Call for Nominations for Directors
SAFSF is accepting nominations for two positions on the Board of Directors for three-year terms beginning in October 2021. The Board seeks candidates who will help ensure a diversity of perspectives representing gender, geographic location, life experience, political ideology, professional skills, and race, culture, ethnicity, and organization size and type. We are also expressly seeking individuals with interests in financial management and development. One of the two open positions may be filled by nonmembers of SAFSF. See details of board responsibilities below. Qualified candidates must be: members of the board or staff of a grantmaking or investing organization active in sustainable agriculture and/or food…
A New Online Hub to Help Funders Working at the Intersection of Health, Climate and Equity
Michael Kavate – Inside Philanthropy May 19, 2021 Extreme weather—from fires to floods, hurricanes to heat waves—has in recent years pushed funders across the country not only to mount rapid responses, but to prepare for what might be next. To inform those efforts, a first-time alliance of eight philanthropy-serving organizations has created a new web portal that addresses the questions their members are increasingly asking about how to adjust to climate impacts, and how to prevent them from exacerbating existing inequities. Titled “Investing at the Frontlines of Climate Change: A Funder Toolkit on Climate, Health and Equity,” the hub catalogs…
Infrastructure Investment in Climate and Ag
The Biden Administration’s American Jobs Plan (AJP) is taking center stage in federal policy conversations. The overall plan calls for more than $2 trillion to be invested in rebuilding infrastructure. Talks between the Biden Administration and Senate Republicans continue but no agreements have been reached. In all likelihood, the AJP will pass through budget reconciliation just as the American Rescue Plan did. The AJP is ambitious and would make historic investments in our country’s infrastructure. However, it falls short and lacks specifics in addressing the role of agriculture in climate mitigation. The AJP calls for investing only $1 billion in climate and agriculture out…
10 Things To Know About Race/Racism & the Food System
The Food Solutions New England (FSNE) 21-Day Racial Equity Habit-Building Challenge starts today. This resource from FSNE provides a good grounding in the reasons why this Challenge is so important for agriculture and food systems. We offer these ten stories in the spirit of making the “invisible” visible. Thedominant narratives of how our food systems work often leave some things out in favor of including stories that fit better with the bigger story of who and what “we are” (or would like to see ourselves to be) as nations or communities. We hope these ten stories inspire you to keep…
SAFSF Hosts Member 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge
The Food Solutions New England (FSNE) 21-Day Racial Equity Habit-Building Challenge runs from April 5-25, offering small daily email prompts delivered each morning that make it easy for you to participate in this transformative effort at your own pace. This self-guided learning journey examines the history and impacts of racism and inequities and how they are connected to our food system. This year, SAFSF will host member activities and conversations to help members taking the Challenge reflect collectively on what we learn through the 21 days and beyond. Here’s how you can participate! STEP 1 Visit the FSNE Challenge website to…
Reckoning a Way Forward: 19th Annual SAFSF Forum
SAFSF’s 19th Annual Forum, Reckoning a Way Forward: Co-Creating Philanthropy’s Course Toward a More Just and Sustainable Food System, will help agriculture and food system funders and investors examine how our practices have perpetuated the systems that have failed us, especially in this last tumultuous year. The SAFSF Forum will come to you online over two weeks, May 3-14, 2021. Program offerings will amplify the voices of those who have kept their neighbors fed by growing their own food, supporting their local farms, changing their businesses on the fly, and advocating for authentic redress of entrenched food system injustices. These leaders are showing us the…
Policy Serves Those Who Show Up
On our recent SAFSF member call, Who’s Who at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), we discussed who is being appointed and hired to fill different positions within the Department. We came away from that call with the realization that we are seeing seismic shifts in the personnel filling key positions across the agency. One SAFSF member referred to the USDA team being put in place as her “dream team,” sort of like a fantasy sports team coming to reality.Even a highly skilled and experienced dream team relies on an array of input from coaches and other experts. The perspectives those experts…
Announcing the Indigenous Food Systems Community of Practice
Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders (SAFSF), First Nations Development Institute (FNDI), and Melvin Consulting PLLC are excited to invite registration for a new Indigenous Food Systems Community of Practice. Over the course of a year, a group of 14 funders will gather to: Interact, learn, and build relationships with Native American practitioners, organizations, and communities offering food systems solutions;Share and sharpen their skills and strategies for investing in Indigenous partners who are leading sustainable agriculture and food systems work in Indian Country;Build awareness of and respond to the historic, structural, current (e.g. impacts of COVID-19), and philanthropic barriers that Native communities and…
Sponsor the 2021 SAFSF Forum!
Your sponsorship of the 2021 SAFSF Forum boosts our power to convene funders across the agriculture and food system spectrum at a critical moment for philanthropy. Forum sponsorship helps us ensure space for new voices from the field, bring new research and expertise, and offer more opportunities for Forum attendees to connect and get to know each other, even in the virtual realm. Reserve your sponsorship by as soon as possible to receive the full benefit of advance promotion of the 2021 SAFSF Forum. All sponsorships must be finalized by April 26, 2021. Contact Renee Catacalos, Senior Director, Membership and…
USDA Recruiting Grant Reviewers
The Agricultural Marketing Service of USDA will soon be opening its RFAs for programs that provide significant funding to nonprofits in your communities. They are recruiting reviewers with relevant knowledge, experience and expertise to help in the review process. Here is the link to submit an application: http://new.grantreviewinfo.net/fy20-usda-amsThe programs and the the tentative review dates are as follows: Acer Access and Development Program (ACER): June 1 – July 3Federal-State Market Improvement Program (FSMIP): June 1 – July 3Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP): June 8 – July 15Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP): June 8 – July 15Regional Food System Partnerships (RFSP): June 8 –…
