Summary
There are two goals for giv4:
Make it easier to support organizations confronting the local impacts of climate change; and,
Help people better understand the issues surrounding climate change.
Our giv4 climate san diego fund is a curated group of 8 non-profits, working on three specific aspects of climate change: Immediate Physical Impact, Educational Impact and Justice/Advocacy.
This fund was curated in partnership with climate experts at the San Diego Foundation, The Nonprofit Institute at USD, the San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative, the BQuest Foundation, and certain individuals with local expertise. More about the curators can be found here.
The giv4 initiative was created by the Jewish Community Foundation San Diego. Historically the largest grant maker in San Diego, JCF is committed as part of its mission to advance a sustainable, just, and vibrant society in San Diego. For more information about JCF, click here.
General Requirements
1. Good Governance
All non-profits receiving funding must certify compliance with giv4’s Good Governance principles that encompass strong: (1) organizational culture; (2) financial oversight; (3) governance; (4) local focus; and, (5) performance evaluation procedures.
2. Minimum Standards
To be considered for eligibility, in addition to being 501(c)(3) organizations in good standing, all nonprofits had to:
- Be primarily focused on climate/environmental programming;
- Have at least one full-time staff member;
- Have an annual budget of at least $250,000;
- Be a member of one of the 12 climate coalitions in the San Diego region (Circulate SD, Environmental Center, Environmental Health Coalition, ReWild Mission Bay, SANDAG Regional Energy Working Group, San Diego Building Electrification Coalition, San Diego Pollinator Alliance, San Diego Quality of Life Coalition, San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative, Thrive Outside San Diego, San Diego Green New Deal Alliance, Wildlife Habitat Conservation Coalition.)
Curation Process
Substantive Areas
Based on the research of the University of San Diego, the curators identified eight substantive areas that were important to highlight through the giv4 climate san diego fund:
- Climate Hazards
- Pollution
- Climate Mitigation
- Transportation
- Food Systems
- Green Workforce
- Renewable Energy
The curators focused on a shortlist of organizations that could fit into those eight categories and meet the general criteria.
Geographic Representativeness
Organizations were then screened to ensure that, to the extent possible, the giv4 climate san diego fund represented a broad diversity of the region (East County, South Bay, border region, coastal San Diego, etc.).
Final Curation
The previous process yielded a shortlist of approximately 15 organizations. From there, each curator voted for the 7 organizations they considered to be most impactful for the giv4 climate san diego fund based on the stated intentions of the fund.
Conflict of Interest Disclosures:
- Dr. Emily Young is the executive director of The Nonprofit Institute at USD, in which role she consults with, and advises many of the nonprofits under consideration. She is also the spouse of one of the organizations that ultimately was selected as a giv4 grantee. Accordingly, she recused herself from curation voting altogether.
- Kara Ballester and Aviva Paley are board members of giv4 grantee Climate Action Campaign. Accordingly, they were not permitted to vote for Climate Action Campaign in the final curation vote, nor advocate for Climate Action Campaign during any curation discussions.
We collaborated with climate experts from San Diego Foundation, the Nonprofit Institute, the Regional Climate Collaborative and BQuest Foundation, and individual experts, to curate the fund. Learn more about the fund curation process here.
If you have more questions about how giv4 works, check out our FAQs or email [email protected] with your questions.
Ready to join us in working to take on climate change together? Click here to get started.
