SAFSF Member Policy in Action: Agua Fund
We are excited to bring back the SAFSF Member Spotlight in our monthly Policy Connection Newsletter, highlighting SAFSF members who are funding food and agriculture policy advocacy at the federal, state, tribal, and/or local levels. Please fill out this Google Form or email SAFSF Policy Associate Maggie Mascarenhas at [email protected] if you are interested in featuring your policy work here. Policy Serves Those Who Show Up by Ann Mills, Executive Director, Agua Fund Since its inception, the Agua Fund has supported policy advocacy as a means of advancing the foundation’s mission to protect the natural environment, help the disadvantaged, give voice to the underserved,…
September Picks of the Month
Climate Resilience in Central Appalachia: Impacts and Opportunities was presented at a recent webinar hosted by Appalachia Funders Network and Invest Appalachia. This analysis was produced by Invest Appalachia documenting projected climate crisis impacts on the Central Appalachian region. I was able to attend this webinar and was inspired by the intentional look at how climate change is impacting my home region. Often Appalachia is overlooked or misportrayed. This report is a great resource created by folks living in the region, advocating for investable solutions to combat what climate change is doing to their, my, home. Among those investment themes is food and…
Physics, Philanthropy and Affirmative Action
by Renee Catacalos, SAFSF vice president, strategy and impact Newton’s Third Law of Motion says that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This immutable relationship between physical objects makes productive activity like forward motion by walking, swimming, tires rolling or wings flapping possible. Depending on the makeup of the two objects that are interacting with each other, it can also have destructive results, like a wrecking ball meeting a wall of bricks and mortar, a windshield meeting a flying bug, or much worse. (I was definitely not a science major, by the way.) Does this law hold for…
August 2023 Policy Connection
Policy Strategy Tip for Funders Independent Sector recently released the findings of a new research study designed to provide insights on how advocacy and civic engagement may vary by organization size, geography, communities served, and leadership demographics. The study–based on a nationally representative quantitative survey and complementary qualitative interviews of nonprofits–is the first of its kind in more than 20 years. Key data points: Only 31% of nonprofits report engaging in advocacy or lobbying over the last five years, less than half of the percentage of nonprofits that reported ever lobbying in 2000 (74%). In 2000, over half of 501(c)(3)…
SAFSF Member Policy in Action: Self-Help Credit Union
We are excited to bring back the SAFSF Member Spotlight in our monthly Policy Connection Newsletter, highlighting SAFSF members who are funding food and agriculture policy advocacy at the federal, state, tribal, and/or local levels. Please fill out this Google Form or email SAFSF Policy Associate Maggie Mascarenhas at [email protected] if you are interested in featuring your policy work here. Mandating Reinvestment by the Farm Credit System, Ag’s GSE by David Beck, Policy Director, Self-Help Credit Union Self-Help, a national CDFI and credit union headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, has supported the sustainable food system ecosystem since our beginnings, when…
August Picks of the Month
Don’t Say Backpack Tax—this article shares options for financially supporting wildlife conservation in a way that doesn’t fall solely on land owners and agriculture producers as it currently does. “Landowners and agricultural producers who own and manage 74% of land in the continental US supply the majority of wildlife habitat and bear the personal financial cost in doing so. Landowners incur these costs in a multitude of ways, from the opportunity cost of keeping land open and intact, to annual operational costs and active investments in habitat and/or species conservation.” With outdoor recreation becoming more popular, wildlife is often pushed…
Apply by October 1 to Serve on an SAFSF Committee
The application period has closed. SAFSF is accepting Committee Volunteer Applications for service on the Membership, Nominating, and Policy committees for minimum one-year terms beginning January 1, 2024. The deadline for volunteer submissions is October 1, 2023 and notifications will be made by October 31, 2023. Serving on a committee is a great way to deepen your engagement with SAFSF. You’ll learn more about how we operate, get to work more closely with a few of your funder colleagues, help steer SAFSF’s activities and shape recommendations on issues that require SAFSF board action. Most SAFSF Directors have volunteered on one…
Fibers Fund Announces First 5 Grants
The Fibers Fund reached another milestone this month, awarding its first five business technical assistance grants to U.S. fiber, textile, and dye businesses. These grants will play a key catalytic role for both the Fibers Fund, a project of Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders (SAFSF) and Fibershed with Mission Driven Finance, and for the business recipients. Grants from the Fibers Fund are specifically designed to help fiber businesses unlock other sources of capital. Two grants were awarded to businesses profiled in the SAFSF Fibers Roadmap Case Studies. First, Seattle-based Botanical Colors received support to set up data management systems…
July 2023 Policy Connection
Congressional News Ag Committee Leaders Acknowledge Likelihood of Farm Bill Extension The current farm bill expires on September 30, but it appears increasingly likely that lawmakers will need to pass a short-term extension to ensure farm bill programs remain authorized. Covid-19, debt ceiling negotiations, and a busy summer appropriations calendar have combined to delay the drafting process of the new bill. Senator Debbie Stabenow, Chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said at an event in late June hosted by Bloomberg Government, “It would not surprise me” if lawmakers passed a short-term extension of the current farm bill.” Senate Majority Leader…
July Picks of the Month
EPA Announces $278 Million Funding to Improve Drinking Water for Tribes (Native News Online). “The funding will help Tribes and Alaska Native Villages make significant investments in water infrastructure improvements to advance public health protections by improving compliance with existing water regulations, identifying, and replacing lead service lines, and addressing harmful emerging contaminants in drinking water and wastewater, such as per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS).”Philanthropic Joint Statement in Response to the Supreme Court’s Decision in ‘Students for Fair Admissions’ Cases (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation). Some of our members and partners have teamed up to put forward a joint statement about the recent…
