List of major U.S. environmental non-profits

One of my pet-peeves is wasting resources on overlapping and redundant tasks. Some non-profits have a lot of overlap in services and goals. I challenge organizations to cooperate and consolidate to use resources more efficiently and effectively.

I was hoping to create a list of major environmental non-profits, however I've come to realize many other people have already done this work...so I'm not going to waste my resources either.

National Resources Defense Council's list
*more extensive list with links

Mother Jones' list
*helpfully organized by category and includes a brief description and links

Hans Rosling

Environmental non-profits are sometimes stuck with the seemingly impossible task of persuading a skeptical or distracted audience. One of the best ways to persuade is with facts, data and research. But it's tough to convey complicated ideas in an way that the average person can understand, right?

Let me introduce you to Hans Rosling: a nerd that gets it! He will make you believe that it can be done!

Hans Rosling's "200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes"

Here's some other good stuff from Hans Rosling:
Talking at TED 2007
Gapminder

Convey your ideas in an interesting way

Americans already have short attention spans and with thousands of marketing messages and media bombarding them everyday, compelling content is a must!

With over 8 years of professional video and television work in my background, I can tell you first hand that the use of video media is exploding. Whether it be video billboards, Internet video, mobile video, long-form, short-form, :30 seconds, :15 seconds, 10 seconds or 5 seconds...CONTENT IS KING!

Creative, engaging content delivered to the appropriate audience at the appropriate time can be your most effective way to share your ideas. Here's an example of an entertaining environmental film "The Story of Stuff" by Annie Leonard.

Grass Roots vs. Grass Tops

For the first time I heard the term "grasstops" (or "grass tops") used in reference to advocacy efforts focused on the decision makers. This would essentially be the opposite approach of the popularized "grassroots" style of organizing the masses to blast policy makers in an effort to create change.

While I do not believe "grasstops" is a particularly new or popular term, it could be a great term to describe your planned advocacy strategy.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0607/4703.html