Program

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 8

EGA’s Commitment to Building Diversity

“We get up in the morning and go to bed at night thinking about initiatives that will spur the creation of a just, sustainable world. But if we want the environmental movement to be as effective as it can be, and if we want to boost our effectiveness as environmental grantmakers, more of us need to invest the time to learn more about the power and uses of diversity.”  —Ernest Tollerson, Nathan Cummings Foundation and EGA Management Board, reflecting on the 2005 VISIONS workshop at EGA

For more than a decade, EGA has been committed to inclusiveness and diversity. The first step was recognizing that lack of diversity (including but not limited to gender, class, age, race, and sexual orientation) impacts the strength of the environmental movement and our growth and relevance as a philanthropic affinity group. Thus, the Inclusive Practices Committee was formed, working to create new resolutions and diversity goals each year. These include: ensuring that the presenters at our annual retreat reflect a variety of values; focusing more explicitly in our retreats on issues of environmental justice, racism, and equity; promoting diversity in hiring among funders; and providing resources for members to increase their awareness of diversity issues. Two years ago the EGA Management Board created the Walking the Talk committee, with the aim of combining the values of diversity with eco-sustainability—values that are of equal importance as we build an environmentally healthy world for all people. Interest in diversity continues to grow in the EGA community, and we hope you will take a step to learn more by participating in this workshop.

“The facilitators . . . introduced us to new ways to think and act and challenged us to take the subject of racism and other ‘isms’ personally, then interpersonally, then institutionally. ‘Be the change’ was my lesson for the day.”
—Jane Kretzmann, Bush Foundation and EGA Management Board, reflecting on the 2005 VISIONS workshop at EGA

Diversity Workshop for Funders

For the past four years, EGA has provided a full one day diversity workshop at the Retreat. We are pleased to welcome back VISIONS, Inc., to facilitate our multiculturalism workshop at the 2006 Fall Retreat. 

“We need to get more EGA members to participate in these kinds of sessions,” said one participant in last year’s workshop. The training provides an opportunity for members to talk together about multiculturalism and continue to increase our ability to help create an effective multicultural environment through EGA. VISIONS’ multicultural development process focuses on four levels: personal, interpersonal, institutional, and cultural. By engaging in such a process, EGA members will be able to examine areas of consistencies and inconsistencies in regard to our approach to multiculturalism and to increase the ability of member foundations, and EGA as a whole, to address internal issues of diversity.

The workshop will be held Sunday, October 8, from 9:00 am – 4:30 pm at Asilomar. The cost is $120 per person, and the workshop is limited to 18 participants.   

We welcome all participants—whether you’ve participated in similar workshops in the past or are new to the experience. Whatever your personal background and perspective, you will have a rewarding day and take away useful tools and ideas to bring home to your foundation.

Don’t miss this invaluable opportunity to challenge your thinking and enrich your grantmaking.

Facilitators

Lorie Miller, MBA, has more than 15 years of experience in leadership and management in large corporations. A lifelong advocate of social justice, Lorie has been an organizational-change agent in issues of race, gender, and sexual orientation. As a multicultural training consultant, she is particularly interested in exploring the emotional aspects of white racism.

Deborah Walker, Ph.D., is a senior multicultural and organizational-development consultant with more than 20 years of professional training and consulting experience. A baby boomer raised in the 1960s, Deborah is committed to helping create environments where differences are recognized, understood, and appreciated. Her primary foci are personal empowerment, conflict resolution, team building, and problem solving from a multicultural perspective.

RELATED LINKS

VISIONS, Inc. http://www.visions-inc.org/

Institutes

The EGA Institutes are designed as “101 Sessions,” geared toward those new to an issue area or those who wish to expand their knowledge of the basics. The sessions are hosted by fellow funder affinity groups and are for funders only.

8:30 - 10:00 am

Make No Little Plans: Megaregions and the Supersizing of America
with the Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities

With the population of the United States estimated to increase by 70 million in the next 20 years, we are beginning to face some of our greatest challenges and opportunities. As our metropolitan regions grow together into megaregions, will leaders decide to create places that optimize livability, social equity, economic opportunity, and environmental quality, or will they make decisions that compound the worst aspects of unplanned growth and cancel out the gains of the last 20 years? Knowing that the creation of healthy regions is one of the best ways to save land and protect environmental quality, what do we need to do today to be well-positioned in the future?

Ben Starrett is the executive director of the Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities. After working for city government and the Florida legislature, Ben served as the chief planning officer of Florida’s state land plan agency and co-directed the Collins Center for Public Policy.  Ben graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University. 

