Detailed Agenda

Saturday, September 20, 2008

10:00pm – 6:00pm ~ EGA Board of Directors Meeting

Pre-Retreat Field Trips  

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Pre-Retreat Field Trips continued

Learning Institutes

5:00pm – 6:00pm ~ Newcomers Welcome Reception
Are you new to philanthropy? Is this your first EGA retreat? Please join us and meet colleagues, new and old, and explore opportunities for collaboration.

6:00pm – 8:30pm ~ Welcome Reception,  Pavilion
Join us for a memorable, delicious introduction to the Hudson Valley regional food system and its vital connection to the larger New York metropolitan area. We will feature local and regional food producers and enthusiasts to showcase the region’s best of the season while you relax and reconnect with colleagues.

Expect special activities such as a silent auction and great music by a student jazz trio from SUNY New Paltz!

8:45pm – 10:00pm ~ Beldon Fireside Farewell
After three decades of working to protect our environment the Beldon Fund has spent down. Enjoy a toasty fire and converse with members of the Beldon team – John Hunting, Bill Roberts, Azade Ardali and Anita Nager – at this historic moment in environmental philanthropy.

Monday, September 22, 2008 - Funder Only Day

This day will allow funders, trustees and foundation investment officers to have frank and productive time with their peers.

6:30am – 7:30am ~ Yoga Class

7:30am – 8:45am ~ Breakfast

Affinity Group Coordinators Breakfast (invite only, contact ldavila@ega.org for info)

9:00am – 10:00am ~ Opening Ceremony
        
Welcoming Remarks:
Lee-Hoon Benson & Chet Tchozewski, Program Committee Chairs

Spiritual Welcome:
Dan Longboat, Ph.D
Dan Longboat is Mohawk from the Six Nations of the Grand River. He is Director of the Indigenous Environmental Studies Program at Trent. Dan is known for his traditional Haudenosaunee knowledge and has taught Mohawk culture at Trent in addition to his work in Indigenous Environmental Studies. He was the first Director of Studies of its Ph.D. program. Dan is completed his Ph.D. in Environmental Studies at York University.

10:15am – 12:15pm ~ Featured Conversation: Moving Your Assets to Address Climate Change

EGA’s members control more than$200 billion in assets and distribute about $600 million to environmental issues annually, leading to numerous victories over time. Given the gravity of climate change, shouldn’t foundations explore how to mobilize the full weight of their assets to create climate solutions?

This session will explore strategies and tactics in use by EGA members. In addition to hearing from practitioners of mission-related investing, proxy voting and increased pay out; small group discussions and instant polling will help us identify and work through the advantages and pitfalls of tapping into the other 95% of foundation assets.

Moderator
Jenny D. Russell, Executive Director, Merck Family Fund

Speakers
Richard Woo, Chief Executive Officer, Russell Family Foundation
Leslie Lowe, Board Chair, Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation
William McCalpin, Trustee, The F.B. Heron Foundation

12:30pm – 1:30pm ~ Lunch, Pavilion

Special Appreciation Luncheon for 2008 EGA Committee Members and Project Funders (by invitation)

1:45pm – 3:15pm ~ Concurrent Sessions

Philanthropy's New Passing Gear: A Workshop on Harmonizing Giving and Investing
With billion in the endowments of 72 private foundations in the U.S., the time has come to unleash these resources in alternative ways to achieve impact beyond the power of grants. The funds can act as a catalyst for social change through market-driven investments that promote a foundation’s program objectives. This workshop focuses on translating the concepts of mission-related investing into practices that create an investment strategy aligned with foundation values. This session will lay out a how-to roadmap for collaboration between program and investment teams to accelerate new ideas that can change the way we serve and help others.

Facilitator
Doug Bauer, Senior Vice President, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
        
Speaker
Steven Godeke, Consultant, Godeke Consulting

Money Isn't Everything: Providing Assistance Beyond the Grant Check
Many foundations see themselves as doing much more than making grants. But little is known about what is currently done or about the impact of these efforts. What are foundations providing? What types of assistance beyond the grant do grantees most need and value? What works and what doesn’t in the provision of assistance beyond the grant? The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) explored these and other related questions. CEP will share research findings and practical information about how foundations like yours can best use assistance beyond the grant to support grantee organizations and create impact.

