About The Collective
At the helm of the Environmental Justice Resourcing Collective are nine women of color movement leaders. These leaders represent the intersectional nature of the environmental justice movement with experience in power building, community organizing, leadership development, food sovereignty, land reclamation, racial and gender justice, and collective healing. Their depth of expertise and the relationships they have built—with each other and with people and groups on the ground—have driven their innovative, ecosystem-centered approach to resourcing the field.
About The Collective
At the helm of the Environmental Justice Resourcing Collective are nine women of color movement leaders. These leaders represent the intersectional nature of the environmental justice movement with experience in power building, community organizing, leadership development, food sovereignty, land reclamation, racial and gender justice, and collective healing. Their depth of expertise and the relationships they have built—with each other and with people and groups on the ground—have driven their innovative, ecosystem-centered approach to resourcing the field.
About The Collective
At the helm of the Environmental Justice Resourcing Collective are nine women of color movement leaders. These leaders represent the intersectional nature of the environmental justice movement with experience in power building, community organizing, leadership development, food sovereignty, land reclamation, racial and gender justice, and collective healing. Their depth of expertise and the relationships they have built—with each other and with people and groups on the ground—have driven their innovative, ecosystem-centered approach to resourcing the field.
About The Collective
At the helm of the Environmental Justice Resourcing Collective are nine women of color movement leaders. These leaders represent the intersectional nature of the environmental justice movement with experience in power building, community organizing, leadership development, food sovereignty, land reclamation, racial and gender justice, and collective healing. Their depth of expertise and the relationships they have built—with each other and with people and groups on the ground—have driven their innovative, ecosystem-centered approach to resourcing the field.
OUR JOURNEY
Since 2018, the leaders of the EJRC have built relationships, crafted funding strategies, organized donors, and moved tens of millions of dollars to grassroots groups. Read and watch their journey.
Chris Olin and Regan Pritzker, Kataly’s founders and board members, in collaboration with philanthropic consultant Marni Rosen, decide Kataly’s environmental justice grantmaking program will be movement-led, ceding control of $50 million to movement leaders.
People closest to the problems are best equipped to solve those problems. It is that simple. Over the years, I have learned that philosophy from trusted colleagues, case studies, and books, which all illustrate why funding decisions should be made by people on the ground instead of so-called “experts”. Once you understand that principle, the next logical step is to implement it, and that’s how Regan and I came to the decision to relinquish control over this money.
Chris Olin and one of Kataly’s philanthropic advisors, Marni Rosen, identify two initial movement leaders to be part of the Collective: Miya Yoshitani and Vanessa Priya Daniel. Vanessa and Miya identify three more leaders, and then all five collectively build the group to a total of nine leaders.
Listen to Marni Rosen recall the EJRC’s first meeting together.
After moving rapid response resources to the ground, the Collective builds relationships, shares knowledge, and crafts a grantmaking strategy. The result: a comprehensive funding strategy entirely decided upon by the movement leaders: $31.75 million over 5 years to 78 organizations focused on building power, collective healing, and land and infrastructure. Below is a clip from the Collective’s first webinar.
After the EJRC’s first phase of grantmaking, Kataly’s donors decide to move an additional $25 million to the Collective, bringing their total budget to $75 million.
About a year into the EJRC’s work together, there was an additional pool of resources. Giving an additional $25 million to the EJRC wasn’t a question of waiting for the Collective to prove itself. We have always deeply believed in the wisdom of the EJRC leaders. Instead, it was meant as an affirmation: the powerful work the EJRC had begun together had enormous potential. Moving more resources to the EJRC could only amplify what was possible.
The leaders gather in person for the first time in Puerto Rico to assess their grantmaking to date, ground themselves in the evolving needs of the field, and identify priorities for their next phase of grantmaking: renewed and new general operating grants plus initiatives for land stewardship, sabbaticals, care for movement elders, and language justice.
Kataly completes hiring for the EJRC program team: Senior Program Officer Michelle Mascarenhas and Program Officer Mây Nguyen. Over the course of the EJRC’s existence, the Foundation goes through its own learning about the staffing required to build relationships with grantee partners, document learning, coordinate the Collective, and organize donors.
In Alaska, the EJRC leaders set their strategy for funder organizing. With the majority of their grantmaking completed, the Collective decides to meet annually to assess the movement landscape, distribute the remaining $15 million, and support one another’s leadership. Several Collective members are in new positions that influence how philanthropy resources environmental justice.
