GRANTMAKING: Creating an Environmental Grant Portfolio that Integrates Diverse Interests

The board of a $25 million private foundation had diverse environmental interests from wildlife to open space. Its broad funding guidelines supported environment, population, and health programs through a range of issues and strategies. The board looked to Philanthropy Advisors to integrate its members’ interests into a coherent grant strategy that maximized the impact of the Foundation’s grant dollars.

Reviewing Program History
Philanthropy Advisors began by analyzing and categorizing grants in the category of Environment, Population, and Health (EPH) over the previous five years. Environmental grants fit into two broad categories of air and water quality and land conservation. Population and health issues, on the other hand, had received few grants, and none had any connection to the environmental issues that were clearly the board’s primary interest. Staff recommended that the board support only population and health work that complemented its environmental program. In this way, the Foundation could direct its support toward the issue areas it found most compelling.

Integrating Diverse Interests and Passions
Philanthropy Advisors worked with board members, providing information about the links between air and water quality and the role of land conservation, especially watershed protection, in ensuring water quality. Staff also educated the board about the relationship between population and environmental issues, highlighting the need to address family planning and natural resource management together in regions of great biodiversity. Philanthropy Advisors also noted that the board’s commitment to environmental conservation could guide its giving in the area of health. A degraded natural environment – for instance, poor air quality and polluted water – has a negative effect on human health. The Foundation’s environmental grants could be targeted to environmental organizations whose work is dedicated to protecting not only the natural environment, but also human health.

In terms of strategy, litigation and advocacy were natural choices for the Foundation whose namesake had had a prominent legal career. Additionally, although environmental litigation is an essential tactic for effectively protecting natural resources, it is supported by only a handful of funders. Thus, the Foundation’s support of litigation would help to fill a gap in the field of environmental funding.

With the Foundation’s tighter focus on an interrelated set of issues and strategies, Philanthropy Advisors worked with long-time grantees to identify specific projects that aligned with the Foundation’s new approach, while also introducing the board to new grantees as appropriate. The coherence of the integrated grant portfolio strengthened the impact of the grants made through this Environment, Population, and Health program.

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