Facilitator
Paul Beaudet, Associate Director, Wilburforce Foundation
        
Speakers
Ellie Buteau, Ph.D., Senior Research Officer, Center for Effective Philanthropy
Cassie Bolanos, Research Analyst, Center for Effective Philanthropy

Can Local Communities Be Our Friends?
In solving environmental problems, local communities often get a bad rap. They are perceived as too small to impact massive global or regional threats, or as the self-interested exploiters of the natural resource base.  Yet grassroots efforts are increasingly the key to effectively addressing many environmental challenges. They can be a critical complement to regulatory approaches to environmental protection and restoration.  Our speakers will share why they believe it is important to build local capacity to address environmental, economic and social issues, analyzing key components of successful (and unsuccessful) community-based environmental grantmaking in the US and beyond.

Facilitator
Jennifer Sokolove, Program Officer, Compton Foundation
        
Speakers
Jeffery Campbell, Senior Program Officer, Ford Foundation
Chet Tchozewski, Executive Director, Global Greengrants Fund

Beyond the Power Dynamic: Building Equal Partnerships With Grantseekers
Long-term change, such as building a sustainable and equitable world, is a big challenge. It will take the coordinated vision and talents of everyone, including a broad variety of activists and funders, working together. But too often, grantmakers and grantseekers seem to come from different, even colliding worlds, and power imbalances make it difficult to work in equal partnership. In small group sessions, we’ll explore these challenges; share experiences and thoughts; learn about a new effort to develop operating guidelines for collaboration; and discuss ongoing opportunities for dialogue and learning among funders and with allies.

Facilitator
Millie Buchanan, Program Officer, Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation
        
Speaker
Charlene Allen, Deputy Director, The Funding Exchange

Creative Partnerships between Corporations, Foundations and Others
Increasingly, foundations are partnering with corporations (not corporate foundations) in creative ways to meet shared goals. This session will examine two case studies. The first involves the Global Water Challenge (GWC), an intermediary funder of international safe drinking water and sanitation projects. This collaboration began with the Coca-Cola Company and the United Nations Foundation and now includes many other companies, foundations and organizations. The second involves a habitat protection partnership between Wal-Mart and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Facilitator
Mark Van Putten, Consultant, Wege Foundation
           
Speakers
Tanvi Nagpal, Director of Water and Sanitation Initiatives, Global Water Challenge
Don A. Moseley, P.E., Director of Sustainable Facilities within Real Estate Division, Wal-Mart
Peter Stangel, Director of Science and Evaluation, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

New Approaches to Impact Assessment
Impact measurement is an issue receiving widespread attention.  Both grantors and grantees are struggling to determine how to meaningfully assess impact without getting caught in measuring things that don't really capture the complexity of social and environmental challenges.  The field is dynamic and evolving, making it all the more difficult to determine the right approach for any funder or nonprofit. 
This session will offer insights on how to appropriately and effectively measure impact in a variety of contexts, with an overview of approaches to impact measurement, including two newly developed and provocative examples. 

Facilitator
Bruce Boyd, Principal, Arabella Advisors
           
Speakers
Barbara Wyckoff-Baird, Principal, Dynamica (invited)
Lee Bodner, Executive Director, ecoAmerica
Nick Salafsky, Co-Director, Foundations of Success

Have Diversity Efforts Failed? Taking a Hard Look and the Implications for Philanthropic Impact

As climate change moves front and center as a global issue, funders and grantees will craft the best strategies and solutions if diverse stakeholders are represented at the table. But why have diversity efforts yielded such meager results in all sectors? This interactive session will present a new framework for addressing hidden barriers. Borne of rigorous research and 30 years as a practitioner, Dr. Kapor Klein will combine stories and data from a range of individuals and organizations. It will present practical steps that funders and grantees can take to have diversity become a core part of every organization and improve foundations’ impact.

