Audubon Employees Donate to Own Nonprofit in Hard Times

"We realized that we were all victims of a recession we didn't create but our staff said we don't want to act like victims. We want to go out to our donors and say we need your help now more than ever and how can we do that? ... The best way to raise money is to first give yourself," he said.

LAG TIME
The recession's impact is not immediately apparent in the annual reports of many conservation or animal welfare groups. But several financial statements examined by Reuters are until the end of 2007 or for a financial year that ended in mid-2008 -- just before the recession began to bite.