GREEN UMBRELLA
Regional Sustainability Alliance
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Making the ten- county Greater Cincinnati region resilient and sustainable for all residents.
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
Input - describing resources we use
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
Increasing
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
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?
We lead collaboration, incubate ideas, and catalyze solutions that create a resilient, sustainable region for all.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Green Umbrella facilitates collaboration among non-profits, businesses, educational institutions, and governmental entities to meet the environmental, social, and economic needs of today while preserving the ability of future generations to thrive.
We have united around the Collective Impact model. The model teaches that success requires having a common agenda, using a shared measurement system, supporting mutually reinforcing activities, and maintaining continuous communication.
Green Umbrella is the “backbone organization” that helps all member organizations work better together to promote a more environmentally sustainable region.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Green Umbrella is the regional sustainability alliance of Greater Cincinnati, with over 200 member organizations and over 200 individual members passionate about enhancing the environmental health and vitality of our region.
The organization that became Green Umbrella began in 1998 with a focus on bringing citizens and organizations came together to find ways to preserve and restore greenspace. In 2011, Green Umbrella significantly expanded its mission. In partnership with Cincinnati’s leading planning initiatives, we became the sustainability alliance for the region. We hired our first executive director, adopted the Collective Impact model, and created Action Teams focused on key issue areas. The Teams built strategic partnerships to improve economic vitality and quality of life by maximizing environmental sustainability. We also demonstrated significant value by aiding nonprofit start-ups.
We have demonstrated capability by sponsoring three Initiatives, parts of Green Umbrella but with their own staff, financing, and boards. We also have launched more than a dozen community-based Impact Teams, highly focused on specific issues in four broad area: People, Policy, Built Environment, and Landscape. Details may be found here: https://greenumbrella.org/Green-Umbrella-in-the-News/8246527.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Following are a few success indicators:
Among the new nonprofit we had incubated, acted as fiscal agent, and spun off as independent are Red Bike (www.cincyredbike.org), Taking Root (https://takingroot.info/about), Adventure Crew(www.adventurecrew.org), and Sidestreams Foundation (http://sidestreams.org). We have also found success in coordinating grant applications, distributing funds to our member organizations.
Our Tri-State Trails Initiative crafted a connected vision for our fragmented regional trail network. This resulted in a Regional Trails Plan in 2014. Tri-State Trails has grown to become the leading advocacy group for active transportation issues in Greater Cincinnati. We publish information about and guides to regional multi-use trails. Funding inspired by the regional plan is increasing and has enabled, for example, then start and/or completion of about 42 miles of trails and bike lanes in 2020. Partnering with member organizations, we have launched a grassroots fundraising campaign to build a 34-mile urban trail loop around the City of Cincinnati
The Cincinnati 2030 District Initiative is creating a network of healthy, high-performing buildings in the city of Cincinnati. The District accelerates the development of sustainable buildings by breaking down market barriers, encouraging collaboration, and assisting members in the deployment of innovative sustainability solutions. Participating members make a collective commitment to reduce their buildings’ energy use, water consumption, and transportation emissions by 50% by the year 2030. Members are property owners and managers, developers, and commercial tenants who commit to goals through the implementation of sustainable, emissions-reducing solutions in their buildings. Currently, 37 members have committed 305 buildings and close to 26 million sq. ft.
The mission of our third Initiative, the Greater Cincinnati Regional Food Policy Council, is to advance a healthy, equitable and sustainable food system for all within Greater Cincinnati’s ten-county region through policy, systems and environment change. Since the Council launched, dozens of institutional partners are sourcing local food and our region's two local food hubs have made over $1.5 million in sales. Over $100,000 in state and local funds support Farm to School programs.
The most mature of the Impact Teams, with a focus on protecting and restoring greenspace, recently completed a detailed, multilayered, GPS-based map of our region. This is providing strategic guidance for preservation efforts by a coalition of parks and land conservancies.
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 collecting feedback from the people you serve?
Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Constituent (client or resident, etc.) advisory committees,
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve,
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
A major, professionally moderated strategic-planning process in 2019 involved staff, Board members, and community representatives. This resulted in a substantial reorganization of our objectives, working groups, and operations.
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With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
The people we serve, Our staff, Our board, Our funders, Our community partners,
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
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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 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 06/24/2022
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? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
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: 03/05/2021GuideStar 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 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 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.