EARTH ISLAND INSTITUTE INC
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Public Education, Publishing, Outreach
EARTH ISLAND JOURNAL IS AN AWARD-WINNING QUARTERLY MAGAZINE THAT GOES BEYOND THE DAILY HEADLINES WITH INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING, INCISIVE COMMENTARY, AND ART. EARTH ISLAND JOURNAL COVERS THE ENVIRONMENT FROM DIVERSE ANGLES, INCLUDING: WILDERNESS PROTECTION, ANIMALS RIGHTS, ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE, EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES, CHEMICALS AND POLLUTION, FOOD AND FARMING, ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE, AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. WE EXPLORE ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS FROM A WIDE RANGE OF PERSPECTIVES — FROM THE PERSONAL TO THE POLITICAL, THE LOCAL TO THE GLOBAL — AND PRODUCE THE TYPE OF INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING FOUND IN FEW OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL MAGAZINES. WE PUT OUR PRINCIPLES NEXT TO OUR REPORTING AND WE MARSHAL THE FACTS TO MAKE A PASSIONATE ARGUMENT FOR DEFENDING EARTH.
New Leaders Initiative and Brower Youth Awards
NEW LEADERS INITIATIVE IDENTIFIES, HONORS, SUPPORTS AND SUSTAINS OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENTAL YOUTH LEADERS IN NORTH AMERICA, AND CONFERS THE PREMIERE ENVIRONMENTAL YOUTH PRIZE, THE BROWER YOUTH AWARDS. SINCE 2000, THE BROWER YOUTH AWARD HAS RECOGNIZED OUTSTANDING YOUTH LEADERS WHO ARE MAKING STRIDES IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT. EACH YEAR, SIX YOUNG PEOPLE BASED IN NORTH AMERICA ARE AWARDED THE PRIZE, JOINING A GROWING AND DIVERSE CADRE OF GREEN LEADERS WHO ARE PUBLICLY RECOGNIZED FOR THEIR SUSTAINABLE PROJECTS, INNOVATIVE IDEAS AND INFORMED ANALYSES. YEAR-ROUND COACHING IS PROVIDED TO AWARD WINNERS, AND ADDITIONAL SERVICES ARE OFFERED TO A BROADER SPECTRUM OF YOUTH ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERS THROUGH THE MOVEMENT IN GREEN STRATEGIC SUPPORT AND MICRO-GRANT PROGRAM. A REGULAR SPEAKER SERIES, ROOTED AND RISING, COMPLIMENTS THE AWARD AND SUPPORT PROGRAMS BY OFFERING AN INTERGENERATIONAL FORUM TO DISCUSSION SOLUTIONS TO PRESSING ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES.
Project Support
PROJECT SUPPORT PROGRAM - EARTH ISLAND'S PROJECT SUPPORT PROGRAM PROVIDES AN ORGANIZATIONAL HOME IN WHICH ACTIVISTS CAN DEVELOP CAMPAIGNS AND PROGRAMS WITH A MINIMUM OF BUREAUCRACY. WE PROVIDE TRAINING, MENTORSHIP, ACCOUNTING, AND FISCAL SPONSORSHIP SERVICES. SINCE OUR
FOUNDING IN 1982, WE HAVE HELPED LAUNCH MORE THAN 200 CONSERVATION ACTION PROJECTS.
Earth Island Advocates
Earth Island Advocates, our legal arm, is on a mission to protect irreplaceable resources, wild spaces, and wildlife that are critical to a healthy planet.
Our Advocates program further advances these efforts by combining the knowledge and expertise of our grassroots project network with the pro bono resources of law firms, legal clinics, and nonprofit organizations. This model creates a unique and highly-effective relationship between the lawyers who advocate in the courts, and the environmental activists who dedicate their efforts to a wide array of specific issues.
Where we work
Awards
Exceptional 98.42 Rating 2019
Charity Navigator
External reviews
Photos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsNumber of free participants in conferences
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, American Indians, Activists, Farmers
Related Program
Project Support
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Our Project network combined with our Core Programs is reaching a wide audience at free conferences and sponsored events.
Number of administrators and staff who plan and experience professional development activities together
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Project Support
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Project and Administrative Staff participate in employee training activities, including workplace skills, training, orientation, workshops.
Number of periodicals distributed
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Public Education, Publishing, Outreach
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
The print magazine is distributed to roughly 5,000 people per quarterly issue.
Number of participants attending course/session/workshop
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Activists, American Indians
Related Program
Public Education, Publishing, Outreach
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Approximate number of participants of Workshops, webinars, camp programs, throughout Earth Island's Project Network.
Number of multi-year grants received
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Public Education, Publishing, Outreach
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Approximate number of multi-year grants received for Earth Island Institute and our Projects.
Number of groups/individuals benefiting from tools/resources/education materials provided
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Public Education, Publishing, Outreach
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Earth Island and project members, donors, and volunteers who receive educational material in print or online.
Number of people trained
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Project Support
Type of Metric
Context - describing the issue we work on
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Training of all Project Directors, as well as skill training for key program staff.
