Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions
Local climate solutions powered by faith communities
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions recognizing that care for creation is a moral responsibility of people of all faith traditions. Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions organizes and empowers congregations to become champions of climate change action in their communities, influencing moral climate policies, and affecting change through the climate positive actions of its members.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Advocacy
We advocate for moral climate policies in Northern Virginia counties and in the Commonwealth. We reach policy makers in ways that matter to them, including organizing legislative visits, attending budget hearings, and speaking out in local media.
Congregation Mentoring
We offer mentoring programs to congregations. Our mentoring service helps green teams recruit new members, plan and execute effective projects, and communicate with the wider congregational community to attain buy-in and support.
Workshops/Network Events
We organize workshops and events in order to facilitate information-sharing and effective practices within our network.
Where we work
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsNumber of advocacy contacts with government leaders
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Advocacy
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
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?
1) Local Action on Climate Change
We advocate for moral climate policies in Northern Virginia counties and in the Commonwealth; reaching policy makers in ways that matter to them, including organizing legislative visits, attending budget hearings, and speaking out in local media.
2) Expand the Interfaith Creation Care Movement
Mobilize voices from Fairfax and Northern Virginia to speak out and act together on climate change. By uniting congregations sharing a common vision for creation care, we achieve concrete outcomes that can be measured (e.g. energy savings through efficiency programs, number of faith leaders engaged in advocacy).
3) Live Our Values
Through programs reaching adults and children within congregations and through interfaith work, we offer faith communities in Northern Virginia many ways for people to act on their religious beliefs to heal the planet.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Faith Alliance for Climate works to promote and craft local policies in Fairfax County, VA that will reduce greenhouse gases by 2% every year, reaching carbon neutrality by 2050.
Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions works directly with 70 congregations to engage, educate and mobilize individuals and congregations on how to advocate and act on the climate crisis.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions has two employees who work directly with congregations and policy makers in Fairfax County.
Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions has advocacy teams for each district in Fairfax County who meet with and talk to their Fairfax County Board of Supervisors representative regularly.
FACS has a monthly advocacy webinar to strategize and collect concerns of Fairfax County residents.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions has already made notable progress:
The Fairfax Board of Supervisors adopted its first ever County Operations Energy Strategy, allocating $4.5 million to begin implementing the plan.
The Fairfax School Board committed to a feasibility report on solar for public schools, unanimously supported a resolution on climate change, and is working with the Board of Supervisors on a joint energy legislative package for Richmond.
We sponsored events and opportunities for our network, including one focused on Zero Waste, Plastic Free Fairfax, and our first Sustainability Awards recognition program.
In September, we hosted the Virginia Climate Crisis Forum with Virginia’s two Senatorial candidates, putting together their views on solving climate change before the public.
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
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
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 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, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback
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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
- 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.
Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions
Board of directorsas of 02/18/2024
Dr. Eric Goplerud
Scott Peterson
Donald Craig
Julie Rosenberg
Rick Galliher
Kristen Rosenthal
Jo Doumbia
Bailey Kasten
Sarah Selvaraj-Dsouza
Joseph Gillmer
Asmaa Idrisu
Jeff Johnson
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? Yes
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
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 02/18/2024GuideStar 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 analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- 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 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.