GREEN UMBRELLA
Regional Sustainability Alliance
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Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Climate change is impacting our region in ways that disproportionately affect marginalized communities. We are working to make climate action accessible.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
TriState Trails
Tri-State Trails is an alliance of community advocates advancing a vision to connect and expand our region’s trail and bikeway network.
Food Policy Council
Formed to advance a healthy, equitable and sustainable food system for all within Greater Cincinnati’s ten-county region through policy, systems and environment change.
Cincinnati 2030 District
2030 Districts mission is to create a network of healthy, high-performing buildings in the city of Cincinnati. Participating members make a collective commitment to reduce their buildings’ energy use, water consumption and transportation emissions 50% by the year 2030.
Impact Teams
Green Umbrella facilitates cross-sector collaboration in four areas of environmental sustainability: People, Policy, Built Environment and Landscape. Our work is accomplished through Impact Teams and initiatives. These bring together stakeholders to apply their collective impact to systems and policy change. Our current Impact teams include:
- The Environmental Health and Housing team addresses how the quality and location of low-income rental housing stock affects the health of residents.
- Faith Communities Go Green is an interfaith, multi-racial coalition of religious congregations who are committed to decreasing their climate footprint and are excited to share best practices with their peers.
- CPS Outside is working to make sure every student in Cincinnati Public Schools has access to time outside.
- The Policy Impact Area works with local governments across our region to reduce their climate footprint and use natural systems and smart development to improve livability and resiliency.
Where we work
External reviews

Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsNumber of multi-year grants received
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Low-income people, Working poor, Activists, Farmers, Researchers
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of new grants received
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Number of donations made by board members
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Total number of organization members
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of unique website visitors
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of groups brought together in a coalition/alliance/partnership
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This number is made up of jurisdictions part of our RCC and schools who have either shared in funding for FPC or participated with Green Schoolyards.
Number of attendees present at rallies/events
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
4000+ at all events hosted by GU; 898 people at our Midwest Sustainability Summit, Annual Meeting, and monthly Green Drinks events.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn 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?
Green Umbrella’s programs can work together to collaboratively and equitably raise the bar on systems change in our region as we support regional governments, non-governmental organizations, and businesses to significantly:
● Enhance regional coordination and center equity in climate action
● Reduce regional greenhouse gas emissions
● Implement adaptation strategies and improve environmental quality
● Build local capacity and regional resilience
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Environmental Stewardship - We believe caring for the land, water, and air will enhance and restore our region for generations to come. We promote intentional stewardship across individual, organizational, and institutional levels.
Regional Collaboration - We trust in the power of the collective and recognize the need for cross-jurisdictional collaboration in climate efforts. Working regionally is critical and urgent—the climate crisis is borderless but coordinated action leads to proven results.
Community Wellbeing - We know that climate justice is health justice. As the climate continues to change, risks to environmental and public health will grow. We prioritize community wellbeing and acknowledge the social, cultural, economic, and environmental conditions that impact quality of life for all species in our region.
Equity & Justice - We recognize the historic and continued environmental injustices imposed on marginalized groups. We believe climate justice cannot be achieved until power structures are overhauled. We are committed to addressing the conditions that perpetuate harm and to advocating for repair.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
In 2022, Green Umbrella launched the Greater Cincinnati Regional Climate Collaborative, a member
network designed to help local governments, their communities, and partners kickstart and
accelerate their equitable climate action process. The Collaborative is the main element of our
Climate Action work and serves as a climate-focused resource hub for public agencies and
community groups in our region to access opportunities for regional collaboration and
climate-related technical assistance. The Collaborative has significant strategic potential; our
organization plans to grow the model throughout 2023 from an element of our programmatic work
to an overarching, organization-wide framework to better support our members, partners, and
communities.
Green Umbrella currently has over 250 member organizations and over 30 district and city jurisdictions working together cross-sectorally.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Following are a few success indicators from 2022:
Total GHG kilograms CO2 reduced in GU’s work: 106,412 kg CO2 reduced
12k servings of local, seasonal food in school meals during a single week for the Local Menu Takeover during Farm-2-School October
10 New orchards installed, 143 New trees planted, 25 New orchard stewards trained & enrolled in ongoing training, 30 total orchards, 360 total trees in our Common Orchard Project
In 2021, the City of Cincinnati’s Office of Energy & Sustainability commissioned Green Umbrella to complete a benchmarking survey and analysis examining sustainability plans, ordinances, and initiatives that center equity in their recommendations and strategies. The report and matrix serve as an idea bank for regional governments and community-based organizations in Greater Cincinnati to move sustainability, resilience, and equity actions forward in their communities. The full report is publicly available on our website.
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 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
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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 ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time, It is hard to come up with good questions to ask people, It is difficult to identify actionable 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
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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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.
GREEN UMBRELLA
Board of directorsas of 09/07/2023
Andy Holzhauser
Donovan Energy
Term: 2019 - 2023
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 ? Yes -
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:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.
Equity strategies
Last updated: 09/07/2023GuideStar 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 review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- 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 disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- 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.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.