Not “Anti-” but “Alter-”: Grantmaking in Support of Alternative Globalizations at Home and Abroad
with the Funders Network on Trade and Globalization

The growing integration of economies and societies remains a key force in the world, with profound implications for domestic and international funders alike. While some observers emphasize economic growth, others remain concerned about environmental impacts, threats to security, inequality, and the loss of national sovereignty and local control. Efforts are growing—within state and local governments in the US and through civil society initiatives at community, national, and international levels everywhere—to transform globalization in ways that better serve human needs. Veteran funders will share their analysis of global trends, and together we’ll explore how grantmaking can support strategies that are leading to real and positive changes.

SPEAKERS

Michael Conroy, program officer for Democratic Practice/Global Governance, Rockefeller Brothers Fund; Heeten Kalan, Global Environmental Health and Justice Fund of the New World Foundation; Sandra Smithey, program officer for the Reform of International Finance and Trade Institutions, in the Environment Program at the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation; Roxanne Turnage, executive director, CS Fund.

Mark Randazzo has worked to promote economic development and social justice for more than two decades, focusing on strengthening citizens’ movements, civil-society organizations, and international NGO networks. He previously held positions with JustAct, Oxfam America, and United Support of Artists for Africa. Mark currently coordinates the Funders Network on Trade and Globalization.

10:30 am – 12:00 pm

Environmental Trespass Is a Human Rights Violation!
with the International Human Rights Funders Group

Just as physical attacks are violations of everyone’s basic human rights, so is damage to a person or community’s health, food or water supply, or land. They are all forbidden in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But for too long Americans have seen these abuses as civil wrongs or as the breaking of regulations instead of the human-rights issues they are—and we’re giving up a powerful defense. Come hear how environmental defenders can use the language in treaties our own governments have signed to make them comply.

SPEAKER

David Rothschild is a program officer with the Goldman Environmental Foundation, and is responsible for the Latin America and Africa program areas of the Goldman Environmental Prize. He has worked with the Inter-American Development Bank, the Field Museum of Chicago, and with the Amazon Alliance for Indigenous and Traditional Peoples of the Amazon Basin.

Valentine Doyle is on the steering committee of the International Human Rights Funders Group, as well as coordinator of its Human Rights and the Environment working group.  As a program officer with the Lawson Valentine Foundation, Valentine has been funding environmental-justice organizations since 2000.  

Sustainability: The Leading Edge Is Local
with the Sustainable Consumption and Production Funders

The US federal government continues to lag far behind other countries in adopting crucial policies in the area of sustainability. In contrast, cities and states across the US are leading the way with forward-thinking initiatives that embody the principles of sustainable consumption and production. A panel of experienced funders in this area will highlight specific examples such as computer recycling, precautionary principle, procurement, and green building policies in cities and states across the US, and the role of grantmakers in the process. We’ll explore how these local and state initiatives can effect changes in both markets and federal policy.

SPEAKERS

Daniel Katz is senior advisor to The Overbrook Foundation, where he directs the environmental giving program. He co-founded the Rainforest Alliance in 1987 and is currently board chair. Daniel serves on several other boards and has edited two books. He has worked on conservation and sustainability-related issues for more than 20 years.

Cathy Lerza is a senior philanthropic advisor at the Tides Foundation. She has more than 30 years of experience as a grantmaker, advocate, organizer, writer, and editor, working with nonprofit organizations and foundations on a range of issues including the environment, economic policy, food and agriculture, reproductive justice and health, and sustainability.

Dara O'Rourke is a trustee of the Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation and an associate professor of Environmental Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. Dara has conducted extensive research and participated in numerous campaigns related to the environmental, social, and health impacts of global production and consumption systems.

12:00 – 1:00 pm

Lunch

1:30 – 3:00 pm

Health Is Our Common Ground: Environmental Health Grantmaking 101
with the Health and Environmental Funders Network, a project of the Consultative Group on Biological Diversity

Ever-stronger science links the health of our environments to our own health and that of our children, families, and communities.  Environmental-health philanthropy is flourishing. “Team HEFN”—veteran staff and funder leaders—will share information, strategies, and success stories. We’ll begin with updates on the latest science, then review organizing and alliance-building across groups focusing on health, faith, labor, toxics, and justice, shifting policies and markets toward greener chemistry, safer products, and healthier communities. The second half will be devoted to questions and environmental-health issues most relevant to your grantmaking.    

FACILITATOR

Kathy Sessions served as a consultant to funders launching the Health and Environmental Funders Network in 1999 and has staffed the network ever since. She is a trustee of the Barbara Smith Fund. Kathy holds an MPA from Princeton University and a BA in Social Studies from Harvard.