Facilitator
Danielle Deane, Program Officer, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Speaker
Dr. Freada Kapor Klein, Trustee, The Mitchell Kapor Foundation and author, “Giving Notice: Why the Best and the Brightest Leave the Workplace and How You Can Help Them Stay”

3:30pm – 4:30pm ~ Ad Hocs Round 1

5:00pm – 6:00pm ~ Ad Hocs Round 2

6:30pm-8:00pm ~ Dinner

Trustee Dinner Event (invitation only)
Join a gathering of trustees and the EGA Board of Directors for a special dinner conversation with Gus Speth, Dean of the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies at Yale University and Trustee of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

8:15pm – 10:00pm ~ Cultural Evening

The Wizard of Beldon  8:15-8:45pm
 Ollabelle 8:45-10pm

Art Auction Winners Announced

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

6:15am – 7:15am ~ Yoga Class

7:15am – 8:15am ~ Breakfast

Climate Coordinators Group Breakfast (invitation only)

8:30am – 10:00am ~ Keynote: Dr. Vandana Shiva

Vandana Shiva, physicist, feminist, philosopher of science, writer and science policy advocate, is the Director of The Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy. She serves as an ecology advisor to several organizations including the Third World Network and the Asia Pacific People's Environment Network. In 1993 she was the recipient of the Right Livelihood Award, commonly known as the "Alternative Nobel Prize". A contributing editor to People-Centered Development Forum, she has also written several works include, Staying Alive, The Violence of the Green Revolution, Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge, Monoculutures of the Mind and Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit.

10:15am – 11:45am ~ Concurrent Sessions

Integrating Federal and Sub-Federal Approaches to Climate Action
In the absence of federal leadership on climate change, more than 30 states and almost 800 cities have begun reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Now, as federal policymakers gear up to craft national policy, they appear only vaguely aware that state and city action are important assets to an integrated national approach. How these three levels of government mesh their efforts into a combined approach is both a key challenge and opportunity over the next two to three years, and the topic of this panel discussion.

Facilitator
Michael Northrop, Program Director, Rockefeller Brothers Fund
        
Speakers
Bill Becker, Executive Director, Presidential Climate Action Project
Thomas Suozzi, County Executive, Nassau County
Brian T. Turner, Deputy Director, Office of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

Carbon Credit and Forest People: A Case Study Up Close and Personal
A conversation and dramatization from a real-life study will present the case of forest communities that used carbon credit to plant and protect forests in one of the world’s most bio-diverse regions of Central America. You will hear from a Honduran community leader who, along with his US colleague, transformed illegal loggers into tree planters that led the establishment of one of the most recognized forestry-based carbon offset projects under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism.
You will draw your own conclusion based on facts about the social and environmental impact of carbon trading and forestry.

Facilitator
Ken Wilson, Executive Director, The Christensen Fund
        
Speakers
Shaun Paul, Executive Director, Ecologic Development Fund
Saul Bastillo, Community Leader, Pico Bonito National Park Foundation (invited)
Rafael Sambula, Project Manager, Pico Bonito National Park Foundation

You Say Potatoes, I Say Plastics: Green Chemists and Environmental Health Advocates' Recipe for Economic Development
Your community has struggled with polluting facilities, contaminated waterways and toxic products. What's the alternative? Hear a fascinating story of one experiment to blend green chemistry genius, environmental health advocacy and sustainable agriculture into an economic development strategy for Maine to turn waste-potatoes into plastics and textiles. We'll hear from two critical "chefs" about this recipe’s ingredients for success, and discuss opportunities to cook up other solutions stories. Presenters will include an environmental health leader whose advocacy around toxics led to economic development, and one of the pioneers of green chemistry whose scientific know-how has helped make this story possible.

Facilitator
Diane Ives, Fund Advisor, The Kendeda Fund
        
Speakers
Dr. John C. Warner, Co-Founder & President, Warner-Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry & Beyond Benign
Michael Belliveau, Executive Director, The Environmental Health Strategy Center

Population Growth: The OTHER Environmental Issue
Climate change, biodiversity loss, sprawl–every critical environmental issue is affected by population growth. But progress on population issues is stalled by the volatile politics of abortion and immigration and the checkered history of population policies. This session features two visionaries offering ways to break the stalemate and craft sustainable and just population policies. Robert Engelman’s new book claims that meeting the aspirations of women is key: mothers aren’t seeking more children, he argues, but more for their children. Laurie Mazur calls for focusing on the inequalities, both gender and economic, that underlie rapid population growth and environmental degradation.

