Dear Colleagues,
The Nathan Cummings Foundation is focused on creating a more just, vibrant, sustainable and democratic society, and to finding solutions to the two most challenging problems of our time – the climate crisis and growing inequality. These intractable problems can’t be solved by grantmaking alone. Capital markets have to change to drive sustainable and inclusive growth that will create long-term value for people, the planet and the economy. How we invest our assets and use our influence as investors are powerful tools to make that change happen. And that is why today, we’re announcing our decision to fully leverage the strength of our nearly half-billion dollar endowment to mission-aligned investing, so that every dollar works to further our mission.
Our decision to go all-in on impact investing reflects our values and our aspirations, our assessment of the market, and the opportunity for NCF to both join and inspire a chorus of philanthropic and private sector leaders changing the landscape for investing and the business model of philanthropy. Times like these require visionary thinking and bold action, and we are committed to using all of our resources – our investments, our grants and our voice – to make a difference in the world. We believe this is our responsibility and the future of philanthropy.
Realizing the Power of Full Alignment
Harnessing the full potential of our assets, alongside our grantmaking and our engagement with companies as an active owner, will remove barriers in the market, further our mission and accelerate the work of our partners. We’re already realizing the potential of this alignment and approach to our work.
Dismantling Inequality: The average chief executive officer earns roughly 347 times more than the average worker in their company, so we use our influence as an investor to advocate against egregious executive compensation practices that contribute to income inequality. Our partner Just Capital ranks companies on worker treatment, including compensation practices, pay equity and discrimination. Their top 100 ranked companies pay their workers more and outperform their competitors: Over the past five years, they delivered a 24 percent average return on earnings, significantly higher than 16 percent for other ranked companies. Our partners at the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United and Fight for $15 are implementing worker protections, organizing, mobilizing and making workers visible in the fight for pay equity and fair treatment across multiple industries, creating an even greater impact on income inequality over the long term.
Building an Inclusive Clean Economy: Companies across a range of industries face climate-related risks to their business. Through our shareholder activism and grantmaking, we push companies to track and report on their emissions and take steps to reduce them. Last year, in partnership with Wespath, Ceres and the 50/50 Climate Project, we pushed Occidental Petroleum to take an in-depth look at its efforts to address climate change, and ultimately, to commit to phasing out routine gas flaring and link a portion of senior executive compensation to progress on carbon capture and sequestration. Our partners at Ceres are documenting the business case for clean energy use: According to their research, the largest companies in the United States are increasing their clean energy use, improving efficiency, enhancing their value and decarbonizing the U.S. economy. Our partners at the Climate Justice Alliance, the Solutions Project and NY Renews are working to make sure that the clean energy transition delivers economic benefits for all. And we are mobilizing capital across asset classes with investments in funds that finance renewable energy projects, create jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, all while providing a market-rate return.
Learning from Our Journey
When I joined the organization just more than two years ago, NCF was already a leader in active ownership strategies and had made a commitment to impact investing. In 2013, our Board established the Assets Aligned for Impact Committee and carved out $6.5 million for impact investing from our endowment. We began discussing what it would take to move from a pilot to a long-term strategy that would meet and match our overall ambition and the goals of our mission. We decided to invest in a thoughtful learning and decision-making process across the Board and the Investment Committee.
Our Board is very comfortable telling the story of how we moved through this process and what we learned along the way. We started with a wide variety of views on the market. Getting to consensus meant challenging our assumptions and building a shared understanding about the future of the market, a more comprehensive view of returns and our role as agents of change. We worked through frequently heard questions — Is there enough deal flow? How do you measure impact? Can you do good while making the returns that you need to fuel your grantmaking and to exist into perpetuity?
