Our History: 2001

The Columbia River, looking upstream toward Vantage, Washington. Photo © Mike Penney photobymike.com

In early 2001, as we prepared for four years under a new presidential administration, we took a hard look at our foundation's strategies and operations during a strategic planning process. Building on our experiences from the foundation's first six years, and the challenges that loomed ahead, we identified four programmatic imperatives: to protect the environment, to broaden and deepen the environmental movement, to leverage our foundation's investments and resources and to encourage innovation in all of our endeavors.

The strategic plan gave us new ways to think about our work and compelled us to try different approaches. It prompted us to make some structural changes (for example, merging our Toxics and Communities program with Endangered Ecosystems, in order to better integrate our work. The need to further hone our priorities within the Endangered Ecosystems program was more apparent than ever, given the increasing threats to critical places in the region. To help us prioritize, we worked with the Conservation Biology Institute to develop a conservation science assessment of the region.

Our Communications and Capacity Building program began to explore what it would mean to think about engaging new constituencies through a "marketing" lens. We convened a number of our grantees to explore this concept and began funding a few pilot projects to test the ideas.

Grantmaking Highlights

With a grant to the National Audubon Society's Alaska office to perform a conservation area design of Alaska's North Slope, we broadened our focus to include not only the Arctic Refuge, but also the Western Arctic, a region that is globally significant to hundreds of species of migratory birds and critical for the herds of caribou relied upon by indigenous populations in the region.

Recognizing the importance of engaging new voices in conservation issues, we provided funds to support the Columbia River Pastoral Letter project. The project stimulated a dialogue among church leaders, policymakers and the public about issues that directly affect the Columbia River and the communities that depend on its health. It brought an important theological voice to a complex set of environmental issues that is still felt to this day.

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