Facilitator
Susan Gibbs, Consulting Program Officer, Wallace Global Fund
        
Speakers
Laurie Mazur, Author, Island Press
Robert Engelman, Vice President, Worldwatch Institute

Water, Energy and Climate Change: Connections and Solutions
Humanity's demands for energy and water are on a collision course.  It takes water to make energy, and it takes energy to make water potable and to pump it to where it is needed.  Climate change and population growth exacerbate this clash. Energy demand will grow 50% in twenty years as urban water demand grows by 40%.  Simultaneously, glaciers and mountain snow-pack continue melting away. This panel will explore how meeting our water and energy needs in a climate-challenged world is beginning to open new opportunities for creative water policy and technological solutions, while also engendering new environmental battles.

Facilitator
Judy Adler, Program Officer, Turner Foundation
        
Speakers
Dr. Richard A. Meganck, Director, UNESCO Institute for Water Education
Heather Cooley, Senior Research Associate, Pacific Institute's Water Program

Driving Down Driving: From the Nation's Capital to Your Community and All Points in Between
Transportation and climate policies at the federal and state levels are harmonizing around the common objectives of expanding travel choices while reducing the need to drive. Co-benefits of this approach include carbon reduction (transportation represents 33% of domestic, sector-based emissions), reduced congestion, public health, smart growth, biodiversity preservation and social equity. Top-down (federal) and bottom-up (state and community-based) policies will be presented by knowledgeable leaders, with participants engaging in a discussion of specific opportunities to advance transportation choices for healthy, equitable and carbon-efficient communities.

Facilitator
Nick Turner, Managing Director, Rockefeller Foundation
        
Speakers
Geoff Anderson, Executive Director, Smart Growth America
Janette Sadik-Kahn, Commissioner, New York City Department of Transportation

Shareholder Activism: Mobilizing the Market for Social Change
Shareholder activism uses the power of stock ownership to make positive changes in corporations’ environmental and social practices. It has been successful in halting environmentally damaging practices and complements the grassroots campaigns many of us fund by providing internal and external pressure on companies, thus increasing the effectiveness of both efforts and maximizing our grantmaking power. It extends campaigns to non-traditional partners such as the financial and religious communities and influences corporations and financial markets in a way that grassroots activist can't readily tap into. Learn about this growing movement including the global warming and environmental health shareholder campaigns.

Facilitator
Michael Passoff, Associate Director, As You Sow Foundation
        
Speakers
Sister Pat Daly, Coordinator, Global Warming Shareholder Campaign, Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment
Dr. Richard Liroff, Coordinator, Investor Environmental Health Network

Carrying the Torch: Young People in Philanthropy Taking Action on the Environment
Young people are working at the leading edge of environmental philanthropy. Through a combination of social-change grantmaking and leveraging their privileged positions as individual donors, trustees, and/or philanthropy professionals, the next generation of environmental philanthropy is coming of age. Come hear young people describe their work, the support systems they rely on, and best practices for intergenerational partnerships.

This session is open to all ages and is part of EGA Fall Retreat's Young Grantmakers track.

Facilitator
Dana Betterton, Senior Associate, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors

Speakers
Helen Gemmill, Global Greengrants Fund
Leslie Goldstein, Lynda Goldstein Foundation
Anthony Colon, Funders Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities

12:00pm – 1:00pm ~ Lunch, Inside

1:00pm – 2:30pm ~ Featured Conversation: Five Minutes to Doomsday or Newday: Accelerating Solutions to Climate Change
We are running out of time to address the effects of climate change. Without wholesale rewiring of the global economy, protection of the ecosystems that support life and more sustainable urban development, a warming planet will become inhospitable for plants, animals and human beings. Solutions to the climate change crisis exist in market economies, the planet’s ecosystems and the built environment. In this plenary, three experts will discuss how technological innovation can lead to a new energy platform; ecosystems can provide solutions to carbon; and investments in urban infrastructure can sustain humanity in preventing and adapting to climate change.

Facilitator
Kennette Benedict, Trustee, Compton Foundation

Speakers
Dr. Ji-Qiang Zhang, Vice President of Programs, Blue Moon Fund
Dr. Neva Goodwin, Global Development and Environment Institute,
Tufts University and Vice Chair, Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Dr. Evan M. Notman, Environmental Conservation Program Manager, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

2:45pm – 4:15pm ~ Concurrent Sessions

The Missing Basics: Water and Sanitation for the World
There's no more basic environmental problem: access to clean drinking water and safe disposal of one's daily human wastes.  Yet these twin necessities remain elusive for one-third of the world.  That lack, likely to be exacerbated by climate change, triggers most of the world's environmental diseases and harms watersheds and aquifers.  Water and sanitation contribute 50% towards the Millennium Development Goal for Environmental Sustainability.  With the problem so solvable, America's philanthropies, environmental organizations and Congress are responding.  This session emphasizes practical ways to increase global access to safe, affordable water and sanitation while focusing on unprecedented opportunities for philanthropic collaboration.