To move forward, we turned to our colleagues and the rich network of resources for impact investors. We appointed Lisa Green-Hall to our Investment Committee and Rey Ramseyto our Board, two leaders with decades of experience in impact investment. We brought in new advisors such as Sonen Capital, who helped guide our learning on the strategic role of impact investing. Under the leadership of NCF Trustee and Assets Aligned for Investing Committee Chair James Cummings and our Investment Committee Chair John Levy, we began joining the two committees together to make sure they were learning together and informing our strategy. We reviewed market trends and case studies. We spent time listening to the experiences of foundation colleagues such as the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, McKnight Foundation and the Ford Foundation. And we joined networks like Confluence Philanthropy, Mission Investors Exchange, the Social Venture Network and the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance President’s Council. After nine months of work with our partners and our outsourced Chief Investment Officer, Global Endowment Management, our Board unanimously decided to go all-in on impact investing.
Looking Ahead
At the heart of our decision is our culture. We held close in our minds something that our founder, Nathan Cummings, said: “Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.” We do not have all the answers and we know we will learn by doing. We started where many foundations do, by evaluating the investments we currently own for alignment. In the coming months, we will be developing a new investment policy statement, benchmarks for progress and a timeline for full implementation. We will invest in companies and strategies across all asset classes to achieve a market rate of return, and will turn to program-related investing next. Over the course of the next year, we will share more about our journey and next steps.
At this stage, we’ve made a transformational decision that we know will change the trajectory of our work, now and in the future. Foundations have trillions in assets, but are too often only using a small fraction to support our missions via grantmaking. We’re proud to be part of the growing number of foundations that are activating the power of our endowments to achieve the future we want.
Sincerely,
Sharon Alpert
President & CEO
Nathan Cummings Foundation<
Nathan Cummings Foundation Announces Move to 100 Percent Mission-Aligned Investing
Foundation will fully leverage nearly half-billion dollar endowment to further their mission
New York, NY – Today the Nathan Cummings Foundation announced that they will align 100 percent of their nearly half-billion dollar endowment with their mission. The Nathan Cummings Foundation is focused on creating a more just, vibrant, sustainable and democratic society and finding solutions to the two most challenging problems of our time – the climate crisis and growing inequality – and is one of the largest foundations to commit 100 percent.
“Our decision reflects our values and our aspirations, our assessment of the market, and the opportunity for NCF to both join and leverage a chorus of philanthropic and private sector investors changing the landscape for investing and the business model of philanthropy,” said NCF President Sharon Alpert. “The problems we are working on – like the climate crisis and growing inequality – will not be solved by grantmaking alone. Capital markets have to change to drive sustainable and inclusive growth that will create long-term value for people, the planet, and the economy. How we invest our assets and leverage our influence as an investor are powerful tools to make that change happen.”
NCF joins a growing number of foundations aligning their investments in companies and strategies that advance their missions. American foundations collectively have trillions in assets but often only use the legally required 5 percent on their missions through grantmaking. This move asks the question ‘what is possible if foundations begin using the other 95 percent?’
“Our Board agreed, according to our values, that the social and economic issues at stake within our democracy demand bold responses from our philanthropy,” said Nathan Cummings Foundation Board Chair Ruth Cummings. “We have committed to align all of our assets for impact in order to receive more social return on investments. We also want to help make the path easier for those who, like us, want to do more.”
NCF Trustee and Assets Aligned for Impact Committee Chair James Cummings echoed this sentiment, saying, “So many of us have been advocating for more holistic resource integration for many years. I am excited about the Foundation’s commitment to strategically invest additional resources with our implementation allies.”
NCF Trustee Rey Ramsey added, “This is a concrete step that illustrates that capital can and must reflect our values to advance social issues. It comes at the right time because we have capital disparities in far too many communities where quality ideas and business plans go unfulfilled. Our commitment not only advances philanthropy and impact investing, it advances the work of our partners on the frontlines of these issues.”
The Foundation has already started looking at all of its investments to assess their alignment and develop a pipeline of aligned investment strategies across all asset classes, and will provide an update at the end of 2018 to support other foundations that plan to leverage their endowments to increase impact.
