden at the refuge through volunteer workdays, planting, path improvements, and garden care.
Refuge promotion
Promotes the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge through advertising, including billboards on Highway 35.
Visitor and refuge support
Supports refuge visitor services and activities through volunteers at the visitor center, the Nature Store, and on refuge trails.
About this work
Mission
Friends of Aransas & Matagorda supports the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and helps the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service protect wildlife and wildlife habitat. It supports the refuge’s mission through educational, interpretive, scientific, promotional, and other appropriate means.
Who they serve
Visitors, students and participants in educational programs, the local Coastal Bend community, and people interested in wildlife and habitat conservation at the Aransas and Matagorda Island National Wildlife Refuges.
Their impact
- Founded in October 1997 and grew to approximately 100 members.
- Commissioned a life-size steel sculpture of a family of whooping cranes, unveiled at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center entrance on May 28, 2026.
- Paid for repair and installation of refuge advertising banners on Highway 35 in 2023.
How your donation helps
- Supporting the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge
- Operating the Nature Store and supporting refuge activities with store proceeds
- Reprinting free refuge wildlife and pollinator garden pocket guides for visitors and educational programs
- Promoting the refuge through Highway 35 billboard advertising
- Supporting refuge projects designated by donors
Grant support
$20,000 from 1 funder · through 2024 (IRS 990 records).
- THE MALCOLM C DAMUTH FOUNDATION — $20,000 (2024)TO SUPPORT THE ORGANIZATION'S PURPOSE
Ways to help
Concrete needs and volunteer roles Friends Of Aransas & Matagorda has shared.
Current needs
- Outreach representatives for nature-related events in the Coastal Bend area
- Volunteers to help maintain the pollinator garden
- People interested in planning fundraising events or campaigns
- Nature Store manager and inventory assistant support
- Scheduling assistants to recruit and schedule volunteer cashiers
- Volunteer cashiers for the Nature Store
- Visitor Center front desk volunteers
- Roving interpreters and trail monitors
- Board members
- A webmaster to update the organization’s online content
- A newsletter editor for the quarterly newsletter
Volunteer opportunities
- Represent Friends of Aransas NWR at off-refuge nature-related events
- Work regular pollinator garden workdays on the second and fourth Tuesdays
- Plan fundraising events or campaigns
- Manage the Nature Store
- Assist with Nature Store inventory, purchase orders, merchandise logging, and pricing
- Recruit and schedule Nature Store volunteer cashiers
- Serve as a Nature Store cashier and answer visitor questions
- Staff the refuge Visitor Center front desk
- Serve as a roving interpreter or trail monitor
- Serve on the Board
- Update the organization’s online content as a webmaster
- Edit and distribute the quarterly newsletter
Recognition & press
Partners & funders
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about this nonprofit and how its work happens.
How does the Nature Store support the refuge?
The Nature Store sells books, collectibles, and other conservation-related items at the refuge, at events, and online. The proceeds support the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.
What do outreach representatives do?
Outreach representatives attend nature-related events, usually in the Coastal Bend area, and talk with the public about the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and Friends of Aransas NWR. Materials are provided, and events usually have two representatives.
When are pollinator garden volunteer workdays held?
Regular workdays are held on the second and fourth Tuesdays. They start at 8:00 a.m. and usually last about two hours.
What volunteer roles are available at the refuge?
Volunteer roles include helping at the Visitor Center front desk, interpreting for visitors, monitoring trails, working as a Nature Store cashier, assisting with inventory or scheduling, representing the refuge at outreach events, serving on the board, and helping with the webmaster or newsletter editor role.
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