On behalf of the Board of Directors and the dedicated employees of the Catalina Island Conservancy, we thought it was important to set the record straight!
Some Islander readers may be tracking recent media attention on the Catalina Island Conservancy in this publication and the Los Angeles Times. The Catalina Island Conservancy is not under investigation nor has it ever been contacted by the Attorney General’s Office and to state otherwise would be absolutely false.
On behalf of the Board of Directors and the dedicated employees of the Catalina Island Conservancy, we thought it was important to set the record straight!
Some Islander readers may be tracking recent media attention on the Catalina Island Conservancy in this publication and the Los Angeles Times. The Catalina Island Conservancy is not under investigation nor has it ever been contacted by the Attorney General’s Office and to state otherwise would be absolutely false.
In fact, upon reading the allegation that we are under some kind of investigation we reached out to the Attorney General’s office to cooperate—only to be told, “if your organization were under investigation you would have already been contacted with formal inquiries and requests.”
The Attorney General’s Office also told us that it receives thousands of complaints but very few result in an investigation.
Should any complaints about the Conservancy be made, we are confident that the Attorney General’s Office would conclude that the Conservancy is a well run and effective organization.
We can unequivocally state that there has been neither misuse of funds nor any actions by the Board or its executive team that are inappropriate.
We are generally aware of the subject of allegations and complaints against the Conservancy and you can be assured our Board of Directors takes them all very seriously.
We conducted a thorough review with the aid of auditors and attorneys and, without any doubt, concluded there is no basis to the complaints or allegations.
At best, these allegations are simply misunderstandings of fact.
At worst, these allegations seem to be motivated by some desire to harm our organization, which we believe harms the Catalina Island community.
The Conservancy is proud of its accomplishments and continues to be steadfast in its mission to be a responsible steward of our lands through a balance of conservation, education and recreation.
We hold ourselves accountable to the highest professional standards in the non-profit sector.
All that said, people don’t always agree; it’s part of what makes us human. But we at the Conservancy believe we have a responsibility to our multi-faceted mission. We also have a responsibility to execute our mission in the most professional and dignified way – in our community, amongst our team members, with our supporters, and even with those who might not like everything we do.
We have a great team, and we are going to do our job well.
This past year we celebrated our 40th anniversary and we are proud of the long list of accomplishments in our stewardship of 88 percent of Catalina Island.
Every organization can do better. We are committed to Catalina Island and our community and we value your feedback. We sincerely would like to hear about how we can do our jobs better, but it’s also important to let us know what you think we are doing well. Tell us what you think at www.catalinaconservancy.com/feedback.
John Cotton is chair of the Catalina Island Conservancy Board of Directors and Ann Muscat is Conservancy’s president/CEO.
