Northern Center faces financial woes, furloughs

Story by Amber McCain and Lizzy Hahn

After months of staff furloughs, financial strain and the executive director departing, the Northern Alaska Environmental Center, founded in 1971, is working to rebuild its operations and regain stability.

Photo by Amber McCain

Located on College Road, the Northern Alaska Environmental Center believes that a healthy environment is a prerequisite for a sustainable economy. Photo taken on Nov. 10, 2025.

On Sept. 10 the center’s board of directors released a letter stating that Elisabeth Dabney, former executive director, would be “concluding her service” with the Northern Center. Five days later, the board issued a second message announcing that they would be placing their programming on pause. This included furloughing all four staff members.

This rapid turnover came after board president, Krystal Lapp, conducted an internal board audit. She found that new board members had not been elected “for a while.” Typically, a new board member would be elected at the start of each year Lapp said.

According to an article by the Fairbanks Daily News Miner, the Northern Center has “two credit cards with limits at $25,000 and $85,000, one of them with an outstanding balance of $11,000.”

Financial records indicate that the center’s challenges has been building for years. According to its 990 tax forms, revenue more than doubled from $412,000 to $1.1 million between 2020 and 2021. By 2023, the Northern Center reported just under $1.3 million in revenue and $1.2 million in expenses. Dabney’s salary that year was listed as $100,000. Her salary in 2022 was listed as $78,914 and $36,982 in 2021.

Despite the growth in revenue, the Northern Center had reported losses, $180,000 in 2022, $135,000 in 2020 and $107,000 in 2019. 

Executive compensation is approved by the board. A former member of the board was contacted to confirm whether Dabney’s salary increases were authorized, but declined to answer when reached for comment. 

A nonprofit organization works to serve a social, educational, religious, or charitable purpose. 

Instead of making any profits, extra money goes back into its mission according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. They are run by boards and their work is funded through donations, grants, or program fees. The National Council of Nonprofits states that the focus of nonprofits is helping the public rather than generating private profit. 

Dabney also declined to comment when The Sun Star reached out regarding the financial issues, including the $15,000 loan from Trustees for Alaska that was presented to NAEC’s board as a grant. Dabney served as the executive director for more than ten years before the separation from the Northern Center in early September.  

As questions circulated about the $15,000 loan, when asked if Dabney was embezzling money, board member David Leslie said “we can’t talk about specific employees. We don't have any confirmation that that happened at this time.” 

Victoria Clark, executive director for Trustees for Alaska, also declined to comment on the loan pitched as a grant, but went on to praise the Northern Center for their role in Alaska for over 50 years. 

“They’ve done amazing work with a very small staff,” Clark said. She added that she hopes the community supports the Northern Center as they work through a hard financial time.

These challenges were not entirely new. Northern Alaska Environmental Center board members Krystal Lapp and David Leslie both recounted a difficult past few years of structural issues, a lack of board quorum, and other systemic problems that had set a state for this crisis to unfold.

In August of this year the board met to get a financial update.

“We knew things were tight but thought we could make payroll,” Lapp said. However, a week later, the board was informed that they could not make payroll. This led them to furlough their four staff members. 

“One day at a time.”  Leslie said, reflecting the board’s cautious approach to rebuilding. 

“We’re still working on grants and reaching back out to foundations that we’d kind of lost touch with,” Lapp said. “Anything that’s being applied for right now would anticipate funds in spring of next year.” The Northern Center is in the process of applying for grants to help out until the spring, however Lapp mentioned that these smaller grants are not enough to sustain long-term operations.

Rather than immediately seeking a new executive director, the board decided to focus on paying off their debts and stabilizing finances first.

“Executive directors, good ones, don’t fall out of the sky,” President Lapp said. 

In the interim, the three board members are leading operations collectively. The Northern Center’s third board member, Jefferey Groenke was unavailable to join the meeting. In the meantime, the board has begun reaching out to furloughed staff, though it’s still uncertain how many will return.

As part of the plan to stabilize and improve the organization, the NAEC board trio has begun creating several committees. These committees are designed to distribute responsibility, and ensure transparency. 

“The idea is to divide the work so that no one person carries the entire burden,” Lapp said. “Committees allow us to focus on specific areas like finances, community engagement, and programming while making sure everything is ethical and sustainable." 

The board sees the new committees as a tool in restoring trust with staff, donors, and partner organizations. 

Lapp emphasized returning to the Northern Center’s grassroots origins.

“Northern Center started out with volunteers. That’s part of getting back to our grassroots.” She acknowledged past missteps stating that harm has been caused, to past employees, current employees, and partner organizations. 

“When we start rebuilding, we need to listen to those we’ve hurt and reflect on where we went wrong,” Lapp said.

Lapp noted that while the situation is difficult, it’s not unique.

“We’re not the first organization to go through something like this, and we won’t be the last,” Lapp said. But it’s a learning curve for all of the conservation movement in Alaska. In fact, we are the poster children.”

Despite the difficulties, there are signs of a renewed sense of community support as longtime donors, some of whom had previously given modestly, have reached out to increase their contributions. 

“It tells me they believe in us,” Lapp said. 

As the Northern Center navigates its financial challenges, long-standing partners have also stepped up. Michael Barber, president and chief executive officer of the Alaska Community Foundation, explained that his organization is helping the Northern Center through grants from an endowed fund. 

“The Northern Center has been giving us money each year to build an endowment,” Barber said. “Think of it as a rainy day fund. Now, we’re awarding them grants from that fund to help pay off any outstanding liabilities.” Barber continued to say that “it’s pretty standard for foundations” to have this fund available.

“We’ve worked closely with the Northern Center for 45 years. They’re a really important grassroots organization.” Barber said. 

Motivated by personal convictions and a sense of responsibility, the new leadership is determined to move forward ethically, legally, and transparently. 

“We’re big on ethics,” Lapp said. “We need to make sure everything we do is sustainable. I believe in what Northern Center does. We could have dissolved, but there’s too much at stake to walk away without fighting for it first.”

Leslie, an Alaska Native, brings an Indigenous perspective to environmental advocacy. With his personal connection to Kotzebue, where his mother was born, he’s concerned about climate change and the erosion of his ancestral lands. Leslie hopes  to take his mother back one day before the landscape changes forever. 

“If we don’t take the environment seriously, it’s the loss of culture, of way of life. It is genocide. And I want to do my part to prevent that.” Leslie included. 

Looking ahead, the Northern Alaska Environmental Center is focusing on community involvement as a cornerstone of its recovery. 

On Nov. 21, the Center will host “Night for the North” in the Wood Center ballroom at UAF. The annual event includes a benefit dinner and auction to raise funds and awareness to protect Alaska’s lands, waters and communities.