Over 30 years ago, leaders of nature and environmental learning centers began to share ideas, experiences, and hard-won professional knowledge. Those conversations soon became the Association of Nature Center Administrators (ANCA), a professional association dedicated to leaders in the nature and environmental learning center profession, including directors, managers, senior administrators and board members. ANCA is the only such organization in North America and supports over 700 dues-paying members. See our Member Map here.
Mission
The Association of Nature Center Administrators promotes and supports best leadership and management practices for the nature and environmental learning center profession.
Core Values
As an Organization, a Staff, and a Board;
- We are an Inclusive, Welcoming, and Supportive Community.
- We value Learning and Sharing.
- We believe that the Collective Wisdom and Diversity of our Peer Network is our greatest resource.
Vision of Success ANCA 2025
ANCA’s Vision of Success statements represents a desired future by 2025. Some Vision of Success goals may be attained in a much shorter time frame while others may continue into the next strategic plan.
By 2025:
- ANCA will have organizational capacity and financial stability to meet its current and future objectives.
- ANCA will maintain best practices that promote diversity, equity, and inclusiveness within our membership and the profession.
- ANCA will continue to recognize and promote its core values while responding & adapting to trends within the dynamic profession.
- ANCA will be the leading source for professional development tools and relevant resources for leaders and aspiring leaders in the nature and environmental field.
- ANCA will explore and define our voice toward relevant advocacy and civic engagement.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Statement
ANCA will model diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in all our policies, practices and procedures. ANCA will:
- Create a diverse, equitable and inclusive membership by recruiting members from all arenas of the nature center and environmental learning profession as well as by retaining current members.
- Communicate our policies and procedures related to diversity, equity and inclusion to our members and non-members alike.
- Conduct programs and provide services that support and encourage our membership to include DEI policies and strategies in their work in their own communities
- Collect, conduct and share best practices related to our work on DEI to the profession.
We welcome feedback from the ANCA Community in this effort. See our always-evolving list of DEI resources here and as well as our statement on racial justice in 2020.
Public Policy and Advocacy Strategy
ANCA may take public positions on governmental and non-governmental activities when these activities may impact our ability or capacity to accomplish our mission or affect the nature and environmental learning center profession and professionals. Our plan and strategies will focus on actions that impact the ANCA community at large.
As part of this strategy, ANCA will:
- work to connect ANCA members to public policy and advocacy resources they need to unify in response to an issue.
- work to expand public awareness of issues that affect our members and profession.
- work to increase financial support to the field of nature and outdoor education.
- work to ensure that public access to nature and open spaces is inclusive and equitable.
- work to build relationships to elevate our public policy and advocacy work.
Our plan will include calls to action when we need our members and the nature and environmental learning center profession to perform an action to call attention to an issue. Learn more about our Public Policy and Advocacy Strategy here (pdf).
Land Acknowledgement
ANCA’s staff operates remotely throughout what is today the United States. Our main office is located on the ancestral and contemporary land of the Eastern Shoshone and Shoshone-Bannock in Logan, Utah, and our remote staff work and live on the land of the Anishinaabe peoples in Detroit, Michigan, and also on the land of the Shawnee and Miami, in Dayton, Ohio. We acknowledge that all of these peoples have endured extreme violence and forced removal throughout colonial history, and that the violent history continues today. We aspire to fully honor the legacy of these Indigenous peoples and to respect the lands we are on.