“Based on the work we’ve done thus far, we believe that we will be able to achieve our return goals while aligning our investments to our mission and values,” said John Levy, who chairs NCF’s Investment Committee. “That said, during the next phase of our work, we need to be humble, open to new ideas and flexible in our strategies as we continue to learn from others in the field as well as with our OCIO partner and their managers.”
“I’ve enjoyed being part of the Foundation’s journey as they considered how to harness all of their resources to effect change in service of their mission,” said Lisa Green-Hall, who serves as an independent advisor on NCF’s Investment Committee. “They realize that impact investing is not inherently more risky than other types of investments, and in fact, the greater risk to the endowment and financial markets in general is to not respond to climate change and persistent inequality through investing as well as grantmaking.”
Sonen Capital helped engage, educate, and guide NCF’s Board towards a set of recommendations on impact investing and its strategic role within the Foundation. Global Endowment Management serves as the Foundations’ outsourced Chief Investment Officer and partner in making this transition.
“If you are investing for the long term, you should consider the impact your investment decisions have on the future of society and the environment,” said Raul Pomares of Sonen Capital. “We believe that companies who effectively manage both the emerging risks and opportunities associated with environmental and social issues ultimately will outperform their peers. Investment managers should recognize this as well as the fact that there is a growing demand for sustainable and mission-aligned investing. Managers should pay attention to this trend and devote the necessary resources to meet the needs of the marketplace.”
“We are thrilled to continue our eight-year partnership with NCF, and we recognize the importance of mission alignment as the next frontier of endowment investing. This work is a natural extension of our longstanding commitment to supporting our investors in fulfilling their missions,” stated GEM co-founder and partner Stephanie Lynch. Director of Sustainability Meredith Heimburger added, “This is an exciting opportunity to partner with a leading foundation to execute a 100 percent aligned investment portfolio at scale. Our entrepreneurial and innovative investment culture is well-positioned to contribute to this evolving field.”
The Foundation has a strong history of leveraging their endowment and investment position to advance their mission, and was one of the first to employ shareholder advocacy and active ownership strategies that directly engage companies. They were a founding signatory of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investing and have voted on thousands of proxies associated with the stocks they own, filing nearly 200 shareholder proposals to ensure that companies are managing the risks and opportunities associated with environmental, social and governance issues.
Read our Letter to the Field and 5 Things You Need to Know.
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About the Nathan Cummings Foundation
Rooted in the Jewish tradition of social justice, the Nathan Cummings Foundation is committed to creating a more just, vibrant, sustainable and democratic society. They focus on finding solutions to the two most challenging problems of our time – the climate crisis and growing inequality – and aim to transform the systems and mindsets that hinder progress toward a more sustainable and equitable future for all people, particularly women and people of color. Leveraging a nearly half-billion dollar endowment, they have provided nearly $500 million in grants over the last 27 years to support social movements, organizations and individuals pursuing justice for people and the planet.
Valerie Wilson of the Economic Policy Institute discussed EPI’s new report on the economic inequality gap for African Americans, 50 years after the Kerner Commission.
NEW YORK — The Nathan Cummings Foundation announced today that Bob Bancroft will join the Foundation as Vice President of Finance. Bancroft comes to the Nathan Cummings Foundation from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, where he worked for the past decade, most recently serving as director of finance & tax. Bancroft brings 17 years of nonprofit and entrepreneurial experience in finance, investments and technology to the Foundation. He will lead efforts to enhance the Foundation’s operations, governance and impact to better support its partners and achieve its mission
“With this appointment, we now have the entire leadership team in place that will guide our efforts to use our investments strategically and build a more socially and economically just society,” said Sharon Alpert, president and CEO of the Foundation. “Bob has the right vision and approach to managing financial operations to achieve our mission, program and investment goals. He is enthusiastic about our ongoing exploration of impact investing and our desire to use our resources to create the change we want to see in the world.”
Bancroft has a strong track record in philanthropy, with an emphasis on being a partner and a resource to the program team, enhancing overall alignment.
