Foundations Seeking to Make a Difference in Environment

This decade saw a significant increase in public and private investment in environmental technologies and programs. Confronting environmental issues will remain a challenge for many years to come.

Many philanthropic foundations are focusing their grants and investments toward environmental concerns. From areas of interest as diverse as sustainable agriculture to eliminating industrial hazardous waste, foundations are funding a variety of environmental programs and projects.

State-funded environmental science and technology initiatives, and in some cases, their client technology businesses, are eligible to apply for many different foundation giving programs. The following are two examples with links for obtaining more information.

The Heinz Endowments

The Heinz Endowments have been formally active in the environment since 1994. In 1997, the foundation provided more than $11 million to support various environmental programs. Four strategic themes guide the environmental program’s grantmaking, including:

• Eliminating waste;
• Harnessing the power of the market;
• Creating a restorative economy; and
• Integrating the environment, economics and equity.

As discussed in greater detail in this week’s article on program-related investments (PRIs), the Heinz Endowments also are seeking and encouraging PRIs as a key part of their overall portfolio. Many of their major efforts are funded with both grants and PRIs, and most leverage significant funding from other sources.

Additional information on the Heinz Endowments can be found at http://www.heinz.org 

The Pew Charitable Trusts

The Pew Charitable Trusts are one of the largest private philanthropies in the nation. In 1998, the Trusts dedicated 18% of its portfolio, or more than $38.6 million dollars, to environmental programs.

The Pew Trusts Environmental Program aims to promote policies and practices that protect the global atmosphere and preserve healthy forest and marine ecosystems. The goals of the program are to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming and the destruction of the Earth’s stratospheric ozone layer, and to halt the destruction and further degradation of forest and marine ecosystems in North America. Applied research projects are eligible for funding consideration.

Additional information on the Pew Charitable Trusts can be found at http://www.pewtrusts.org 

Other foundations that focus a portion of their grants on environmental initiatives, include: the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation, the Lindbergh Foundation, the Turner Foundation, the Ittleson Foundation, the Brainerd Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the W. Alton Jones Foundation, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Links to these and other philanthropic organizations may be found at the Foundation Center’s website: http://fdncenter.org