Save the Dunes Council and Save the Dunes Conservation Fund have officially merged, effective Jan. 1, and are now known as “Save the Dunes.”

The merger was approved by membership on Nov. 21, 2009.

“While Save the Dunes Conservation Fund dba Save the Dunes has been named as the surviving non-profit corporation, the combined organization joins two extraordinary organizations and will allow Save the Dunes to achieve its broad mission with one voice,” President Deborah Chubb said in a statement released on Monday.

Save the Dunes Council, founded in 1952, is known for its successful efforts to create Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in 1966. “Through its leadership, eternal vigilance, and informed positions, Save the Dunes Council became a premier advocate on issues related to the environment and natural resources in Northwest Indiana and throughout the state,” the statement said.

Save the Dunes Conservation Fund, formed in 1994, has become well known for its efforts to establish watershed management plans and join stakeholders in the Dunes Creek and Salt Creek watersheds—“critical watersheds that impact the Indiana Dunes”—as well as for the conservation and stewardship of more than 500 acres of bio-diverse habitat in the region. “The organization also promotes sustainable development and stewardship, having educated more than 150 volunteers and school children this past year to build rain gardens, nurture native plants, control invasive species, and value their natural environment,” the statement said.

Under Internal Revenue Service regulations, not-for-profit 501(c)3s like the new Save the Dunes are permitted “to spend a limited amount of their budgets” on lobbying activities, Chubb told the Chesterton Tribune today. And Save the Dunes Council in past years has spent only “a fraction of that permitted amount” on lobbying.

“Our mission has not changed at all,” Chubb said. “In practical terms, our goals and programs will remain exactly the same.”

In fact, two other things have changed, however. A great deal of administrative duplication—accounting, for instance, fundraising, and stationary—will be eliminated, Chubb said. “It was a wasted expense. The merged organization will be much more efficient.”

And, a result of the merger, now most donations to the merged Save the Dunes will be fully tax deductible.

Charlotte Read, a member of the board, praised the merger. “It’s a good move,” she said. “The same activist spirit will continue to drive the new organization.”

Posted 1/12/2010