2 0 1 0 ANNUAL REPORT
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Did you know? High levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, mainly from the burning of fossil fuels, are absorbed by the oceans, where the gas dissolves into carbonic acid. This elevated acidity inhibits the ability of marine animals to create shells, disrupting life within the very foundation of the ocean’s food web.
Hermit crabs stuggle to travel in oil and other pollution within the Gulf of Mexico.
Table of Contents 2 Mission Statement 4 Letter from the President 6 Research & Documentation 10 Conservation Efforts 14 Collaborative Projects 18 Financials
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Did you know? The Monarch Butterfly is now on the endangered species list. The Rocky Mountain population is the most threatened, due to a natural disasters in the Mexican wintering grounds, as well as reduced acreage of milkweed plants in their summer home.
Mission Statement In 2010, National Geographic focused their efforts into one key goal – reaching out to their readers, to the world, and getting them to care about the preservation of our planet. Few are aware of the effect their society’s lifestyle has on the environment and its inhabitants each year, and furthermore, most are unsure of what they can do to help. National Geographic looks to inform and inspire, our intent to show passionate and open minds what we have discovered and strive for, in the hopes that we can join forces to ensure the world’s preservation. National Geographic’s mission is to employ storytelling and you-are-there photography to inspire culturally aware readers to travel, and to provide the deepest reader-friendly service information to enable you to go places wisely and well. The magazine carries the authority of not only traveling the globe but also groundbreakingly exploring it for 113 years. Ask us “Who knows the world better? ” With clear-eyed honesty we can say: “We do.”
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Message from John Fahey
John Fahey – President and CEO: This year, National Geographic bears heartfelt appreciation for the wonderful support so many of our donors gave us throughout 2009 to ensure that the Society’s work could continue and evolve, despite the challenges created by the global economic downturn. Over the course of 2010, we took advantage of the need to refocus our resources and found good ways to refine our thinking about how we can most effectively continue to do the important work of the Society, which ultimately is to inspire people to care about the planet. Clearly, this precious and fragile planet needs our continuing attention. There is much to be done, science to be pursued, and meaningful stories to be told. Your help and support, coupled with the hard work of National Geographic’s remarkable and dedicated staff, explorers, grantees, and journalists, insures our future.
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Research & Documentation
Did you know? Every 14 days a language dies. Meet Estevan. He is one of the 62 people remaning in the world who speak Kallawaya, a tounge that originated in Brazil.
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Vietnam ñ Arem ñ 124 speakers
Nigeria ñ Yangkam ñ 89 speakers
Mandi ñ Wiarumus ñ32 speakers
SIberia ñ Chulym ñ 8 speakers
Nearly 80 percent of the worldís population speaks only one percent of its languages. When the last speaker of a language dies, the world loses the knowledge contained in that tounge. In 2010, National Geographic initiated the Enduring Voices Project, itís goal being: to document endangered languages and prevent their extinction by identifying the crucial areas where languages are endangered and going on expeditions to determine how linguistic diversity links to biodiversity and bring attention to the issue of language loss. When invited, the National Geographic team assists indigenous communities in their efforts to revitalize and maintain threatened languages globally.
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GLOBAL WARMING
Research & Documentation
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Most of us think of geological change as something in the distant past or future, but a historic transformation of the Earthís landscape is happening right now, and photographer James Balogís Extreme Ice Survey (EIS) is documenting that change. Funded in part by National Geographicís Expeditions Council and a generous Estate gift to National Geographic from Mr. and Mrs. J. Howard Schultz, the EIS uses timeñlapse photography of 15 glacier sites in Greenland, Iceland, Alaska, and the Rocky Mountains to capture global warming in the act.
By providing realñworld visual evidence and conveying the immediacy of climate change to a global audience, Balog hopes to alter public perception of global warming. Since 2007, each of the 27 EIS timeñlapse camera units has taken a photograph everyday light hour. In 2010, the EIS team began collecting the images and processing them onto continuous video renderings to show change over time. When the project is completed, they will have more than 300,000 images that will provide scientists with important information on the mechanics of glacial melting and offer powerful visual documentation to educate the public.
NEW SPECIES
RCE funding supported the discovery of 850 new species of invertebrate animals in the arid Australian outback. CRE grantee Steve Cooper and team members conducted comprehensive survey of underground water, above-surface caves, and micro-caverns of the Western Plateau of Australia, one of Earthís oldest landscapes. Much of the fauna appear to be relics of a period when the area was covered in humid forest, and as such, they provide a window into past climates and evolution in response to climate change.
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Conservation Efforts
Did you know? Due to habitat loss, degradation, and conflicts with human, the global lion population has shrunk to 6% of what it was 70 years ago. If we don’t do anything, their existence will continue to rapidly diminish.
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1920
1950 1980 2010 204
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208
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400,000
20,000
...?
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BIG CATS INITIATIVE
Conservation Efforts
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The big cats of the world need help. Top felines are quickly disappearing, all victims of habitat SVZZ HUK KLNYHKH[PVU HZ ^LSS HZ JVUÅPJ[Z ^P[O humans. Lions are dying off rapidly throughout Africa. These cats once ranged across the continent and into Syria, Israel, Iraq, Pakistan, Iran, even northwest India; 2,000 years ago more than a million lions roamed the Earth. Since the 1940s, when lions numbered an estimated 400,000, lion populations have blinked out across the continent. Now they may total as few as 20,000 animals. Scientists connect the drastic decreases in many cases to burgeoning human populations. The Big Cats Initiative aims to halt lion population declines by the year 2015 and to restore populations to sustainable levels.