While at the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation — a private, independent foundation dedicated to advancing the education of high-achieving students from all backgrounds who have financial need — Bancroft took a leading role in transforming the way the Foundation’s $700 million endowment was managed. Bancroft was responsible for all aspects of accounting operations at various times, as he moved up through the organization. This included managing relationships with the Foundation’s external chief investment officer and custodian, and laying the groundwork for the Foundation’s first program-related investments.
Bancroft values NCF’s strategic focus and the priority it places on internal and external collaboration.
“In addition to its mission, the culture of NCF truly speaks to me. This is an organization with an entrepreneurial mindset – it is not afraid to take a high level of risk and seeks to maximize every available resource, in order to meet some of the biggest challenges of our time,” Bancroft said. “I am deeply honored to serve as the next vice president of finance. My goal is to provide best-in-class financial insight and support to our grantees, staff and board so we can enhance our mission impact and promote greater alignment with strategy.”
Prior to his tenure at the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, Bancroft — who is a certified public accountant — owned and operated a successful small business in Boston, Mass., and also served as controller for a wholesale distributor. Bancroft graduated from Boston University summa cum laude, with a B.S. in management.
Located in New York City, the Nathan Cummings Foundation is a national philanthropic organization that has made $485 million in grants over the past 27 years. The Foundation recently announced a decision to increase its giving in 2017 and 2018 to support its focus on finding solutions for inequality and climate change.
The Nathan Cummings Foundation partnered with OnRamps, a full-service search and consulting firm that exclusively serves the social sector, to conduct a national search for a Vice President of Finance.
For additional information about this announcement, please contact: Artealia Gilliard, Director of Communications, at artealia.gilliard@nathancummings.org or 212-787-7300.
The Nathan Cummings Foundation is rooted in the Jewish tradition and committed to democratic values and social justice, including fairness, diversity and community. It focuses on finding solutions to the two biggest problems of our time – the climate crisis and growing inequality. The Foundation invests in four focus areas to build a more just, vibrant, sustainable and democratic society: Inclusive Clean Economy; Racial and Economic Justice; Corporate and Political Accountability; and Voice, Creativity and Culture. For more information, visit www.nathancummings.org
Dear Colleagues,
One of our partners shared this poem by Clarissa Pinkola Estés and it inspired me to think about what philanthropy is built for. We are in a moment in our nation’s history where powerful forces are working to divide, isolate and attack. From Charlottesville to Puerto Rico and the #MeToo movement, our grantees, Fellows and partners are courageous leaders on the frontlines. They are protesting inside the White House and outside Trump Tower, leveraging the power of Wall Street and Main Street, and speaking truth to power from Hollywood to the halls of Congress. Like Clarissa’s poem says, they are standing up, speaking out and fighting for the soul of our democracy and our shared humanity. Together, we are pursuing justice for people and the planet, and the risks we face are real and growing.
Philanthropy is uniquely built to take risks and support work that pushes the edges of what is comfortable and what is conceivable. The theme of our November board meeting, one year after the Presidential election, was Risking Boldly. Our Board and staff gathered to share our perspectives on risk – how we prepare for, learn from, and lean into it. We focused ourselves, as our Board Chair Ruth Cummings said, on embracing risk and defining it for ourselves.
Aligning Around Our Risk Identity
Those of us who believe that philanthropy is the risk capital for civil society and who are betting on bold leaders with innovative ideas and social movements with ambitious goals need to get better at identifying our risk profile and aligning our culture and operations around that. We’re not the first to recognize this gap in philanthropy’s practice, and we are heartened by partners like the Center for Community Change and the Ford Foundation who have echoed a similar message of courage because the stakes are higher now than they’ve ever been.
Bold risk-taking is part of our DNA and our goal was to emerge with clarity and consensus about our profile so that we can act accordingly, whether in times of calm or crisis. We drew uponexpertise from the sector, including articles and toolkits like the Risk Management Toolkit created by the Open Road Alliance. We brought stories of risk into the boardroom, shared videos of people’s personal accounts of being stalked, harassed and attacked, and trusted each other as we exposed our vulnerabilities. Like so many of you, our Board was angered and moved to act. We agreed that we must support social movements and the leaders and organizations that mobilize them because even when we don’t agree about everything, this is no time to let our differences divide us.
