News
We Must Quit Coal Before Coal Quits Us
Powering 33 percent of our nation’s electricity, coal is a foundation to our lifestyles and industries. But Rachel’s Network Member Anne Butterfield shows that the nation is running out of its affordable, profitable supply. It’s time for the utility industry to stop taking coal for granted.
President Thu Pham Announces Leadership Transition
Thu Pham announced she will step down as president of Rachel’s Network, a nonprofit devoted to the environment, philanthropy, and women’s leadership. Pham will continue as president during the search for her successor.
Catching Up with Fellow Janelle Orsi
Janelle Orsi is one of the leading experts on the sharing economy, a growing movement that applies collaboration to utilize a community’s resources for the common good. Founder of the Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC) and an Ashoka Fellow supported by Rachel’s Network, Janelle shared this update on how her work is evolving as a result of the Fellowship.
The Roadmap to Reduce US Food Waste
Last year, Rachel’s Network Member Betsy Fink and her husband Jesse approached like-minded philanthropists to launch ReFED: “Rethinking Food Waste through Economics and Data: A Roadmap to Reduce Food Waste”. The economic analysis and research they undertook revealed exciting news: Food waste is a solvable problem. Their new report maps a path for action.
Preventing Toxic Chemical Exposure in Children
The Forsythia Foundation believes it is much more efficient to prevent disease-causing chemical exposures than it is to treat diseases. This is why it invests in projects that create safer, greener products—and projects that drive demand for those very products. To that end, Forsythia is proud to be a part of Healthy Babies, Bright Futures (HBBF), an alliance of donors, scientists, and nonprofit organizations that build and support initiatives that reduce exposures of neurotoxic chemicals in the first thousand days of a baby’s development.
Getting out the Environmental Vote
Many of us now realize that climate change and other environmental issues have become – quite literally – existential problems. So why are politicians still so unwilling to pass the laws and regulations that we desperately need? Nathaniel Stinnett, Founder & CEO of the Environmental Voter Project, explains how his organization is working to get out the environmental vote in the next election and beyond.
The Future of Power is Collective
The conventional definition of power as a hierarchical, brute force isn’t working anymore. This month, Rachel’s Network members and guests will gather in Washington, DC for our Annual Meeting: Catalyzing our Collective Power. There we’ll discuss ways to grow new, more collaborative forms of power to address the big challenges we face today. The speakers joining us are well-equipped to tackle these challenges.
Implicit Bias and Its Role in Philanthropy
Implicit bias in philanthropy affects not just which groups get funded but also who sits on the boards of philanthropic organizations (mostly white males), how grantmaking foundations set priorities, how decisions are made, who makes those decisions and even who gets hired. john a. powell, director of the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society, explains how we can take steps to recognize our own implicit bias and work to build a more equitable world.
Merging Yellowstone National Park’s Two Nonprofits
As we move into the Centennial year of the National Park Service, we all want more support for our parks—more stewards to continue protection of our parks’ natural and cultural resources, more engagement with visitors, more educational opportunities, and more funding. In order to grow this support for our nation’s oldest park, Yellowstone National Park’s two nonprofit partners have decided to merge. Yellowstone Park Foundation and Yellowstone Association’s respective leaders explain why and how they decided to undertake this merger.
Investing in Safer Alternatives to Toxic Chemicals
We aren’t effective health and environment donors if we aren’t also supporting the innovation and commercialization of truly safer alternatives to toxic chemicals. To address this situation, Rachel’s Network Member Alison Carlson and her Forsythia Foundation studied how to invest in scaling green chemistry solutions—also known as “benign by design” solutions or safer alternatives. Thus, Safer Made was born.