Facilitator
David Douglas, Trustee, Wallace Genetic Foundation; President, Water Advocates
        
Speakers
Patricia Dandonoli, President & CEO, WaterAid America
Michael L. Smith, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist, Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, Conservation International

The Radical Center: Unlikely Allies Coming to Yes
This session will highlight the groundbreaking multi-stakeholder agreement in the Klamath River Basin, which may facilitate the largest dam removal in US history. Tribes, ranchers, environmentalists, agency officials and business owners reached a settlement. This “radical center” addresses livelihood, cultural survival, economic sustainability and the environment. Lessons are to be learned from this effort for any strategic ecosystem scale campaign. EGA’ers interested in native fisheries restoration, environmental justice and indigenous rights, shareholder activism and what a new land ethic could look like that combines land stewardship with sustainable community development will want to participate in this workshop.

Facilitator
Martin Goebel, Trustee, Compton Foundation
        
Speakers
Craig Tucker, Lead Organizer, Karuk Tribe
Becky Hatfield Hyde, Rancher, Yainix Partnership

Green Collar Jobs: Building the Clean Energy Economy
The call for Green Collar Jobs is gaining traction, from national presidential debates to city halls to activist community meetings. It’s a powerful rallying cry that links economic, social and racial justice with national service and building a clean-energy economy powerful enough to solve global warming. Merging a positive investment agenda for climate solutions with a restorative plan to rebuild communities offers hope, but what does it mean in real terms? This session will explore the state of play on national policy and community based initiatives, and the potential for Green Collar Jobs to grow the climate movement.

Facilitator
Ellen Dorsey, Executive Director, Wallace Global Fund
        
Speakers
Dave Foster, US Steelworkers & BlueGreen Alliance

Not Clean, Not Green: Nuclear Power Is Not the Solution - What is?
Many EGA funders understand nuclear power’s destructive global environmental legacy, its impact on people of color and indigenous communities and the federal boondoggles driving the nuclear power renaissance. In this session we’ll discuss the current state of the nuclear power landscape, funding opportunities that support resistance to new uranium mining and new nuclear power plants, as well as work to shut down older reactors, such as those at Indian Point on the Hudson River. We’ll also explore creative opportunities that range from grassroots organizing to federal policy changes that promote renewable and sustainable energy solutions.

Facilitator
Michelle DePass, Program Officer, Ford Foundation
        
Speakers
Christopher Flavin, President and CEO, Worldwatch Institute
Winona LaDuke, Executive Director, Honor the Earth

Who’s The “Decider” Now?: Galvanizing Women for Environmental Protection
The President might think he's "The Decider," but we know who is really in charge! News headlines and research point to the reality that women are the critical decision makers on issues that matter most. While traditional environmental campaigns often fail to attract women's attention and support, chemical environmental policy campaigns are galvanizing women like never before. Join us as we meet the leaders of dynamic state-based initiatives that use cutting-edge civic engagement strategies and innovative product-testing tools to mobilize women to advocate for, and win, transformational environmental reforms.

Facilitator
Anita Nager, Director of Programs, Beldon Fund
        
Speakers
Sarah Standiford, Executive Director, Maine Women's Policy Center
Laurie Valeriano, Policy Director, Washington Toxics Coalition

New Communication & Advocacy Tools: How to Talk About Sustainability So You're Heard
Environmental organizations spend incredible amounts of time and money researching critical issues, only to have their findings and message ignored by the mainstream media and excluded from public discourse. A growing vanguard among these groups is experimenting with innovative approaches to successfully investigate, communicate and disseminate critical environmental issues in high-impact, engaging formats using the best of emerging e-technologies and citizen empowering techniques. We will examine and learn from specific recent projects that have successfully framed and disseminated environmental messages into mainstream print, broadcast and on-line media and beyond.