NCF is a foundation that is willing to take on a high level of risk. We heard loud and clear from our Board that we can view risk as an asset, not solely as a liability to be managed. We are focusing on what this means in practice and developing new ways of working – asking grantees different questions about how they are sustaining themselves in these times, improving our internal practices, and communicating more so that our intentions are clear and so that we aren’t on defense.
I am inspired that our Board is showing this courage, that so many of our partner funders are willing to do the same, and that our grantees are clearly stating what they need from us.
Focused on the Future We Want
We know that to advance our mission we must embrace this risk-taking mindset like never before. Earlier this year, we made the decision to increase our spending and to use our voice more to speak up for our values. We want to use all of the resources in our toolbox, not just our grant capital, to stand alongside our grantees and share the risk.
Over the last several months, we continued to have important discussions about our future as it relates to our endowment and how we harness the full power of our assets to achieve the change we want to see in the world. We engaged our foundation colleagues and experts in the impact investing field, with the support of Sonen Capital and Global Endowment Management. We heard from Justin Rockefeller of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund about aligning their endowment with a different version of capitalism, and the progress they have made on their impact investing goals. And in November, we were joined by Kate Wolford, CEO of the McKnight Foundation, and Board member Debby Landesman, who shared how their decisions have transformed their perspective on philanthropy’s fiduciary responsibility and challenged the dominant notion that grantmaking alone is what philanthropy is built for. As we come to the conclusion of our learning process, we are looking forward to sharing a decision about our next steps in the new year.
Funding Social Justice Movements and Visionary Leaders
At our Board meeting, we approved 79 grants, totaling $16 million across our integrated framework to ignite social movements at the intersection of faith, politics, culture and justice. We also made three responsive grants that address the devastating impacts of hurricanes in the U.S., especially Puerto Rico. We remain concerned with the unequal response to the recovery effort in Puerto Rico – the people that were hit the hardest by these storms have the least and are not getting enough funding or support.
- The Poor People’s Campaign and the Movement Strategy Center are building resilience and transformative social justice movements.
- Color Of Change, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network are working to advance racial justice, gender equity and economic fairness by getting to the root causes of inequality and building power for a multi-racial/ethnic working-class movement.
- The Climate Justice Alliance Just Recovery Fund, the Miami Foundation Hurricane Irma Relief Fund, and El Puente, in partnership with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, are supporting community-based, grassroots efforts that will create sustainable and equitable recovery.
- Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, the NAACP, and the Climate Justice Alliance are working side-by-side with frontline communities to build inclusive solutions to climate change and create an economy based on clean and renewable energy.
- Just Capital and MapLight are activating investors and businesses as allies on climate and social justice.
- Firelight Media, the Center for Investigative Reporting, and the Pop Culture Collaborative are shifting dominant narratives about race, class, gender and ethnicity, challenging stereotypes, building radical empathy and telling more inclusive stories.
Pursuing Justice for People and the Planet
While it’s a troubling time for our country and world, I am emboldened by the remarkable work of our grantees, Fellows and partners. It felt incredible to be in the Board Room with our Board and staff embracing risk as necessary for progress. As our Vice Chair Jaimie Mayer said – we are starting from within, by building trust and vulnerability, and doing the difficult work of coming into alignment about what we’re fighting for, and what we’re willing to risk getting there.
In solidarity,
Sharon Alpert
President & CEO
Nathan Cummings Foundation
Dear Colleagues,
Elie Wiesel wisely counseled, “We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” His words are true today: In times like these, institutions and leaders must take a stand and clearly state what we believe.
The display of racial hatred by white supremacists and the violence that followed in Charlottesville are in direct contradiction to our values. The Nathan Cummings Foundation stands with peaceful protesters risking their lives to fight against ideologies of hate. We will continue to support people that are directly confronting hate and working across lines of difference to build bridges, not walls. Our hearts go out to the three people who lost their lives, the injured, and their families and loved ones.