Number of volunteers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Activists, Academics
Related Program
Public Education, Publishing, Outreach
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Earth Island and its network of 80 projects regularly involve volunteers for programs, rallies, beach cleanups, and outreach activities. This is the approximate total.
Number of clients served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Children, American Indians, People of African descent, Activists
Related Program
Public Education, Publishing, Outreach
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Approximation of annual number of people reached by the work of Earth Island and its network of approximately 80 Projects around the world.
Number of programs documented
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Activists, Farmers, At-risk youth, Children and youth
Related Program
Project Support
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Current number of Earth Island Institute fiscally sponsored conservation action projects in the US and around the world.
Number of fiscal sponsor applicants
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Project Support
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Approximate number of applications to become an Earth Island fiscally-sponsored project.
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?
Earth Island Institute (EII) grows environmental leadership for a vital, sustainable future for all communities on Earth. EII has become a leading presence within the environmental movement, and our niche is to provide a multifaceted support system that helps citizens take their next steps in the many ways of leading the movement — whether as Project Directors leading a campaign under our Project Support program, as citizens reading Earth Island Journal and learning about an important campaign that they will want to join, as emerging youth leaders whose early work we recognize and mentor under our New Leaders Initiative, or as donors who share our values about the movement and want their giving to make a real impact. EII devotes its organizational resources to empower these individuals.
We see growing the environmental movement as crucial for recognizing the environmental crises that threaten us all and for developing genuine and lasting solutions for those crises. In our media-dominated culture, there is a danger that large, centralized organizations in the global landscape of our movement will be tempted to embrace superficial solutions that can be more easily “sold” in the marketplace of environmental ideas and programs, to the detriment of the urgent environmental agendas that should drive our movement. Visionary, uncompromising, energetic leaders (as exemplified by EII founder David Brower)
— as distinct from managers with an exclusive focus on marketing effectiveness
— have been the historic source for incisive analysis and effective action. EII aims to be a place where visionary people with good ideas can get help creating their next steps in leading our movement.
In the next five years we seek to:
a. Experiment with traditional forms as well as “new media” environmental journalism in order to enhance our voice in informing members, citizens, and donors. Serving this grassroots audience is key to our mission and also the backbone of the membership model that maintains us financially.
b. Maintain a vital mix of projects under fiscal sponsorship, including visionary projects with compelling sustainability solutions that may be risky, in their bold vision and/or in their strategies for finding public support.
c. Expand the services offered in support of our sponsored projects (trainings, fundraising assistance, media outreach, etc.), to help each project succeed on its own terms.
d. Partner with the David Brower Center to use its public spaces for events at our “home campus” (Goldman Theatre, Conference Center meeting rooms, the Hazel Wolf Gallery). We seek to actively engage event guests in taking their own next steps for a sustainable world, which might involved Earth Island projects as well as the myriad other players in our movement — locally, nationally, worldwide.
e. Expand our New Leaders Initiative further into networking and mentoring with young leaders, in addition to the six Brower Youth Awards recipients selected each year.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Founder David Brower’s long experience with organizations carried a vision: How can this organization bring forth the creative public interest work responsive to the environmental issues of the time? All of his organizations had publications and memberships, since he so valued public mobilization, and Earth Island continued that tradition, adding the distinctive approach of being an organizational home for initiatives. We wanted to keep the structure minimal and to confer considerable autonomy on project directors whom Earth Island would sponsor. Dave Brower looked with hope at decentralization.
From Earth Island’s earliest years in the mid-1980s, we published Earth Island Journal, sought and served members who embraced our vision of innovative education and advocacy, and created a professional practice in the relatively new field of fiscal sponsorship. Fiscal sponsorship held promise for empowering bold leaders “without getting in their way.” The idea was to be of service to the innovators, in whatever way and for however long our support could be useful. Sometimes projects would rise quickly and spin off to form their own independent organizations — with our blessing and facilitation — as happened with such groups as Rainforest Action Network, International Rivers, and Sea Turtle Restoration Project. Others would stay; our International Marine Mammal Project and our Sacred Land Film Project have each been with us for 30 years. And, along the way, some projects would serve a purpose and then close. We have sponsored some 135 projects in our history, with 66 projects active as of late 2014. We have become skilled practitioners in fiscal sponsorship and were inaugural members of the National Network of Fiscal Sponsors.
David Brower had been an inspiring and supportive force for so many individuals in the movement that he so often led. In 2000, we initiated Brower Youth Awards, a program to search out, celebrate, and mentor the best emerging environmental leaders between ages 13 and 22. We imagined that we might carry on Dave’s tradition of celebrating and supporting young leaders by setting up a formal program, and Dave was delighted to see the videos celebrating the first year’s winners during the final weeks of his life. Our New Leaders Initiative — which has recognized some 85 young leaders since 2000 through its annual Brower Youth Awards program — includes complimentary programs in networking, mentorship, and mini project grants serving the hundreds of young people who come to us each year seeking to make a real impact.
