The Bureau of Land Management’s congressionally authorized foundation has hired a senior official with years of fundraising experience to help it recruit donors and raise money to assist the federal government’s largest landowner.
The Foundation for America’s Public Lands, established by Congress in 2017 but only up and running the past two years, announced Thursday it has tapped David Zhang as its first-ever chief development officer.
Zhang will be responsible “for developing and executing successful fundraising strategies and cultivating a network of philanthropic donors to sustain and grow the Foundation,” the group said.
The foundation was formally launched by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in January 2022 as the independent, charitable arm of BLM. It’s mission includes raising private funding that can be matched by federal appropriations to help the bureau address public lands management issues across the 245 million acres it oversees.