As a Foundation rooted firmly in Jewish values and committed to social justice, it does not go unnoticed that the marchers used anti-Semitic and racist language, chanting “Jews will not replace us!” and “Blood and Soil.” Anti-Semitism, like racism, misogyny, homophobia and other forms of hate, are alive and well in American political discourse and are a major feature of white supremacist and neo-Nazi ideology.
Prominent Republicans, including Senator Orrin Hatch, urged us to see this for what it is and call evil by its name. The Charlottesville Mayor Signer said: “When I think of torches, I want to think of the Statue of Liberty. When I think of candlelight, I want to think of prayer vigils. Today, in 2017, we are instead seeing a cowardly parade of hatred, bigotry, racism, and intolerance march down the lawns of the architect of our Bill of Rights.” Senator Hatch and Mayor Signer were joined by colleagues from across the aisle and leaders at all levels of government to support Charlottesville.
We cannot help but notice those who did not stand up and unequivocally denounce these outright acts of hate. This silence, as Elie Wiesel’s words remind us, is not about seeing both sides, it is the same as throwing in with the tormentors, emboldening them and weakening our democracy.
If we want to turn this tide of hate and put it firmly in our country’s past, we must unite across the political spectrum and across communities to ensure that hate has no home here.
Remembering our values and what we’re fighting gives us strength and hope. Faith, love and understanding is the antidote to hate. We are grateful for the work of our grantees, fellows, and colleagues standing with Charlottesville. The events in Charlottesville strengthen our resolve to stand in solidarity with those working to build a more just, vibrant, sustainable and democratic future, and to counter darkness with light, and hate with love.
Sincerely,
Sharon Alpert
President & CEO
Nathan Cummings Foundation
NEW YORK – The Nathan Cummings Foundation announced today that Danielle Deane-Ryan will join the Foundation as director of the Inclusive Clean Economy focus area. Deane-Ryan brings more than two decades of experience shaping advocacy and communications strategies, directing philanthropic investments, and leading equity and inclusion innovation in the clean energy sector. In her new role, she joins the Foundation’s leadership team working to advance solutions to the two most challenging problems of our time – the climate crisis and growing inequality.
“If we want to address the climate crisis and reduce inequality, we must rapidly transition to an inclusive clean economy,” said Sharon Alpert, President and CEO of the Foundation. “Danielle is a visionary thinker who brings a strong equity lens to her work in the climate and clean energy space. She has an unshakeable commitment to ensuring that communities of color take the lead in designing our clean energy future. She comes to this role with extensive networks and experience, and a track record of building and diversifying the field. She approaches the work with humility and a passion for collaboration and partnership that will make her a wonderful fit for our organization and for our partners.”
Most recently, Deane-Ryan served in the Obama Administration as senior advisor for External Affairs and acting director for Stakeholder Engagement at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). EERE is one of the world’s largest public investors in clean energy technologies. At DOE, she introduced a more strategic and inclusive approach to stakeholder outreach to improve understanding of the clean energy revolution’s success among a broader array of audiences. She collaborated with DOE’s Jobs Strategy Council to communicate the employment benefits from clean energy sector growth, and partnered with private sector leaders to highlight the impact of EERE’s investments.
“At this critical moment in the fight for clean energy and climate solutions, I am honored to join a foundation with a long-standing focus on integrating social justice into its environmental work,” said Deane-Ryan. “As a native of the climate-vulnerable Caribbean region, and a mother who wants to leave a livable planet for the next generation, I am personally and professionally motivated. I look forward to working with the outstanding board and staff to boost efforts to ensure that the clean economy transition is inclusive. Winning the clean energy future demands it.”
Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Deane-Ryan was principal at the Raben Group. Her time included serving as executive director of Green 2.0. Green 2.0’s work won praise from foundation presidents, chief executives of environmental advocacy organizations and members of Congress, and was recognized by Inside Philanthropy as one of 2015’s Boldest Moves and Top Trends.
