SAFSF On the Road Recap: Minnesota
Key Takeaways | Voices from the Field | Acknowledgements | Recordings | Connecting Further | Resources Last month, as part of our SAFSF On The Road series, we gathered over 80 climate, energy, and agriculture funders, and community leaders in Minneapolis for “Building an Intersectional Philanthropic Approach: Climate Change, Agriculture, and Healthy Rural Communities.” This event underscored the urgent need for investing in rural communities and agriculture as essential strategies for climate mitigation and resilience. It highlighted the importance of implementing comprehensive, systemic interventions to address the challenges effectively. These investments are crucial for promoting sustainable agriculture and enhancing the…
Being a Good Relative: Engaging with Native Communities
Angie Boone, SAFSF Membership and Development Associate, shares her reflections after attending the 2024 Native Americans in Philanthropy Conference. Sophie Ackoff, Program Manager, Food & Agriculture at the 11th Hour Project, reflects on the launch of the Indigenous Food Systems Community of Practice second cohort. Angie Boone, SAFSF As a Citizen of Cherokee Nation and formerly serving in a role with Pinoleville Pomo Nation, it meant a lot to me to be among the over 600 funders, tribal members, Native non-profits, Indigenous artists, and vendors from around the world who gathered at the 2024 Native Americans in Philanthropy Conference in…
Solutions from the Ground: Reflections from Appalachia Funders Network Convening
Written by SAFSF Communications Director Maggie Mosley During April, I traveled to Charleston, West Virginia for the annual Appalachia Funders Network (AFN) Convening, entitled Climbing the Mountains: Uniting Resources Inspiring Action, which brought together 165 funders, and a handful of non-profit and social enterprise practitioner leaders. For me, it felt like a homecoming; all my growing years and my career in food and farm systems started in Appalachian Kentucky. For those who may not be familiar, the Appalachian region covers a geography of 13 states from southern New York to northern Mississippi, with the bulk of the region represented in…
SAFSF On the Road: California Gathering Recap
As we reflect on the first SAFSF On the Road event, “Opportunities and Challenges in Funding Regenerative Agriculture,” we can’t help but feel grateful for the time, energy, and perspectives that everyone brought to the convening. Nestled near the Embarcadero, during the Spring Equinox, we gathered with 37 funders interested in regenerative agriculture in California and beyond. Together we explored strategies for accelerating philanthropic and investment funding of regenerative agriculture. Our purpose for the gathering was to learn from one another, surface curiosities and calls to action, and explore opportunities for alignment and collaboration. We sought to uncover alignments and misalignments among funders around a topic that…
Funding for a Better Farm Bill Has Been Sparse and Inconsistent. Is That Changing?—Inside Philanthropy
This week, Inside Philanthropy published an article about shifts in philanthropy to support sustained grassroots organizing and advocacy on the Farm Bill, the massive piece of federal legislation that governs agricultural markets and nutrition benefits. Advocates point to the need for more sustained engagement in between reauthorization periods every 5 years. For example, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition encourages funders to give “flexibility regarding advancing policy change, and [have] a greater recognition of the fact that we’re living and working in really complicated times,” With increased flexibility from funders organizations can “be responsive to opportunities when they arise, like the…
Making a SHOT for Real Agriculture Change via Federal Ag Funding
By Maria Doerr, Program Officer, Rural Climate Partnership The SAFSF Member Policy in Action highlights SAFSF members who are funding food and agriculture policy advocacy at the federal, state, tribal, and/or local levels. Please fill out this Google Form or email Maggie Mascarenhas if you are interested in your policy work being featured. There is *more federal funding available today than ever before* to advance climate and equity outcomes in our agriculture system. Yet without timely, focused investments from philanthropy, these funds are more likely to benefit practices with marginal climate benefits, go to the most established and conventional producers,…
Call for 2024 Board Nominations
Interested in stewardship of Sustainable Agriculture and Food System Funders? We are accepting nominations for our Board of Directors until April 15! We are looking to fill up to four (4) positions for three-year terms beginning on July 1, 2024. The open seats for 2024 must be filled by candidates whose organizations are members of SAFSF or have a pending membership application as of April 15, 2024. Please consider nominating yourself or a colleague to bring your perspective, expertise, and energy to the work of SAFSF! The Board seeks candidates reflecting diversity across gender, race/ethnicity, culture, geography, life experience, professional…
Job Announcement: Vice President of Impact
Position Summary SAFSF is seeking a Vice President of Impact (VPI) to join our executive leadership team. Reporting to the Executive Director, the VPI provides strategic leadership, management, and guidance for SAFSF’s external-facing work with members, prospective members, and other relevant stakeholders in philanthropy, impact investing, and sustainable food and agriculture sectors. This individual possesses a strategic framework for how to amplify the impact of philanthropy and impact investment communities to accelerate systems change in food and agriculture, and has a proven track record of leading visionary ideas into execution of initiatives and programs. The Vice President of Impact will…
New SAFSF Committee Members
Welcome to our new Membership Committee and Policy Committee members! We’re excited to see these committees grow and to have a wide variety of funder types represented. Check out the new members’ bios here or see the full list of committee members on the Membership Committee page and Policy Committee page page. New Policy Committee Members Tenzin Dolkar (Dolkar) is a program officer with the McKnight Foundation’s Midwest Climate & Energy program, where she works to shape and guide the trajectory of the Foundation’s climate initiatives, aligning McKnight’s equity goals. Prior to McKnight, Dolkar served as a climate advisor to the…
2023 NEW MEMBERS AND MILESTONES
Thanks to every SAFSF member and all who participated in our network activities in 2023! We’d like to share special recognition for organizations that became SAFSF members in 2023 along with those that reached membership longevity milestones. Welcome 2023 New or Returning Members 1st Course Capital Chicago Food Policy Action Council Dirt Capital Partners Equitable Food Oriented Development Joyce and Irving Goldman Family Foundation Kansas Health Foundation Mark Michael DAF Michigan Health Endowment Fund Missouri Foundation for Health New York Health Foundation Potlikker Capital Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI) – USA Rural Climate Partnership San Diego Foundation The Morris and…
