Collaboration is Key: SAFSF & HEFN
On September 20, Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders (SAFSF) and Health and Environmental Funders Network (HEFN) worked together to co-host “Participatory Grantmaking 101: Funder Peer Learning,” an introductory level webinar for funders in either network. The collaboration—led by Erin Olschewski, program director for SAFSF, and Kalila Booker-Cassano, director of programs for HEFN—was an opportunity to bring together overlapping audiences for a topic that many funders in both networks are eager to dig deeper into. SAFSF has held several smaller conversations over recent years that have touched on participatory grantmaking but had yet to host a dedicated virtual space solely…
Fibers Fund Co-Managing Directors on the Road
The Fibers Fund team has been on the road this fall conference season, sharing updates about our integrated strategy to support U.S. natural fiber and textile producers and processors as part of the regenerative agricultural system. Conference season has begun! The Fibers Fund team just returned from the Regenerative Food Systems Investment Forum (RFSI) in Denver, where they met colleagues new and old who are working on creative models of finance for agricultural businesses. The opening panel at RFSI featured two farmers in the fiber sector: Oregon rancher Cate Havstad, who uses the hides from her cattle in her leather…
SAFSF & NASDA: 10-Years of Opportunities
The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) represents the elected and appointed commissioners, secretaries, and directors of the Departments of Agriculture in all fifty states and four U.S. territories. The national entity is further organized into four regional associations: NEASDA, MASDA, SASDA, and WASDA, and several issue-specific committees. A core function of NASDA is to facilitate consensus-building among its members around agriculture policy and program priorities they seek to influence at the federal level. Of course, state Departments of Agriculture are also responsible for administering dollars that come through federal legislation – including the farm bill – directly…
SAFSF Member Policy in Action: Agua Fund
We are excited to bring back the SAFSF Member Spotlight in our monthly Policy Connection Newsletter, highlighting 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 SAFSF Policy Associate Maggie Mascarenhas at [email protected] if you are interested in featuring your policy work here. Policy Serves Those Who Show Up by Ann Mills, Executive Director, Agua Fund Since its inception, the Agua Fund has supported policy advocacy as a means of advancing the foundation’s mission to protect the natural environment, help the disadvantaged, give voice to the underserved,…
September Picks of the Month
Climate Resilience in Central Appalachia: Impacts and Opportunities was presented at a recent webinar hosted by Appalachia Funders Network and Invest Appalachia. This analysis was produced by Invest Appalachia documenting projected climate crisis impacts on the Central Appalachian region. I was able to attend this webinar and was inspired by the intentional look at how climate change is impacting my home region. Often Appalachia is overlooked or misportrayed. This report is a great resource created by folks living in the region, advocating for investable solutions to combat what climate change is doing to their, my, home. Among those investment themes is food and…
Physics, Philanthropy and Affirmative Action
by Renee Catacalos, SAFSF vice president, strategy and impact Newton’s Third Law of Motion says that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This immutable relationship between physical objects makes productive activity like forward motion by walking, swimming, tires rolling or wings flapping possible. Depending on the makeup of the two objects that are interacting with each other, it can also have destructive results, like a wrecking ball meeting a wall of bricks and mortar, a windshield meeting a flying bug, or much worse. (I was definitely not a science major, by the way.) Does this law hold for…
August 2023 Policy Connection
Policy Strategy Tip for Funders Independent Sector recently released the findings of a new research study designed to provide insights on how advocacy and civic engagement may vary by organization size, geography, communities served, and leadership demographics. The study–based on a nationally representative quantitative survey and complementary qualitative interviews of nonprofits–is the first of its kind in more than 20 years. Key data points: Only 31% of nonprofits report engaging in advocacy or lobbying over the last five years, less than half of the percentage of nonprofits that reported ever lobbying in 2000 (74%). In 2000, over half of 501(c)(3)…
SAFSF Member Policy in Action: Self-Help Credit Union
We are excited to bring back the SAFSF Member Spotlight in our monthly Policy Connection Newsletter, highlighting 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 SAFSF Policy Associate Maggie Mascarenhas at [email protected] if you are interested in featuring your policy work here. Mandating Reinvestment by the Farm Credit System, Ag’s GSE by David Beck, Policy Director, Self-Help Credit Union Self-Help, a national CDFI and credit union headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, has supported the sustainable food system ecosystem since our beginnings, when…
August Picks of the Month
Don’t Say Backpack Tax—this article shares options for financially supporting wildlife conservation in a way that doesn’t fall solely on land owners and agriculture producers as it currently does. “Landowners and agricultural producers who own and manage 74% of land in the continental US supply the majority of wildlife habitat and bear the personal financial cost in doing so. Landowners incur these costs in a multitude of ways, from the opportunity cost of keeping land open and intact, to annual operational costs and active investments in habitat and/or species conservation.” With outdoor recreation becoming more popular, wildlife is often pushed…
Apply by October 1 to Serve on an SAFSF Committee
The application period has closed. SAFSF is accepting Committee Volunteer Applications for service on the Membership, Nominating, and Policy committees for minimum one-year terms beginning January 1, 2024. The deadline for volunteer submissions is October 1, 2023 and notifications will be made by October 31, 2023. Serving on a committee is a great way to deepen your engagement with SAFSF. You’ll learn more about how we operate, get to work more closely with a few of your funder colleagues, help steer SAFSF’s activities and shape recommendations on issues that require SAFSF board action. Most SAFSF Directors have volunteered on one…