Facilitator
Annie Leonard, Coordinator, Sustainable Production & Consumption Funders Workgroup
        
Speakers
Louis Fox, Co-Founder, Free Range Studios
Bill Hogan, Director of Investigative Projects, Center for Public Integrity

Beyond Farmers' Markets: Taking Local Food to Scale
Localizing food production, distribution and consumption offers considerable environmental, economic and health benefits.  Because everybody eats, the potential of the “Good Food” movement is great. But can it transform a concentrated, and chemical- and fossil fuel-addicted, global food system?  Would that equate to a socially just system? A talk show-style format will engage you in dialogue with two thought leaders in the sustainable agrifood movement with big-picture views of the challenges and opportunities faced at domestic and global levels.   Even if you don’t “fund food”, this session will get you thinking about the role of social movements in large-scale systems change.

Facilitators
Kolu Zigbi, Program Officer, Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation
        
Speakers
Patricia Allen, Director, Center for Agro-ecology and Sustainable Food Systems at UC Santa Cruz
Vandana Shiva, Director, Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy

Crisis Simulation: Oil Prices, Global Temperatures and American Bellicosity on the Rise!
Congratulations on your new Cabinet position! You will play a role in a crisis simulation involving oil supply disruptions and climate negotiations as we tease out the hazards and short-and long-term solutions to fossil fuel dependence. We set the scene with a pre-produced newscast, and provide short expert briefings and “inject cards” given to players.  This crisis simulation calls on each participant to grapple with the environmental, economic, security and political complexities involved in reversing our energy policies. The drama we generate will bring us face-to-face with the looming catastrophes we face if we continue on the current course.

FacilitatoRS
Katherine Magraw, Director, Peace and Security Funders Group
Robbie Diamond, Founder, Securing America's Future Energy
        
Speaker
You, Session Participants

4:15pm – 6:00pm ~ Free Time

Additional offered activities

-Lacrosse Clinic: Members of the Akwesane community will bring traditional lacrosse sticks for a hands-on demonstration of how to handle the stick and ball. They will be explaining the sacredness and importance of the game of Lacrosse in the history of Native Americans, as well as sharing some of the stories from the culture.

-The Mohonk Preserve Walk, A Legacy of Conservation: (limited to 25- REGISTRATION IS NOW FULL) This guided walk will reveal scenic views of the surrounding landscape and will provide a history of the land ethic and continuing stewardship of the more than 6,500 acres of the Mohonk Preserve. Participants walk to Sky Top, where they enjoy breathtaking views of this National Historic Landmark Landscape and discuss the challenges of modern conservation in a time of global climate change. Moderate level of difficulty.

-Walk to/Tour of the Daniel Smiley Research Center: (limited to 15) Paul Huth, Mohonk Preserve Director of Research, will lead this walk to the Research Center, where he will reveal some of the Preserve’s extensive collections including Shawangunk plants, birds, mammals, historic photographs and cultural artifacts. Paul will explain how the work of the Research Center provides critical evidence of climate change, both locally and globally. Easy to moderate level of difficulty.

-Rocks and Ridgelines: The Geology of the Northern Shawangunks- (limited to 25) Drawing so many to the Shawangunks each year is an epic landscape: a testament to the powerful geologic forces that created the Shawangunk Mountains. The enduring rock ledges and cliff faces provide a unique environment, and an opportunity for humans to immerse themselves in nature. Join us as we encounter the ridge first-hand and learn the secrets embedded in its rocks. This walk follows the edge of the large cliff to Short Woodland Drive, Humpty Dumpty Carriageway and Copes Lookout. Easy level of difficulty.

Please RSVP in advance during your registration due to limited capacity!

6:00pm – 7:00pm ~ EGA Town Hall Meeting

Join the Board of Directors and staff for an open forum discussion of EGA’s activities and goals.

7:00pm – 8:00pm ~ Dinner

8:00pm – 9:00pm ~ EGA Receptions

Dessert will be hosted at receptions for International Funders; Foundation Leaders; Small Foundation Funders; and our Newcomers. Come find your niche over a drink and some sweets.

9:00pm – 10:30pm ~ Dance Party with Soñando - West Dining Hall

The name of the band is Spanish for "dreaming" but when the crowds come out for Soñando, they don't sleepwalk, they dance! Join your EGA colleagues for a night of Salsa dancing followed by a DJ spinning great old-school tunes.

Wednesday September 24, 2008

Note: Check-out time from Mohonk is 2 PM. Those staying into the afternoon may check out and store your luggage at guest services until departure.

