Staff Spotlight: JD Downs

JD Downs serves as Birds Georgia's Director of Finance and Administration.

By Steve Phenicie

(This is the 70th in a series on Birds Georgia volunteers, board members, and staff.)

The next time you give Birds Georgia a million dollars (or any lesser sum), your generous contribution is sure to pass through the hands of JD Downs, the organization’s new Director of Finance and Administration, who began work in March.

JD sums up her job as follows: “We at Birds Georgia create places where birds and people thrive, and I am the kind of person who loves creating an environment within an  organization where the folks within the organization can thrive.” She does everything from paying the bills to human resources to insurance matters and keeping track of spreadsheets, budgets, and grants. And don’t forget the internet technology work. “Anything to do with money or keeping the lights on (except during Lights Out!) ,” she said. For about nine months in 2024 she was systems coordinator for Birds Georgia.

Birding? She wasn’t hired for that, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t a birder. She’ll be taking the Master Birder class in the fall and eventually hopes to lead field trips. Right now she tends her backyard feeders, “befriends crows,” (a bird she holds special affection for) and enjoys watching live bird cams. 

Her business background, volunteer work, and interests are extensive. Among them: Directly before coming to Birds Georgia she was finance manager at PAWS Atlanta, a no-kill shelter that finds homes for about 1,000 dogs and cats per year. She was the founder of Atlanta Tech Citizens, a collective of volunteers who worked to deepen the connections between tech professionals  and nonprofits. She also had a long career in tech and user experience design where she worked for local startups like MailChimp, volunteer think tank Points of Light, and was a designer on healthcare.gov. 

She has been a board member, director of operations and treasurer of Y’all Rock Camp, an Atlanta music day camp for girls, trans, and gender expansive youth that offers them a chance to form a band and perform at the end of the week. She’s been on the board of her neighborhood association and was president of a condo association. She is a long-time musician but now focuses on painting – mostly birds and dogs so far. 
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JD, a native of Atlanta, holds a bachelor’s degree in general studies and finance from Southern New Hampshire University and also has studied at Georgia State University. She and her husband, Koby, who works for Atlanta Habitat for Humanity, live in Decatur with their two rescue dogs, James and Icee, and have a 21-year-old daughter, Mason, who is studying computer science at the University of Florida.