The Great Lakes Town Hall is a program of Biodiversity Project, a non-profit organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. Biodiversity Project serves as a strategic communications resource for environmental and conservation advocates, developing, testing and sharing innovative outreach strategies that foster sustainable individual behavior and public policy.

Biodiversity Project is also responsible for creating Great Lakes Forever, a public education initiative designed to raise awareness of the value and vulnerability of the Great Lakes. The program, initially launched in Wisconsin in 2004, expanded to Chicago in 2005 with the support of the John G. Shedd Aquarium and other Chicago partners. Great Lakes Forever partners share a common desire to create a broader, more engaged constituency that sees reasons to get involved in protecting the Great Lakes.

The Great Lakes Town Hall is funded by a grant from the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat & Network Fund (GLAHNF), a project of the Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council. GLAHNF's programs are designed to increase the ability of grassroots groups and individuals to succeed in advocacy projects to protect rivers, lakes, and wetlands in the Great Lakes basin.