ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has helped the National Wildlife Federation reimagine and transform its Garden for Wildlife program, expanding it to include a new e-commerce platform in response to unprecedented public demand during the past year.
For nearly 50 years, the National Wildlife Federation’s Garden for Wildlife has been providing information and resources to encourage the planting and continuation of gardens intended to support wildlife. During the COVID-19 pandemic there was a 50% jump in participation in Garden for Wildlife’s programs and a five-fold increase in the number of people seeking wildlife gardening tips online. In response, the National Wildlife Federation in 2020 began exploring how to create a revenue-generating enterprise that would help create a new community of wildlife gardeners and scale its impact.
During a three-month period, Accenture helped the National Wildlife Federation reimagine Garden for Wildlife, creating an interactive, e-commerce platform for native plants, which launched on Earth Day (April 22) this year. The revamped Garden for Wildlife site offers a step-by-step guide to enable easy, practical selection of garden-starting resources, based on criteria such as motivation of the gardener, type of location and growing conditions. Scientific criteria guide the selection of regionally appropriate native species to help pollinators and other wildlife thrive.
“The wildlife and climate crises demand innovative solutions to urgently and quickly scale our collective impact,” said Dawn Rodney, National Wildlife Federation’s chief innovation and growth officer. “We are seizing this great new opportunity to use science and technology to make it easy for new and veteran gardeners to plant native plants and help pollinators and other wildlife thrive.”
The e-commerce platform is currently available in 21 states in the U.S. Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest, with plans to extend it to the rest of the country over the next two years. It will also map gardens to show the impact on wildlife and build an online community where participants can engage in discussions with experts and seek advice from others in the community.
“The National Wildlife Federation’s adoption of a cloud-based platform makes the Garden for Wildlife program more accessible and will enable people to garden more easily using local native plants that support wildlife and address threats to the ecosystem,” said Kevin Ellenwood, global managing director leading Accenture’s Public Service Interactive team. “We’re excited to have supported the National Wildlife Federation on this impactful project, which underscores how all organizations should be looking at more creative, sustainable approaches to deliver their messages and services.”
Accenture’s Public Service industry group helps public-sector organizations embrace innovation and transform quickly to operate smarter, achieve more and improve services. To learn more, visit Accenture’s Public Service industry portal.
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About National Wildlife Federation
The National Wildlife Federation is America's largest conservation organization, uniting all Americans to ensure wildlife and people thrive together in a rapidly changing world. Follow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.