Before that, she was the Energy and Environment program director at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and managed the Commission to Engage African Americans on Energy, Climate Change and the Environment. That work brought a greater national spotlight to climate policies that prioritized equity and resilience. She also served as a program officer at the Hewlett Foundation, where she integrated input from grasstops and grassroots stakeholders to design and run the New Constituencies for the Environment initiative, guiding investments of more than $20 million dollars during her eight-year tenure. Those investments strengthened the capacity of advocacy groups and contributed to the adoption of clean air and climate policies that are reducing health care costs and delivering hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue to under-resourced communities in California.
Deane-Ryan is a native of Trinidad and Tobago, and holds a M.Sc. from the London School of Economics in Environment and Development, and a B.A. from Williams College in Political Economy with an Environmental Studies Concentration. Deane-Ryan served on the National Academy of Sciences Gulf Research Program Advisory Board and was a fellow of the UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, which won the Zayed prize for focusing the world’s attention on the economic value of natural capital. She serves on the boards of the American Councils for International Education and Resource Media.
Located in New York City, the Nathan Cummings Foundation is a national philanthropic organization that has made $425 million in grants over the past 25 years. The Foundation recently announced a decision to increase its giving in 2017 and 2018, to support its evolving focus.
The Nathan Cummings Foundation partnered with Koya Leadership Partners, a leading executive search firm that works exclusively with nonprofit clients, to conduct a national search for the director of the Inclusive Clean Economy focus area.
NEW YORK – Today, three innovators combatting issues of inequality and climate change were named Nathan Cummings Foundation Fellows. Each fellow will have up to $150,000 and 18-months to turn an inspired idea in the field of social justice into a world-changing reality. The 2017 fellows are: Anna Claussen, a Minnesota-based leader who will revitalize rural civic participation by engaging and empowering those communities on climate change policy through national Rural Climate Dialogues; Francisca Porchas Coronado, who will scale up work that began in Arizona to develop a national network of community healers who build resilience and restorative practices for immigrant communities currently facing criminalization and deportation; and Jasiri X, a Pittsburgh-based rapper and activist, who will train artists to become public advocates for social justice through the 1Hood Artivist Academy.
“These three fellows represent the heart of the Nathan Cummings Foundation’s mission to build a more just, vibrant, sustainable and democratic society. Now, more than ever, we must invest in transformative ideas that empower communities, strengthen civic engagement and bridge divides,” said Sharon Alpert, President and CEO of the Foundation. “We have chosen leaders who believe in the power of art, storytelling, dialogue and restorative practices to bring about the solutions we need. They have a bold vision for the future of America that is inclusive and sustainable and I’m looking forward to working with them.”
The Nathan Cummings Foundation is a multigenerational family foundation focused on finding solutions to the two most challenging problems of our time – the climate crisis and growing inequality. The foundation recently announced a decision to increase its giving in 2017 and 2018 to support its evolving focus.
About the Fellows
Anna Claussen is the director of rural strategies at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, and is passionate about challenging narratives that perpetuate racial, economic and geographic inequality. Recognizing that climate change is already impacting rural communities, Anna will develop a national Rural Climate Dialogue to engage and elevate the voices of rural Americans and advance inclusive climate change policies. Her work will leverage cultural narratives, transformative stories, and immersive experiences to shift the way people think and feel about climate change, and about each other, and empower rural communities to engage in efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
“Rural resistance to climate action has been viewed as a messaging problem by environmentalists rather than a need to better understand their challenges and involve rural citizens in designing a new approach to climate policy. We need to focus on solutions rather than assigning blame, and we can’t underestimate the power of stories to connect and empower people, and spur community innovation on climate change.”
