Climate Change

Goals and Strategies

Climate change poses a significant global threat, one which we are addressing by striving to ensure an equitable, resilient, habitable, and enjoyable world for current and future generations. While our work is focused on climate change, we believe in the value of ecosystems services and in the stability and resiliency of healthy natural systems. We also believe it is essential that the cost of externalities be incorporated into lifestyle, policy, and business considerations.

Approach

 We are focused on investing in regenerative biological systems that influence the carbon cycle (“biocarbon”) and reducing dependency on fossil fuels. We have chosen to focus our grantmaking on efforts to hasten the demise of coal and other fossil fuels and on work that increases the abilities of the forests, agricultural lands, and estuaries of the Pacific Northwest to sequester carbon.

Priority Will Be Given To:

• Programs in Washington and Oregon. Although we may occasionally fund projects outside of the Pacific Northwest at the family’s discretion, we will not actively seek partnerships outside of the region.
• Organizations with a demonstrable commitment to environmental justice.
• Work that engages diverse stakeholders and builds strong strategic coalitions of historically uncommon partners.
• Work that has the potential to leverage our relatively small contributions into outsized impact through policy change, market forces, or other mechanisms.
• Work that has a demonstrated need for our support and can use our dollars as leverage.
• Work that is measurable, has a demonstrable impact, and results in tangible outcomes.
• Proven ideas and programs well-grounded in widely accepted science. 

We will occasionally make grants for work falling outside of these stated guidelines at the family’s request.

2019 Climate Change Grants

AS YOU SOW

​As You Sow (Oakland, CA) $40,000
To support As You Sow's work to hasten the transition away from coal, oil, and gas; as well as a campaign to address the connection between fossil fuels and plastics. As You Sow's mission is to promote environmental and social corporate responsibility through shareholder advocacy, coalition building, and innovative legal strategies.

CARBON CYCLE INSTITUTE

Carbon Cycle Institute (CCI) (Petaluma, CA) $35,000
To support scaling carbon farming and regenerative agriculture on working farmlands across California. CCI's mission is to stop and reverse climate global change by advancing science-based solutions that reduce atmospheric carbon while promoting environmental stewardship, social equity, and economic sustainability. ​

center for sustainable infrastructure (CSI)

Center for Sustainable Infrastructure (CSI)  
(Olympia, WA) $20,000
​To support CSI's platform for the Pacific Northwest to become a leader in clean manufacturing processes and reduce carbon footprints. CSI champions a new paradigm and practice for sustainable infrastructure in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. 

City Forest Credits

City Forest Credits (Seattle, WA) $20,000
To support continued development of the City Forest Credits registry, so that urban forests can sequester more carbon and deliver more of their documented ecosystem services to the increasing numbers of people who live in cities and towns. City Forest Credits' mission is to bring the wide range of environmental benefits of trees to our cities and towns in America.

EARTHCORPS

EarthCorps (Seattle, WA) $30,000
To support expansion of EarthCorps' blue carbon work through new partnerships and a larger project scope in the eastern Puget Sound estuary system. EarthCorps' develops leaders to strengthen community and restore the health of our environment.

INSTITUTE for Sustainable Agriculture
​Research at New Mexico State University

Institute for Sustainable Agriculture Research (ISAR)
(Las Cruces, NM) $25,000
To support ISAR's work addressing the influence of regenerated soil micorbiomes in agroecosystems. ISAR researches and conducts outreach on biological approaches for regenerating agroecosystems, and explores how regenerated soil microbiomes safely sequester carbon to increase farm productivity and reduce environmental pollution.

Pacific Forest Trust

Pacific Forest Trust (San Francisco, CA) $25,000
To support implementation efforts of climate policies that incorporate consistent, sustainable forest management in Oregon and Washington, leveraging 25+ years of experience in California. The Trust sustains America's forests for all their public benefits of wood, water, wildlife, and people's well-being in cooperation with landowners and communities.

SIGHTLINE INSTITUTE

Sightline Institute (Seattle, WA) $40,000
​To support Sightline's Thin Green Line program to prevent new fossil fuel infrastructure development in the Northwest, as well as a new Farms and Forests program to address soil health and carbon sequestration through regenerative land management. Sightline's mission is to make the Northwest a global model of sustainability —  strong communities, a green economy, and a healthy environment. 

The Solutions Project

The Solutions Project  (Oakland, CA) $25,000
For general program support. The Solutions Project invests in women and leaders of color best positioned for transformative impact, to amplify their stories and scale their clean energy solutions. Investing in this storytelling and the media programs of frontline leaders and communities working on clean energy projects across the country diversifies media messengers, reaches new audiences, and advances powerful local and national narratives for climate action. 

Washington Environmental Council

Washington Environmental Council (WEC) (Seattle, WA) $60,000
To support fossil fuel campaigns: Stand Up to Oil which opposes new oil terminals and transport through the Northwest; Power Past Coal which works to stop coal export off the West Coast; and Power Past Fracked Gas which opposes new fracked gas terminals and pipelines. WEC's mission is to protect, restore, and sustain Washington's environment for all.