Strategies for Grantmaking in Water

Water has come to be one of the most important issues in the 21st century. It cuts across all sectors—economics, social justice, agriculture, health, environment, conservation, sustainable and livable communities, wildlife and habitat preservation, trade, and human rights, to name a few. We need alliances and collaborations across groups which highlight what fuels the crisis: growth and development; rural supply vs. urban consumption; and water governance. Come hear from two funders who will share complementary strategies on collaborative approaches.

SPEAKERS

Jean Caiani is the program officer for water for the Panta Rhea Foundation. Her work looks at the many components of the water crisis in the U.S. and globally. She is particularly interested in working with those who are building bridges across issue and constituency lines that typically divide organizations.

Erin McCallister is the program associate for the Great Lakes Protection Fund located in Evanston, Illinois. She has been with the Fund since 2005 working with applicants and grantees in the Fund's four program areas: preventing biological pollution, market approaches, restoring natural flow regimes, and restoration leadership.

3:30 – 5:00 pm

The Security and Environmental Perils of Our Addiction to Oil
with the Peace and Security Funders Group

Everyone knows by now that oil dependency is bad for America—but how bad? Global warming threatens our ecosystem and fuels extreme storms, rising gas prices hurt the economy, and our foreign policy uses military might to prop up repressive Middle East regimes and protect our access to oil. The disastrous war in Iraq and increased terrorism are among the results. We will examine the opportunities at this historic moment to forge greater understanding of the perils of our addiction and promote effective and positive solutions.

SPEAKERS

Reid Detchon directs the energy and climate program at the United Nations Foundation. He is also executive director of the Energy Future Coalition, a nonpartisan public policy initiative focused on oil dependence, climate change, and global energy poverty. He previously worked for the Turner Foundation, Department of Energy, and former Senator Danforth of Missouri.

Peter Teague is director of environmental programs at the Nathan Cummings Foundation, where he is a key supporter of strategies to expand the energy-policy debate to include social and economic justice concerns. He was an environmental policy adviser to Senator Boxer and Representative Panetta, both of California, and worked at the Tides and Horizons Foundations. 

FACILITATOR

Katherine Magraw is director of the Peace and Security Funders Group.  She has worked on international security policy as a government official in the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, State Department, and US Senate; as an activist with various NGOs; and a funder with W. Alton Jones Foundation.

RELATED LINKS

25 x ’25: America’s Energy Future http://www.25x25.org/
Energy Future Coalition http://www.energyfuturecoalition.org/
Peace & Security Funders Group http://www.peaceandsecurity.org/

Small Foundations—Big Impact
with the EGA Small Foundations Group

Today 60,000 small foundations—those operated by few or no staff—provide half of all US foundation grant dollars. Although these foundations can be catalysts for environmental change, they often face difficulties that larger foundations can more easily address. Are you struggling to focus your foundation’s grantmaking in order to have significant environmental impact? Are you concerned about effectively evaluating nonprofits without hiring a consultant? Hear from experts regarding how small foundations can best address issues related to impact, focus, and evaluation.

SPEAKER

Paul Beaudet is associate director for Wilburforce Foundation, where he integrates evaluation practices into the foundation’s operations and works with capacity-building service providers to help grantees plan and sustain their organizations and programs. Paul has 21 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, working on the environment, education, the arts, and social justice.

Martin Teitel is executive director of the Cedar Tree Foundation, a private foundation supporting environmental health, sustainable agriculture and environmental justice work in the United States. Previously, Teitel served as president of the Council for Responsible Genetics and executive director of the CS Fund, a philanthropic foundation.

FACILITATOR

Heidi Binko is executive director of the WestWind Foundation, a Virginia-based foundation with programs in the environment and reproductive health. Before joining WestWind, Heidi worked for Conservation Partners in Denver, Colorado, and Land Trust Alliance in Washington, DC. She holds a master’s degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

5:30 – 6:30 pm

Newcomers’ Welcome

Come meet some friendly faces and learn about what EGA and the Fall Retreat can offer you. Everyone is welcome!

7:00 – 10:00 pm

Opening Reception
Ocean’s Edge, Monterey Bay Aquarium

Join us at the renowned and inspiring Monterey Bay Aquarium for a welcome reception. The mission of the Monterey Bay Aquarium is to inspire conservation of the oceans, but if you’ve been there, you know that it does so much more! This is your chance to see one of the world’s most famous and prestigious aquariums. It’s a wondrous place with kelp forests, sea otters, jellyfish, and many more sea creatures. Mingle with your fellow EGA members, new and old friends, and, of course, penguins.

You will have the opportunity to sign up for a 30-minute tour of the Aquarium.