COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
Spearheading a community rights movement to establish rights for people and nature over the systems that control them.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
CELDF works with local community groups challenging the anti-democratic forces that have been stifling local community control. CELDF has helped draft and defend the first Rights of Nature laws in the United States with the aim of simultaneously subordinating constitutional protections for corporations. It has also put forth a new legal doctrine that redefines state law as a “floor” to which local communities can add civil, human and ecological rights protections. We work with communities to ensure the authority of local governments trump corporations’ claimed protections.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Democratic and Environmental Rights
CELDF has a number of democratic and environmental rights programs. We partner with communities to protect themselves against the immediate threat they face and to advance systemic change by recognizing the right of local community self-government and the rights of nature. Programs include Project on Shale Gas Drilling and Fracking, Rights of Nature, and our Project on Corporations, Democracy, and Sustainability.
Where we work
External reviews

Videos
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?
CELDF seeks to engage - through education, training and legal assistance - with community partners to enact local measures and organize profile-raising campaigns that assist global efforts in building self-governing, anti-racist Earth-centered cultures while also supporting efforts to directly dismantle the key forces destabilizing society and the planet.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Through education and outreach, organizing assistance, and legal support, CELDF amplifies and empowers local voices to confront the legal barriers to sustainability, justice, and equity. We provide the tool kit for communities to expand their rights, allow them to make decisions about their health, economy, and environment through local self-governance, or Community Rights
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
CELDF has helped close to two hundred communities in ten states. Our Community Organizers have formed Community Rights Networks in 5 states; organizing efforts are taking root in 6 other states. In collaboration with our network we are seeing the fruits of a national community rights movement – a movement catalyzed by the growing recognition that “we the people” lack the legal authority to decide what happens in our own communities.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
CELDF has realized many milestones through the years. We assisted Tamaqua Borough pass the first Rights of Nature law in the US; we assisted Ecuador draft the first Rights of Nature Language drafted into its national constitution; and we continue to assist communities, such as Lincoln County Oregon, Toledo, Ohio, and Nottingham New Hampshire in their quest for Community Rights and Rights of Nature legislation.
As we begin our 26th year, CELDF is eager to work with communities to solve problems and expand their rights, including the authority to enact minimum wage increases, public education reform, civil rights expansions and sustainable policies that would forge a more just and equitable society. We will continue to lead in advancing the Rights of Nature; the idea that the earth and its ecosystems should not just be property in the eyes of the law, but instead have basic rights like the right to exist and flourish.
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 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
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
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.
COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
Board of directorsas of 07/31/2023
Chad Nicholson
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? Yes -
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