Francisca Porchas Coronado is the organizing director of Puente Human Rights Movement and a leading voice in efforts to end mandatory immigrant detention and address the trauma experienced by frontline communities currently facing criminalization and deportation. Francisca will build a network of healers across the country that employ contemplative practices, such as meditation, expression through art, ancestral spiritual practices, therapy and bodywork to address the needs of the immigrant community. These teams will address community trauma, and provide guidance to frontline organizations on how to integrate healing practices into their work with immigrant communities targeted for deportation.
“Anti-immigrant policies are meant to break us, and we need to be whole to overcome oppression, heal from trauma and restore power in our communities. Incorporating healing and restorative practices will make our movement even stronger and more effective.”
Jasiri X is a Pittsburgh-based rapper and activist working at the intersection of art and activism. He is the first independent hip-hop artist to be awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Chicago Theological Seminary. Jasiri co-founded the anti-violence group 1Hood and the 1Hood Media Academy to teach youth of color how to analyze and create media for themselves, while achieving financial freedom and building wealth. Through this fellowship, he will develop the 1Hood Artivist Academy to cultivate artists and activists who use their voice to speak out against injustice.
“If there was ever a need for art activism, it’s right now. This Administration’s policies are literally killing people, and empowering the worst of our humanity. I want to create a space to train artists to become public advocates for social justice.”
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The Nathan Cummings Foundation is rooted in the Jewish tradition and committed to democratic values and social justice, including fairness, diversity and community. It focuses on finding solutions to the two biggest problems of our time – the climate crisis and growing inequality. The Foundation invests in four focus areas to build a more just, vibrant, sustainable and democratic society: Inclusive Clean Economy; Racial and Economic Justice; Corporate and Political Accountability; and Voice, Creativity and Culture. For more information, visit www.nathancummings.org
Dear Colleagues:
We are deeply disappointed by the President’s decision to withdraw the United States from the global climate agreement. The truth is that more than 3 million people currently work in the clean energy industry, and it is one of the fastest growing sectors in the U.S. economy. In fact, clean energy jobs surpass jobs in the fossil fuel industry by 5 to 1. The Paris Agreement is good for people and the planet, and withdrawing only makes us less competitive in leading and benefitting from innovation and investments in infrastructure occurring at an unprecedented scale across the globe.
At the Nathan Cummings Foundation, we are committed to supporting a just transition to an inclusive clean economy, which reduces carbon emissions, mitigates the adverse effects of climate change on future generations, and addresses the needs of people who are already feeling its impacts. Addressing the climate crisis is core to addressing inequality. Personally, I’m feeling more resolve than ever to support the work of people who are fighting for the sustainable and equitable future we need. I reflected yesterday on the many people I have been lucky to work with for over 25 years, from the early days of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development to my first COP in Montreal, and how much progress we have made. We know what it will take to create a sustainable future for all and the choice is still ours. Together, we can build more jobs and sectors of economic growth, improve the air quality and health of our children, and increase access to energy at lower costs.
Despite the President’s actions, we will stand with people all over the world who have made it clear that addressing the climate crisis is a moral and economic imperative for the sustainability of the planet and for future generations. We stand with leaders from urban, rural and indigenous communities, Governors and Mayors, businesses, investors, universities and faith leaders who are redoubling their efforts to fight climate change and lift-up solutions that can transform our economy and the health of our communities. We’ll keep working to encourage the private sector to invest in this energy and economic transformation through grantmaking and active-owner strategies. Recent historic votes from a majority of shareholders at ExxonMobil and Occidental Petroleum demonstrate the pressure that we as shareholders can put on fossil fuel companies to fully account for the impact that climate change will have on their business model.
In the coming weeks, we will be in touch to learn how we can support the work you are doing in response to this moment.
Sincerely,
Sharon L. Alpert
President & CEO
Nathan Cummings Foundation
“While many funders have embarked on select new grantmaking in response to Trump’s rise, the Nathan Cummings Foundation sees the need for bigger changes, including increasing payout.” The Nathan Cummings Foundation is honored to stand alongside our peers in “No Time for Business as Usual: How a Progressive Funder is Changing in the Trump Era” via Inside Philanthropy: http://bit.ly/2rCObG0.
