NEW ENGLAND GRASSROOTS ENVIRONMENT FUND INC
More than *just funding*
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
The Grassroots Fund’s mission is to energize and nurture long-term civic engagement in local initiatives that create and maintain healthy, just, safe and environmentally sustainable communities. The Grassroots Fund is committed to moving resources to frontline organizers and shifting power in decision-making to those impacted by the work. We are committed to ensuring deep representation (based on age, race/ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, etc) throughout our grantmaking programs and convenings. The Fund, a hybrid non-profit/foundation, is uniquely set up to support innovation at the local-level along with our strategic partners. We directly support nimble and efficient volunteer efforts across New England, 60-65% of which do not have formal tax-exempt status, a group structure that allows them to pivot quickly and adapt as they learn from their experiments. These innovative groups often find it nearly impossible to secure financial support outside of the Fund's grants.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Fostering Innovation through Grants
We offer three grants programs: Grow, Seed, and 2 Shared Gifting Circle Cohorts. Our grant programs serve groups that are doing community-based environmental work in CT, ME, MA, NH, RI or VT (map only shows 5 states); are volunteer-driven or have no more than 2 full-time paid staff (or equivalents); and typically have an annual operating budget under $100,000.
Through these programs we’re supporting change makers who not only experience marginalization but face systemic and structural barriers to traditional funding. We’re investing in individuals, groups and organizations working across a broad range of environmental and social justice issues that traditional funders often overlook, and encouraging them to take creative approaches to challenging existing systems.
Where we work
Affiliations & memberships
Grantmakers of the Year - Grant Professionals Association 2020
External reviews
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Founded 24 years ago by the philanthropic community as a pooled fund to support deeper grassroots organizing and tangible local projects, the New England Grassroots Environment Fund (Grassroots Fund) works across New England directly supporting local action financially as well as connecting and sharing trends between grassroots groups, ‘grasstop’ nonprofit colleagues and funding partners. As a nimble, values-based grassroots funder, the Fund has been testing and continually improving participatory processes that serve a six-state region since its inception and foster community-based decision making.
With the introduction of guiding values in 2016, the Grassroots Fund has been co-creating its comprehensive participatory decision-making process with frontline organizers, non-profit colleagues and funding partners. The core value underlying the process has been that lived experience is expertise. This is in contrast to relying on an ‘expert model’, where those with a certain background – either explicitly by requiring academic experiences/professional backgrounds or more subtly and insidiously through identity markers including gender, race/ethnicity, age, sexual preference, etc - will always know best. With this fundamental approach, the Grassroots Fund is looking beyond whether participatory grantmaking adds value or promotes diversity, equity and inclusion. To us, there is no alternative and this is not a ‘choice’ but a fundamental commitment to address the intersectional, intractable issues of climate change, inequality, food insecurity, etc.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Since 2017, we have been co-creating/evolving our participatory decision-making model where we have an open call for readers for a first phase of review and work with a planning committee to bring together a 15-member committee for final decision-making during a 2-day retreat where we focus on biases in decision-making ahead of making final resource allocations. Through gatherings/events like “pop-up offices” and “Catalyst Convenings”, we are committed to showing up in communities across the Northeast and engage with a broad range of local leaders - especially those who don't recognize themselves in dominant environmental spaces and language - on their terms.
The Grassroots Fund predominantly resources groups that are ad-hoc. Where the lack of a formal strategic plan, organizational budget and paid staff capacity may be seen as shortcomings through a traditional lens, we see the opportunity to be truly flexible and to innovate – to test concepts and adjust with feedback from neighbors – as a real strength. Our dollars support new ideas and emerging leaders, and can bring much needed resources to those efforts that are often overlooked by traditional philanthropy.
In addition to the direct financial impact of our grant programs, the Fund’s participatory process is catalyzing deeper innovation as readers are exposed to new ideas and connections through their engagement. Providing targeted trainings and networking opportunities for grassroots groups, particularly with new groups that are tackling environmental challenges but may not consider themselves environmentally focused (e.g. a homeless shelter working with volunteers to conduct basic energy audit reports) is equally fundamental to our work as our grants program.
In keeping with our participatory values, each Grassroots Fund convening is designed and delivered with a planning committee comprised of community groups and organizers with diverse representation. These committees help us build stronger connections into these networks and communities for the trainings and future grant-making while helping us deliver the most effective, timely and responsive events possible. The Fund seeks to support accessible, inclusive training opportunities for all, with locations carefully chosen to maximize participation. Scholarships, childcare support, translation services and travel reimbursement further help lower barriers to participation and are part of our effort to create inclusive spaces where a range of lived experience can come together as we collectively re-imagine our communities and neighborhoods.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
The Grassroots Fund has been experimenting and innovating alongside the grassroots to help support and amplify local environmental issues for more than two decades. Our nimble, responsive approaches to grant-making and resource disbursement reflect the realities of the challenges and needs on the ground. With an active board, grant making and planning committees and hundreds of grant reviewers from diverse lived experiences, the Grassroots Fund serves a unique role in reimagining what constitutes expertise and expanding the capabilities of the organization through the shared wisdom of the grassroots.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
2018 was the biggest year of grant-making, distribution of stipends/scholarships for event participation and participation of committee members and readers and 2019 is on track to outpace last year. Equally relevant is we are seeing the demographics of who is ‘participating’ in the various volunteer opportunities broadening in exciting and necessary ways across race, economic levels, gender, age, etc. Yet we know we have a lot more work to do to address the environmental and social justice crises we face in our local communities. The Grassroots Fund is constantly looking for our own gaps of understanding and action, and seeking to respond transparently and with humility to those gaps.
Also in the ‘what’s next’ category is looking for opportunities to engage with fellow funders and grant makers, to expand the notion of why deeply participatory processes are essential to addressing environmental racism and inequality. We see the coming years defined both by improving our processes and impacts in the region in direct support of the grassroots and in our work to spread models and tactics of participatory grant-making into other funders and regions of the country.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals, We utilize a deeply participatory grantmaking process, including open calls for grant reviewers.
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
NEW ENGLAND GRASSROOTS ENVIRONMENT FUND INC
Board of directorsas of 11/07/2023
Bilal Tajildeen
Northwest Connecticut Community College
Term: 2019 - 2024
Kimberly Blakemore
Analog Devices, Inc.
Leah Bamberger
Northeastern University’s Climate Justice and Sustainability Hub
Lindsey Dupont
Best Friends Animal Society
Sally Manikian
The Conservation Fund
Vanessa Liles
PT Partners
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? No -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? No -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.
Equity strategies
Last updated: 03/01/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.