6:00am – 7:00am ~ Yoga Class

7:00am – 8:00am ~ Breakfast

8:00am – 8:30am ~ Closing Comments
Stuart Clarke, EGA Board of Directors Chair
Dana Lanza, EGA Executive Director

8:30am – 9:00am ~ Special Guest

9:00am-10:00am ~ Keynote: Lois Gibbs

Lois Gibbs is the founder of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, (CHEJ), an organization that has assisted over 10,000 grassroots groups with organizing, technical, and general information nationwide. Today, she serves as Executive Director and speaks with communities nationwide and internationally about toxic chemicals and children’s unique vulnerability to environmental exposures. Ms. Gibbs has been recognized extensively for her critical role in the grassroots environmental justice movement. She has spoken at numerous conferences, has been featured in hundreds of newspaper articles, magazine, textbooks and has appeared on many television and radio shows including 60 Minutes and 20/20. The many awards she has received include the 1990 Goldman Environmental Prize, the 1998 Heinz Award, the 1999 John Gardner Leadership Award from the Independent Sector and, in 2003, Lois was nominated for the Noble Peace Prize.

10:10am – 11:10am ~ Featured Conversation: Busting Silos, Creating Connection: Can Systems Thinking Change the Way We Do Business?

The philanthropic sector is dealing with enormous, often entrenched problems. Might applying systems thinking be an effective tool for solving these problems?  Can it help us do more than “coordinate”? Rather, might it help grantmakers break down silos and collaborate more deeply and effectively, while offering greater promise for solving problems in a more sustained, efficient manner?  Paul Hawken believes that grantmaking, which reflects natural systems and responds to complex ecological challenges, holds greater promise.  Join us as we hear from practitioners who have used systems thinking to explore ways in which funders can break free of their issue silos.  

Moderator
Dr. Joanna Macy, Pioneer, Work that Reconnects

Speakers
Rick Reed, Senior Advisor, RE-AMP
Michael Reuter, Great Rivers Partnership Director, The Nature Conservancy

11:20am – 12:50pm ~ Concurrent Sessions

Water for Fish, Wildlife and Communities: Creating Innovative Market Transactions
The panel will present the water rights acquisition activities of the Columbia Basin Water Transactions Program (CBWTP), which was established in 2002 to fund and support innovative, voluntary, market-based strategies that improve environmental flows for anadromous and resident fish populations. The CBWTP improves environmental flow for fish and wildlife habitat in a manner that respects the value of irrigated agriculture and the water rights held by agricultural producers. The CBWTP is administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in partnership with the Bonneville Power Administration and involves state, federal and nonprofit partners who have developed this win-win approach.

Facilitator
Andrew Purkey, Director of Water Transactions Program, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
        
Speakers
Bruce Aylward, President, Ecosystem Economics
Tod Heisler, Executive Director, Deschutes River Conservancy
Laura Ziemer, Director, Trout Unlimited - Montana Water Project

Tar Sands: Stopping an Environmental Catastrophe
Exploitation of Alberta’s tar sands represents one of the greatest threats to air, land and water in North America, and will single-handedly derail Canada’s ability to comply with an international climate treaty. Already a million barrels of tar sands fuel are flowing into the US; this volume could quadruple in coming years.  Leading markets, grassroots, and indigenous groups in Canada and the US have recently joined forces to block tar sands development and use.  This session will educate funders on the challenges and opportunities presented by this campaign.

Facilitator
Tom Steinbach, Program Officer, Hewlett Foundation
        
Speakers
Tzeporah Berman, Strategic Director, Forest Ethics
Michael Marx, Executive Director, Corporate Ethics International

It's 2075.  Are Your Great Grandkids Happy?
By 2075 climate change and other forces will have taken us through a half-century of losses—of species, shorelines, and devastating disasters.  Energy and materials will be more expensive but wages are unlikely to rise commensurately.  So what is the best we can expect?  Can we counterbalance the losses with an understanding of how to live well with less? Is sustainability compatible with happiness?  In this session publisher Fran Korten will interview economist Neva Goodwin on the practical and not-so-practical steps for bringing about the best possible world for our great grandchildren.

