Environment Grants Awarded in June 2010

At its June 2010 Board Meeting last week, The Overbrook Foundation's Environment Program awarded $745,000 in grants to 15 organizations in the categories of Latin American Biodiversity Conservation, Sustainable Production and Consumption, and Public TV, Radio and Other Media. Eleven are either renewals or from organizations previously funded, and four are from organizations new to Overbrook. See Elizabeth's last post for a description of the Human Rights Program's grantmaking at the June meeting.

For its work supporting Latin American Biodiversity Conservation, the Foundation awarded $325,000 in grants. Organizations awarded were: Earthworks, for its campaign to clean up destructive mining practices; Ecosystem Sciences Foundation, for its Payment for Watershed Services program in Mexico, Environmental Investigation Agency for its continued work in forest governance; Fundacion Cordillera Tropical for its community conservation work in Ecuador; Pronatura Noroeste A.C. for its campaign to stop an environmentally destructive tourist development in Mexico; Rainforest Action Network for its continued work protecting tropical forests and acting as watchdog of large corporations.

For its Sustainable Production and Consumption work, the Foundation awarded $330,000. Organizations awarded were: Borealis Centre for Environment and Trade Research, for its work conducting research and providing strategy for environmental organizations waging corporate campaigns; Clean Production Action for its work providing safer options to the electronics industry; Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, for its work building a Zero-Waste city; Product Stewardhsip Institute, Inc., for its campaign to help consumers opt-out of phone book deliveries; Root Capital, for its work providing loans to small businesses promoting conservation in Ecuador and Mexico; the Tides Center for the Funders Workgroup for Sustainable Production and Consumption; Urban Green, the New York chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council.

The Environment Program also supported Grist.org, frequently referenced in this blog for its wry and incisive reporting on environmental issues, and NPR for its environmental content, a joint grant with the Human Rights Program.

Of course all descriptions above are extremely brief and hardly do these great organizations and projects justice! Follow the links to learn more about them, or click here to be directed to The Overbrook Foundation web site.