In addition to Membership/Public Education, Project Support, and New Leaders Initiative, a fourth core Earth Island program called Restoration Initiatives sprung up because of David Brower’s belief that the vision of environmental restoration provides an inspiring positive agenda. We fund wetlands restoration in southern California in cooperation with the California Coastal Conservancy.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
We have several distinct areas of expertise and relationship that contribute to the our multifaceted support system for education and advocacy:
• By virtue of having sponsored more than 200 projects in our 40+ year history, having recognized so many emerging leaders with Brower Youth Awards over 20+ years, and having published our award-winning Earth Island Journal quarterly magazine for more than 35 years, we continue to maintain significant relationships with environmental leaders, leading thinkers, writers, journalists, and others — nationally and internationally.
• We have a reputation for being open to discussing new project ideas, and many people each year come to us with those ideas. Our process for examining the fit between project proposals and Earth Island features significant input from our existing project community. Our project community has tools for communication among our leaders.
• Extensive experience as a fiscal sponsor has honed our procedures to a high level of organizational efficiency and effectiveness.
• Management and accounting capability for Project Support includes issuing 75 sets of project financial statements each month, including tracking by grant and sub-project.
• We have a close founding organization relationship with Brower Center, where we serve as a tenant and as a producer of public educational events in the Center’s event and gallery spaces.
• We have served as a Global Advisor for Global Greengrants for more than 20 years, recommending grassroots granting worldwide.
• We have been a long-term nominator for the Goldman Environmental Prize. A number of the prizewinners have been nominated through Earth Island Institute and its projects; one project staff member was a prize winner in 1991.
• Founding executive directors David Phillips and John Knox have been part of leadership since opening Earth Island’s first office in 1986. Mr. Knox is now an Emeritus Director
• Of our current Board members bringing extensive environmental community experience to their roles.
• The average tenure of our 21 Network Services staff members more than nine years.
• We have been fiscally very prudent, providing the finance and management backbone for our diverse network of activities, and our financial reserves provide security for our network of activities.
• The donation base provided by our members and donors has been crucial for more than 40 years in providing the risk capital for the growth of our network. We have expanded our programs with the help of our generous donors who believed in our unique, evolving model of interrelated services for environmental leaders.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We have …
… pioneered an effective and efficient fiscal sponsorship program that focuses on unique, compelling grassroots leaders working for a sustainable future for all, with a history of having sponsored more than 200 projects over 40 years.
… created a unique journalistic voice for “news from the world environment” through Earth Island Journal in print and on the Web.
… nurtured and grown a loyal and generous membership that values the Journal as well as our other organizational strategies and that benefits from our public education resources in their lives as involved citizens.
… created the most prestigious and effective awards program for youth environmental leadership — Brower Youth Awards — and through our New Leaders Initiative engaged with the wider community of young people through networking and public events.
… drawn on David Brower’s commitment to environmental restoration to create a program for funding and mentoring environmental restoration practitioners — Restoration Initiatives.
… integrated these distinct core elements above into a management structure that will grow each element while also finding ways for the elements to work together. Brower Youth Awards has brought us new, dynamic candidates for project sponsorship, while we have been able to identify new BYA candidates each year through the resources of our project network.
… been instrumental in the realization of the dream for the David Brower Center, from the earliest days discussing that idea in the year 2000 through our current participation as a DBC tenant and as a producer of Earth Island Presents programming in the Goldman Theatre.
We have NOT YET …
… fully realized the potential of our Project Support model and see considerable potential in the growing field of fiscal sponsorship for helping environmental educators and advocates to work effectively within the structure of shared organizational resources. We want to be a tool for the kinds of innovative
leadership called for by the many environmental crises we are facing.
… fully articulated our Earth Island Presents programming in cooperation with the David Brower Center in ways that are not only informing and inspiring to the public but also self-supporting.
… yet found the successful balance between classic membership outreach (member mailings, our quarterly magazine, physical gatherings) and new modes of attracting and engaging citizens (an active new media presence, from our own website to Facebook to Twitter to YouTube, on and on). We want to serve the emerging needs of citizens who care for a sustainable future on Earth, of all ages
and life situations.
… found all the ways to support our extraordinary staff and draw on their genius for better growing environmental leadership.
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, 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 engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response
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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, 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.
EARTH ISLAND INSTITUTE INC
Board of directorsas of 02/06/2024
Mr. Joshua Floum
Josh Floum
Attorney, former General Counsel Visa, Inc.
Deborah Sivas
Professor of Law, Stanford University
Francisco Martinez
Dir. of Philanthropic Advising, Bank of the West
Ken Alex
Dir. of Project Climate at UC Berkeley's Center for Law, Energy and Environment
Jessian Choy
Staff, San Francisco Department of Environment
Tiauna George
Senior director of Grants Management/ Energy Foundation
Pia MacDonald
Scientist/RTI International
Ariela St. Pierre
SVP, Deputy Corporate Sec, Governance Committee/ BNPP Group
Ariana Katovich
ED/ Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network
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: 08/11/2021GuideStar 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 review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- 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.