Facilitator
Fran Korten, Executive Director, Positive Futures Network/Yes! Magazine
        
Speaker
Neva Goodwin, Vice-Chair, Rockefeller Brothers Fund

Sustainability by Design? Moving from Solving Problems to Preventing Them
Designers are driven culturally and economically to make dramatic change.  Engaged, knowledgeable designers play a key role in the environmental and health impacts of the things they design.  From the subatomic to the landscape level, design can be employed to reduce waste, improve recyclability, mimic natural processes, conserve energy and improve the sustainability of virtually everything we use and do every day.  Where in the design process do the opportunities lie for funders?  This interactive session will allow participants to learn from design visionaries and provide new tools that apply a design lens to environmental grantmaking.

Facilitator
Darryl Young, Innovations in Sustainable Design Program Coordinator, Summit Foundation
        
Speakers
Jason Pearson, President & CEO, GreenBlue
Valerie Casey, Founder, Designers Accord

Toxic Wastes and Race at 20 Years: The Victories of Environmental Justice and the Challenges of Environmental Racism
It has been twenty years since the groundbreaking report “Toxic Wastes and Race” exposed the fact that the effects of hazardous chemicals and waste are borne disproportionately by low-income communities of color, launching a national, coordinated, grassroots movement for environmental justice. In 2007, researchers updated the report and learned that conditions had, for the most part, not improved. What support is needed to renew our commitment to eliminating environmental racism? How do the voices calling for environmental justice merge, challenge, or conflict with the voices speaking out about environmentalism and climate change?

Facilitator
Michelle DePass, Program Officer, Ford Foundation
        
Speakers
Robert Bullard, Director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center, Clarke Atlanta University
Charisse Domingo, Associate Director of Youth United, Community Action

The Bali Road Map (As If the Other 5 Billion Mattered)
As the Bali Road Map makes clear, climate negotiations must ensure emergency global climate stabilization and support adaptation, while developing economic approaches that preserve the right of all people to reach dignified levels of development.  This entails moving beyond techno-legislative strategies, and taking economic justice seriously. This session will review key debates in climate negotiations around mitigation, adaptation and technological transfers, presenting approaches to surmount the conflict between the climate crisis and the development crisis to argue that our best way forward lies in expanding the climate agenda to include poverty alleviation and the right to sustainable development for all.

Facilitator
Arne Jungjohann, Program Director of the Environment and Global Dialogue, Heinrich-Boell Foundation
        
Speakers
Meenakshi Raman, Director, Lead Advisor, Consumers Association of Penang and Chair, Friends of the Earth International
Tom Athanasiou, Director, Eco-Equity US

Carbon Finance: The Road to Ruin, or Invaluable Investment?
Carbon finance involves, but is not limited to, direct investment in clean technology. It also involves trading new commodities including offsets and allowances. To some extent, carbon finance can help accelerate the transition to a new energy economy. In fact, private capital will provide 80% of the funding need to do so. But are there pitfalls that might make this the road to ruin? This lively discussion will address provocative questions and include differing views between panelists. Carbon finance is a new tool in the arsenal of social change—but what's needed to ensure that it works effectively?

Facilitator
Stewart Hudson, President, Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation
        
Speakers
Jon Anda, President, Consultant to Environmental Defense Fund and the Asia Society
Bryan Garcia, Program Director, Yale Center for Business and Environment
Howard Learner, Executive Director, Environmental Law & Policy Center

Network Advocacy: A Social Change Strategy
From the explosive growth in organizing on Facebook, to the transformational role of YouTube in state and national politics, networks have stirred the interest of people seeking innovation and large-scale change. Funders want to understand these networks and the strategies they employ. In the environmental movement, the steady rise of small nonprofits calls for new mechanisms to tie organizations and efforts together for collaboration and rapid response. Join us to learn how network building is an effective tool for social change and how organizations working at the intersection of health and the environment are coming together to make it happen.

Facilitator
Mary Tyler Johnson, Advisory Trustee, Johnson Family Foundation
        
Speakers
Martin Kearns, Founder/President, Netcentric Campaigns
Anuja Mendiratta, Women’s Health and Environment Initiative

1:00pm – 2:00pm ~ Lunch

3:00pm – 6:00pm ~ Post-Retreat: Joanna Macy- Climate Change Empowerment Workshop

Thursday, September 25

9:00am – 4:00pm ~ Joanna Macy- Climate Change Empowerment Workshop - continued