The Beldon Fund: Ten Years of Building Advocacy Capacity Has Paid Off
posted on: Tuesday, June 02, 2009
By Lisa Ranghelli
The Beldon Fund officially closed its doors on May 31, 2009. But it left behind an infrastructure of advocacy groups that already have achieved significant impacts and have the capacity to continue to make a difference on the issues Beldon’s founder cares about–the environment and environmental health.
In 1998 John Hunting, Beldon’s founder, infused the Foundation with $100 million and committed to spend down that investment in ten years. The foundation’s leaders decided that the most effective way to move the needle on environmental issues in such a short time would be to support advocacy. Beldon used strategic approaches to its advocacy funding, focusing on a handful of states to concentrate its grantmaking. During that decade Beldon’s leaders also decided to incorporate support for non-partisan voter engagement to amplify the power of its advocacy partners. One area where Beldon saw tremendous progress in a decade was in Americans’ understanding of the risks of toxic chemicals all around them – in their homes, their children’s’ schools, their cosmetics. One former Beldon grantee, Toxic Free NC, offers an example of statewide impact from support for advocacy. As highlighted in NCRP’s recent report on advocacy and organizing in North Carolina, Toxic Free and its allies have prevented and reduced North Carolinians’ exposure to pesticides and cleaning chemicals.
The foundation’s revamped website is chock full of lesson learned, case studies, tips and resources for other funders and advocates. The foundation is refreshingly honest about efforts that were less successful, like its six-year investment in Florida, which did not result in the development of effective statewide advocacy leadership on environmental issues. By sharing its observations on why this effort failed, Beldon is helping advance knowledge in the field. Let’s hope more foundations follow their lead, so that both support for advocacy and also sharing of information, warts and all, becomes the norm rather than the exception.
Lisa Ranghelli is senior research associate at the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) and co-author of Strengthening Democracy, Increasing Opportunities: Impacts of Advocacy, Organizing and Civic Engagement in North Carolina.Labels: Grantmaking for Community Impact Project, nonprofit advocacy, perpetuity, spend down
The Beldon Fund officially closed its doors on May 31, 2009. But it left behind an infrastructure of advocacy groups that already have achieved significant impacts and have the capacity to continue to make a difference on the issues Beldon’s founder cares about–the environment and environmental health.
In 1998 John Hunting, Beldon’s founder, infused the Foundation with $100 million and committed to spend down that investment in ten years. The foundation’s leaders decided that the most effective way to move the needle on environmental issues in such a short time would be to support advocacy. Beldon used strategic approaches to its advocacy funding, focusing on a handful of states to concentrate its grantmaking. During that decade Beldon’s leaders also decided to incorporate support for non-partisan voter engagement to amplify the power of its advocacy partners. One area where Beldon saw tremendous progress in a decade was in Americans’ understanding of the risks of toxic chemicals all around them – in their homes, their children’s’ schools, their cosmetics. One former Beldon grantee, Toxic Free NC, offers an example of statewide impact from support for advocacy. As highlighted in NCRP’s recent report on advocacy and organizing in North Carolina, Toxic Free and its allies have prevented and reduced North Carolinians’ exposure to pesticides and cleaning chemicals.
The foundation’s revamped website is chock full of lesson learned, case studies, tips and resources for other funders and advocates. The foundation is refreshingly honest about efforts that were less successful, like its six-year investment in Florida, which did not result in the development of effective statewide advocacy leadership on environmental issues. By sharing its observations on why this effort failed, Beldon is helping advance knowledge in the field. Let’s hope more foundations follow their lead, so that both support for advocacy and also sharing of information, warts and all, becomes the norm rather than the exception.
Lisa Ranghelli is senior research associate at the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) and co-author of Strengthening Democracy, Increasing Opportunities: Impacts of Advocacy, Organizing and Civic Engagement in North Carolina.
Labels: Grantmaking for Community Impact Project, nonprofit advocacy, perpetuity, spend down
posted by Lisa Ranghelli at
11:15 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Blog Home