Publications

This summary of the Environmental Grantmakers Association’s Tracking the Field, vol. 3: Exploring Environmental
Grantmaking, provides the primary findings that will be analyzed in the full report which will be released on February 28th at the State of the States Briefing.

The findings of this document and the full report are broken in to five main areas: total environmental giving for all U.S.-based environmental grantmakers and EGA members specifically, giving by issue from all U.S.-based environmental grantmakers and EGA members specifically, geographic distribution of all environmental grants globally and global and domestic distribution for EGA members’ grants, strategies funded by EGA members, and regranting within EGA (grants between EGA members).

This report, made possible with a small grant from the Ford Foundation, analyzes global grantmaking trends in 2009 by EGA members using data from EGA’s 2009 Tracking the Field database of member grants in support of the environment. It also considers them around the themes of Rio+20, which are, a green economy and the institutional context for sustainable development. Additionally, it provides a snapshot of grants by issues and strategies in South America for its regional relevance. It qualifies these broad trends with data from interviews with a subset of EGA members—small, medium and large, who are engaged in global grantmaking—which surface their expectations and engagement with Rio+20 and related multilateral processes. EGA convened three meetings on Rio+20 in 2011. Relevant information from those are also incorporated. It concludes with some thoughts about Rio+20 and other such summits in the current context of local and global social movements.

This second volume of “Tracking the Field” represents a major step forward in our understanding of environmental philanthropy. Building on the findings of the first (2007) volume, this year’s report analyses the grants made by members of the Environmental Grantmakers Association (EGA) with a new level of detail and rigor. It also examines significantly more grants. In so doing, it provides new insights into our collective priorities.

This primer updates a 2005 report by the National Center for Charitable Statistics at the Urban Institute, The Broader Movement: Nonprofit Environmental and Conservation Organizations, 1989–2005. The 2005 report provided the first quantitative investigation of the broader environmental and conservation movement, based on data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax files. 

This new primer updates this broad analysis of environmental nonprofits to 2008, the latest year for which IRS data is complete.

With all the benefits of solar power and a growing market for renewable energy, why hasn’t there been a stronger push to take advantage of solar energy? Whatever the answer, plenty of opportunities exist for philanthropic initiatives that will advance the solar industry.

Environmental education (EE) aims to create an environmentally literate citizenry, poised and motivated to take action on pressing environmental issues—from climate change to habitat conservation and from endangered species to water scarcity. Environmental education is about engaging students, community members, policy makers, the young and the old. It is about empowerment, skills development, and providing opportunities for action. 

In 2008, EGA published “Confronting the Climate Challenge: Incorporating Climate Change into Your Funding Strategies” that looked at the impacts of climate change, and linkages to current investments in areas such as health care and education. This paper tries to encapsulate the key points discussed at a May 2009 Regional Salon focusing on mitigation and adaption strategies in the south, and aims to become a tool for EGA members interested in learning more about climate change, its impacts to their communities and ways that foundations can become involved. 

This report places U.S. foundation giving for ecotourism in the context of the broader tourism industry, details ecotourism’s promises and challenges, tracks its major sources of funding, and highlights needs and opportunities for interested foundations.

Situated at the intersection of water, energy, and agriculture issues in the Midwest is the rapidly growing field of biofuels. Interest in biofuels has surged along with the call for independence from Middle East oil. Depending on how biofuels are developed and which energy sources are used to manufacture them, growth in this area could bring environmental, economic, and community benefits—or it could place many systems, including freshwater ecosystems, at significant risk. Government policies, private-sector investment, and research priorities are already influencing the development of biofuel industries, and foundations are beginning to identify ways to foster this new energy industry in sustainable ways.