FOUNDATION NEWS

Jon Jensen Elected Chairman of the Funders Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities

By Ben Starrett, the Funders Network

At its annual meeting in Vancouver, BC, The Funders Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities (The Funders Network) announced election of Jon Jensen as chairman of the board of trustees. The Funders Network is a US/Canada affinity group of over 100 foundations focused on “working to solve the environmental, social, and economic problems created by suburban sprawl and urban disinvestment.“

With a Miami-based staff of four and an annual budget of over $1.5 million, The Funders Network conducts a range of projects to link smart growth with impacted areas of philanthropy, and represents foundations interested in—among many fields—the environment, community development, equity and health. Significant among its accomplishments are a series of translation papers for funders, and special projects in smart growth and equity, community foundations, real estate investment and communications. For more information on The Funders Network see http://www.fundersnetwork.org.

Jon Jensen is a senior program officer for the George Gund Foundation in Cleveland, and manages the Foundation’s environment program, with significant focus on smart growth issues. He is a former program officer of the Pew Charitable Trusts, and established the Pew Scholars Program in Conservation and the Environment. He is a founder and former chair of the Environmental Grantmakers Association.

The Orton Family Foundation Selects Shutkin to Lead

The Orton Family Foundation, a national organization that promotes civic engagement in land use planning, announced recently that they have hired Boston area environmentalist, attorney, and author William Shutkin as successor to outgoing President & CEO Bill Shouldice, who has accepted a position heading up the Orton family business, The Vermont Country Store.

Incoming President and CEO William Shutkin is a leading voice for environmentalism and sustainable development in the United States. He is president of New Ecology, Inc., an environmental organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts that promotes sustainable community development. A lawyer and social entrepreneur, he teaches in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT and is an adjunct professor of law at Boston College Law School. He is author of the book, The Land That Could Be: Environmentalism and Democracy in the Twenty-First Century, which won the 2001 Best Book Award for Ecological and Transformational Politics from the American Political Science Association and was selected by Time Magazine as a "Green Century" recommended book.

At The Orton Family Foundation Shutkin will be working to advance the Foundation’s mission of helping rural communities and regions make smart, responsible land use decisions in the face of growth pressures and other challenges.

Compton Foundation hires new program officer for the environment

Jennifer Sokolove is the new program officer for the environment at the Compton Foundation. She has been working on sustainability issues for the past 10 years, with a focus on natural resource-based businesses and economies, and collaborative decision-making. Prior to joining the Compton Foundation, Jen worked with community-based conservation and development projects in California, Montana, and the Pacific Northwest. She completed her PhD at the University of California, Berkeley, in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, and received her BA Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University.

Merck Family Fund Kicks off 50th Anniversary Year with Significant Gifts to Two Non-Profits

by Jenny Russell, Merck Family Fund

Boston, Massachusetts, March 1, 2004–– In celebration of its fiftieth anniversary, the Merck Family Fund awarded two grants of $250,000 each to The Food Project (Lincoln, MA) and the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League (Charleston, SC). Both organizations uphold the Fund’s vision to maintain, restore, and protect the natural environment and revitalize the social and physical landscape of the urban community.

In 1954, George W. Merck, the CEO and President of Merck & Company, established the Merck Family Fund (MFF). The Fund has awarded over 1500 grants totaling more than $34 million since its inception. President, Josie Merck, elaborates, “On the occasion of the fiftieth birthday of our family foundation, we wanted to celebrate George W. Merck, also our grandfather and great grandfather, who established a profound opportunity for us to participate deeply in philanthropy starting from an early age. It’s a wonderful way to bring the family together from our otherwise far flung lives to contribute to our communities. We also wanted to mark the growth and vitality of the Fund by making significant gifts to two longtime grantees that we felt best represent our program areas.”

The 50th anniversary gifts signify major awards in addition to the annual grants budget for the Family Fund, whose average grants range from $20,000 to $40,000, The gifts serve a three part goal: to highlight critical issues and challenges in urban communities and in environmental conservation; to showcase two successful, leadership organizations who demonstrate dedication, effectiveness, and overall vision; and to mark the Fund’s 50th year of grantmaking.

The Food Project––Strengthening the Urban Community

The Food Project’s mission is to create a thoughtful and productive community of youth and adults from diverse backgrounds who work together to build a sustainable food system. Each year the organization involves over 100 youth and 1,000 volunteers, while growing more than 200,000 pounds of organic produce on a 21-acre suburban farm and three acres of urban land. After a recent site visit, an enthusiastic trustee, Patience Chamberlin, raved, “The Food Project promotes everything that the Merck Family Fund stands for––urban [issues], food security, environment and justice, and enhances the leadership of young people in the community…They have left no opportunity untouched to make a difference.”

South Carolina Coastal Conservation League (SCCCL)––Leadership for the Environment

Until Dana Beach founded SCCCL in 1989, with a staff of three and a budget under $100,000, the South Carolina coast lacked an organization capable of bringing government and citizens together to develop comprehensive solutions to environmental problems. In its first ten years alone, SCCCL has facilitated the protection of 500,000 acres of natural habitat through local planning and zoning, permanent protections, and responsible forest management. “Dana Beach has a remarkable canniness to bring polarized people together. The vision of his organization matches a lot of what the Merck Family Fund is about, in style and substance,” remarked another trustee, Tony Merck.

“We know this occasion, our golden birthday, gives us a great vantage point from which to look backward and forward, and to stand together with gratitude and pride,” said Josie Merck.

Jenny Russell is executive director of the Merck Family Fund and can be reached at (617) 696-3580, jrussell@merckff.org, www.merckff.org.

MacArthur Foundation Awards More Than $4 Million to Help Protect the Marine Ecosystems of Melanesia

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has announced 15 grants totaling more than $4 million to help protect the marine ecosystems of Melanesia, a region of 1,600 islands that stretch 3,000 miles across the South Pacific.

" MacArthur's support for conservation in the Pacific islands of Melanesia is focused on helping local communities manage their natural marine resources and cultivate sustainable harvesting practices for the aquarium fish trade in their protected reefs, a major source of income for the communities," said Jonathan Fanton, president of the MacArthur Foundation. "Because of traditional land and sea rights that govern most of the countries of Melanesia, nearly all of the natural resources of the islands are controlled by the communities themselves. This means conservation efforts must focus on strengthening local organizations and promoting national and regional policies that help communities preserve their marine resources for future generations."

MacArthur's conservation and sustainable development grantmaking in Melanesia is designed to help promote Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs)––networks of local communities that work together on conservation efforts––and to support sustainable fisheries for the aquarium fish trade. Grants are made to help train LMMAs in conservation techniques and practices and for efforts to help them better coordinate and share lessons learned with neighboring communities.

For more information contact Jen Humke, The MacArthur Foundation (312) 726-8000, or visit www.macfound.org.