Organizations Filed Purposes:
AERO is a statewide, grassroots membership organization that, through network weaving, education, advocacy, and community engagement, has been empowering communities to nurture and promote more sustainable Montana food systems since 1974.
NETWORK WEAVING & EDUCATION: Key to AEROs success in developing community leaders and inspiring community models for sustainable agriculture, food systems, and renewable energy across the state is bringing people together to learn from one another through workshops, panel discussions, webinars and community gatherings designed to promote learning and knowledge-building, connection, networks, resource-sharing, problem-solving and finding common ground. Wild Dinners in Missoula, Helena, Bozeman & Billings gathered hunters, anglers, farmers, ranchers & gardeners to share MT-grown/harvested meals & stories of shared values in land stewardship, local food, & sustainability. AEROs Expo brought 300 people from around the state to Bozeman for three days of tours, DIY workshops, discussions, & knowledge-sharing on on-farm resiliency; renewable energy; food system cross-sector engagement; and building inclusivity & racial equity into MTs ag & food system practices.
FOOD SYSTEMS PROGRAMMING: AERO takes action on solutions that build sustainable community food systems to co-create the best future for Montanans. The Montana Food Economy Initiative (MFEI) worked with producer-led teams in four regions of the state to: (1) identify and bring together community food system stakeholders; (2) evaluate the state of the community-based food systems, and (3) develop a strategic plan for food system enhancement. Across all regions, a key success experienced by the teams was the collaboration of people from across a food system - food providers, processors, distributors, consumers (eaters), and waste recovery. This cross-system engagement brought new eyes and ideas to existing barriers, allowing creative solutions to unfold, new partnerships and collaborations to form, and a felt-sense of how a robust local food system operates. One team went on to form its own collective to strengthen cross-system engagement in their food system.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: AERO serves as a statewide information resource hub on sustainability topics, particularly those relating to agroecological practices, renewable energy, resilient community food systems, and policy and legislative matters relating to food systems. AERO shares information and resources in these topic areas through its website, monthly eNews, quarterly Sun Times, social media outreach, member interviews, and periodic webinars.
Executives Listed on Filing
Total Salary includes financial earnings, benefits, and all related organization earnings listed on tax filing
| Name | Title | Hours Per Week | Total Salary |
|---|
| Jennifer Battles | CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR | 40 | $50,000 |
| Lindsay Ganong | CO - EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR | 40 | $50,000 |
| Dodie Andersen | Director | 1 | $0 |
| Kendra Proue | Director | 1 | $0 |
| Amelia Liberatore | DIRECTOR | 1 | $0 |
| Theresa Cox | TREASURER | 4 | $0 |
| Janet Hess-Herbert | Director | 1 | $0 |
| Robin Kelson | CO-CHAIR | 4 | $0 |
| Mark Juedeman | CO-CHAIR | 4 | $0 |
| Rebecca Meyers | DIRECTOR | 1 | $0 |
| Grace Brogan | SECRETARTY | 4 | $0 |
Data for this page was sourced from XML published by IRS (
public 990 form dataset) from:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/irs-form-990/202012619349300326_public.xml