In 2010, National Geographic launched the Big Cats Initiative (BCI), a comprehensive program that supports on-the-ground conservation projects, education, improved animal husbandry, and a global public awareness campaign, with an initial focus on threatened lion populations in (MYPJH )*0 THKL H ÄYZ[ YV\UK VM NYHU[Z PU ZWYPUN [V VYNHUPaH[PVUZ PU Ä]L (MYPJHU JV\U[YPLZ· Botswana, Cameroon, Mozambique, Tanzania, HUK AHTIPH·[OH[ HYL ^VYRPUN [V HKKYLZZ O\THU¶IPN JH[ JVUÅPJ[Z [OYV\NO LK\JH[PVU livestock insurance programs, documenting the JH\ZLZ VM JVUÅPJ[ HUK ÄUKPUN PUUV]H[P]L approaches to big cat protection.
ENDURING VOICES
0U [OL ,UK\YPUN =VPJLZ [LHT·5H[PVUHS Geographic Fellows and linguists David Harper and Greg Anderson, along with photographer *OYPZ 9HPUPLY·[YH]LSLK [V 7HYHN\H` 7HW\H New Guinea, and California to document endangered languages and support local language revitalization efforts. In Paraguay the Enduring Voices team focused on three languages, Ishir, Toba-Qom, and Maka. The team recorded interviews with speakers of 11 of the indigenous languages of Papua New Guinea, which represents the greatest single concentration of linguistic diversity on Earth.
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Collaborative Projects
Discharge from a Chinese fertilizer factory seeps through the Yellow River.
Did you know? In developing countries, 70% of untreated industrial wastes are dumped into bodies of water, polluting the usable water supply. A third of all fish species found in China’s Yellow River have become extinct due to over 3,000 factories expelling waste into the water.
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ANNUAL BIOBLITZ
Collaborative Projects
The 2010 BioBlitz, National Geographicís annual 24-hour species inventory, was held at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Students, teachers, scientists, and families came to the lake shore and combed beaches, marshes, and forests for wildlife. The action began on Friday, May 15, after the opening ceremonies and a talk by ecologist Dr. Stuart Pimm, who told the participants they were about to go ì where the wild things are.î Among the more than 1,200 wild things uncovered at the lake shore were water bears, blue-spotted salamanders, and tiger beetles. More than 5,000 people, including more than 1,400 kids from the Los Angeles School District, fanned out across the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area during a
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24ñhour BioBlitz in May 2010. Teams of scientists, naturalists, and volunteers combed TVYL [OHU HJYLZ [V ÄUK PKLU[PM` HUK learn about as many species as possible on May 30ñ31. The initial species count at the 24 hour mark was 1,364 and has grown to more than 1,700 in the months since, as collected ZWLJPTLUZ OH]L ILLU PKLU[PÄLK HUK KH[H YLJVYKLK 7HY[ ZJPLU[PÄJ LUKLH]VY WHY[ MLZ[P]HS and part outdoor classroom, BioBlitz is one of National Geographicís leading programs that engage the public in science and natural environments. The Santa Monica Mountains BioBlitz was the second in a series of ten hosted by National Geographic and the National Park Service. The event was held in cooperation with California State Parks and the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks.
FIELDSCOPE PROJECT
Launched in 2009, the Chesapeake Bay FieldScope Project is a web-based geographic information system tool that helps students understand the impact of humans on watershed ecosystems and our dependence upon their resources. This project reinvigoratesclassrooms and builds meaningful programs that JVTIPUL JSHZZYVVT SLHYUPUN ^P[O V\[KVVY ÄLSK experiences and technology-supported inquiry. The 2010-2011 school year saw students throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed collect, compare, and analyze water quality data to analyze trends over time. The project is a publicñprivate partnership that includes the Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
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Membership Dues
Books & Products
Contributions
153,887 141,540 118,625 23,158
(in thousands of dollars)
Magazine Revenue
PROGRAM EXPENSES
(in thousands of dollars)
PROGRAM REVENUES
Financials Publishing
Books & Products
Explorer Programs
Grant Program
Research & Conservation
Arts Media NG on Television
Program Fees
Investment Income
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8,688 6,748 1,132
Fundraising
NG Exhibits
248,588 116,453 9,350 7,029 6,834 5,820 4,612 1,138
Did you know? In just 15 years, 1.8 billion people will live where water is scarce. Today, nearly 900 million people have no access to clean water, and with 83 million more people on Earth each year, water demand will keep going up.
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Did you know? In 1967, scientists discovered that taxol, a unique compound found in the yew’s reddish bark, could be used to create a powerful cancer-fighting drug. This led to over-harvesting of the Yew, leaving the tree classified as endangered.
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About this report: The 2010 National Geographic Annual Report covers program activity and philanthropic giving to the National Geographic Society from January 1, 2010, through December 31, 2010
PROJECT MANAGER & LEAD EDITOR Leah Kalinosky
DESIGNER
Elizabeth McClain
EDITORS
Caroline Braun James Fay Betty Hudson Ann Maier Donna Rim Samantha Walsh
CONTRIBUTORS Dan Beaupre Suzanne Cole Betty Hudson Elena Guarinello Ben Shaw Samantha Walsh Tim Watkins
PHOTOGRAPHERS Octavio Aburto Bill Curtsinger Rebecca Hale Beverly Joubert Michael Kobe Sven Lindblad Michael Nichols Wes Skiles James A. Sugar Mark Thiessen Jakob Vinther Cheryl Zook
Eighty years ago, the polar bear population was triple of what it is today. The numbers only continue to decline... Unfortunately, they are only one out of the many animals, plants, and cultures struggling to survive as the results of climate changes and a growing population take effect. In preparation for the global changes 2011 will bring, join the National Geographic Society as we make an effort to document and preserve the struggling compontents of our world in hopes of up-keeping our world’s foundations for the future.
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