EGA President and CEO
I hope that this message finds you in health and strength as we begin the work of another cycle. It is with sensitivity to the fragility of our collective health that I write to mark the occasion of the infamous attack on our nation's capital, one year ago today.
The insurrection culminated in the deaths of at least five persons, caused injuries to countless hundreds and subjected each and all of us to some form of psychosocial scarring. Whether in person, on television or online we watched as years of violent and divisive speech, culminated in an atmosphere of chaos that violated the norms of civil society at the Capitol Building. Mob violence aimed at civil servants and the institutions threatened to further disfigure the democracy with lingering effect. Only time will tell whether the damage can be repaired. Across our nation, vigils memorialize the events, highlight the trauma and the call to action towards care and repair.
As an Association of Environmental Grantmakers we are united by our goal to facilitate the transition of healthy world with just and sustainable communities, economies and systems. And in service to that through line in our work and mission, it falls to each of us to remember, and to ask the following questions as we go about our work:
- Are we taking full advantage of our capacities to bolster a healthy democracy as the enabling condition of a healthy planet?
- Are we examining our institutional action or inaction for opportunities to stamp out the viability of racial inequity, and to increase the scale of intervention at this most fragile juncture?
- Are we waiting on others to act or speak? And if so, why?
- Who might be watching us for a sign, a spark or an invitation to act, amplify or assist?
Now is the only time we have to use our relationships, investments, and associations to tip the scales toward the broadest possible vision of democracy; to recognize the weakened condition of entire systems and to do our part, however big or small, to shore up the future for its own sake. The choice is ours whether we take the warnings of one year ago and show up fully in our role as convenors when what we need more than anything is to connect, to exchange and to move beyond raw conflict to generative space for new agreements.
EGA is committed to continuing to be a space for our members to find support in one another and to be challenged to think more boldly about our collective future. We are invested in building on our learnings on racial justice and remain accountable to this community and to the broader movement of Black, Indigenous and People of Color who have unceasingly led the call to action for the health of our democracy.
As service to our members, we are also digging deep for answers to these questions and will continue to partner, convene, amplify and promote your contributions to this dialogue. On this score, we hope you will join together with democracy champions, community representatives and funder colleagues at the Winter Briefing: Reconciling State and Federal Strategy for People and Planet March 1-2, where we hope to continue this conversation. You can share your ideas with this community and demonstrate your efforts at cultivating funder opportunities for meaningful action by submitting a session proposal by next Friday, January 14th.
We anticipate this will be our community’s next, best opportunity to prepare for what is ahead. Let’s connect, dialogue and be strategic in our agenda-setting to inform the opportunity we have to make change for years to come.
And if you have not seen them yet, please take a look at these timely offerings from EGA members reflecting on the anniversary of the insurrection and our call to action.
- Philanthropy Can Help Build a Thriving Democracy by Building Up Programs and Places That Fuel Civic Involvement by Stephen Heintz, President, Rockefeller Brothers Fund
- A Year After The January 6 Insurrection at The Capitol, the U.S. Must Shrug Off the Notion Of American Exceptionalism and Deepen its Efforts to Safeguard Democracy at Home and Abroad by American Jewish World Service
- The Real Work Persists by Jim Canales, President & Trustee, The Barr Foundation
We invite you to join in sharing your commitments to our future, send over any related notices, statements, or commitments, and the EGA team will amplify your voices within the community and through our channels and media.
In solidarity,
Tamara Toles O’Laughlin
President & CEO
Environmental Grantmakers Association