Chris Olin and Regan Pritzker, Kataly’s founders and board members, in collaboration with philanthropic consultant Marni Rosen, decide Kataly’s environmental justice grantmaking program will be movement-led, ceding control of $50 million to movement leaders.
People closest to the problems are best equipped to solve those problems. It is that simple. Over the years, I have learned that philosophy from trusted colleagues, case studies, and books, which all illustrate why funding decisions should be made by people on the ground instead of so-called “experts”. Once you understand that principle, the next logical step is to implement it, and that’s how Regan and I came to the decision to relinquish control over this money.
Chris Olin and one of Kataly’s philanthropic advisors, Marni Rosen, identify two initial movement leaders to be part of the Collective: Miya Yoshitani and Vanessa Priya Daniel. Vanessa and Miya identify three more leaders, and then all five collectively build the group to a total of nine leaders.
Listen to Marni Rosen recall the EJRC’s first meeting together.
After moving rapid response resources to the ground, the Collective builds relationships, shares knowledge, and crafts a grantmaking strategy. The result: a comprehensive funding strategy entirely decided upon by the movement leaders: $31.75 million over 5 years to 78 organizations focused on building power, collective healing, and land and infrastructure. Below is a clip from the Collective’s first webinar.
After the EJRC’s first phase of grantmaking, Kataly’s donors decide to move an additional $25 million to the Collective, bringing their total budget to $75 million.
About a year into the EJRC’s work together, there was an additional pool of resources. Giving an additional $25 million to the EJRC wasn’t a question of waiting for the Collective to prove itself. We have always deeply believed in the wisdom of the EJRC leaders. Instead, it was meant as an affirmation: the powerful work the EJRC had begun together had enormous potential. Moving more resources to the EJRC could only amplify what was possible.
The leaders gather in person for the first time in Puerto Rico to assess their grantmaking to date, ground themselves in the evolving needs of the field, and identify priorities for their next phase of grantmaking: renewed and new general operating grants plus initiatives for land stewardship, sabbaticals, care for movement elders, and language justice.
Kataly completes hiring for the EJRC program team: Senior Program Officer Michelle Mascarenhas and Program Officer Mây Nguyen. Over the course of the EJRC’s existence, the Foundation goes through its own learning about the staffing required to build relationships with grantee partners, document learning, coordinate the Collective, and organize donors.
In Alaska, the EJRC leaders set their strategy for funder organizing. With the majority of their grantmaking completed, the Collective decides to meet annually to assess the movement landscape, distribute the remaining $15 million, and support one another’s leadership. Several Collective members are in new positions that influence how philanthropy resources environmental justice.
COLLECTIVE LEADERS
The nine leaders of the EJRC are experts in community organizing, leadership development, electoral campaigns, policy advocacy, movement infrastructure, fundraising, and grantmaking.
Andrea Cristina Mercado
President & CEO • Climate and Clean Energy Equity Fund
Andrea Cristina Mercado
President & CEO • Climate and Clean Energy Equity Fund
Colette Pichon Battle, Esq.
Vision & Initiatives Partner • Taproot Earth
Dara Cooper
Co-founder & Former Executive Director • National Black Food and Justice Alliance
Enei Begaye
Executive Director • Native Movement
Gloria Walton
President & CEO • The Solutions Project (TSP)
Miya Yoshitani
Co-Executive Director • Movement Innovation Collaborative
Ozawa Bineshi Albert
Co-Director • Climate Justice Alliance
Tania Rosario Mendez
Executive Director • Taller Salud
Vanessa Priya Daniel
Author, Donor Advisor
Resources
Resources
Medium
•
The Kataly Foundation
Medium
•
The Kataly Foundation
Medium
•
The Kataly Foundation
Medium
•
The Kataly Foundation
Stanford Social Innovation Review
•
Enei Begaye & Colette Pichon Battle
Stanford Social Innovation Review
•
Enei Begaye & Colette Pichon Battle
Inside Philanthropy
•
Deb Nelson
Inside Philanthropy
•
Deb Nelson
Join Us
Resource the grantees of Environmental Justice Resourcing Collective, contact us, or join existing funder learning communities.
Join Us
Resource the grantees of Environmental Justice Resourcing Collective, contact us, or join existing funder learning communities.
Join Us
Resource the grantees of Environmental Justice Resourcing Collective, contact us, or join existing funder learning communities.