Spring 2023 Newsletter
Dear Friends,
Earlier this month, scientists from around the world released a red alert, warning in the most urgent terms possible that rich countries like the United States must cut fossil fuel emissions to near zero in the next 20 years. This alarm echoes the words and work of Hive Fund grantee partners from Louisiana's Cancer Alley, to the South Texas coast, to rural North Carolina who have been urgently working to scale back dirty oil, gas, coal, and petrochemical facilities because their lives depend on it.
These groups, representing communities of color and working-class communities, have powerful visions for transitioning to cleaner energy in ways that improve the lives of a broad swath of Americans and are ready to provide the organizers, doers, builders, and connectors to make those visions come to life. Yet, at the very moment when philanthropic support is needed most to help groups like these access billions in new public funding, many climate funders are pulling back their support.
We’re issuing our own red alert: now is the time to not only renew grant funding for climate equity and justice-focused frontline organizations, but to double down. We have an urgent imperative to not just call this an historic moment for climate and justice, but to make it one.
In gratitude,
Erin Rogers & Melanie Allen
Co-Directors
Voices from the field: Getting Ready for IRA Funding in Houston
Hive Fund consultant Bakeyah Nelson, left, with artist Matt Manalo showing off a group art project from the day.
Leaders from 18 Hive Fund grantee partner organizations gathered in Houston on February 3 to explore how new federal climate dollars can be used to bring clean and resilient energy and transit to the city’s northeast quadrant — home to predominately Black and Brown residents who have grappled with redlining and disinvestment for decades. With the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) new climate funding programs rolling out at breakneck speed, funders and community groups alike are scrambling to understand the opportunity and what it will take to make good on the IRA’s promise of benefitting disadvantaged communities.
Learning Lab: Scaling Investment in Community-Driven Climate Solutions
Last month, the Hive Fund hosted a panel discussion on philanthropy’s role in supporting Inflation Reduction Act and Justice 40 implementation at the Environmental Grantmakers Association’s annual Federal Policy Briefing in Washington, D.C. The room was filled to capacity with funders grappling with how to ensure new federal funds deliver tangible benefits in disinvested and frontline communities, reversing long-standing inequities and building broad support for continued investment in a clean energy transition. In our February learning lab, we shared some early ideas for how funders can focus their efforts. This month, we dive deeper into the Hive Fund’s approach and the urgency of increased philanthropic investment to meet this moment.
Welcome new staff
Nandini Chaturvedula, Strategic Partnerships Director (she/her) brings extensive experience working with philanthropy on climate and related issues. As a consultant at Ross Strategic she worked on a range of projects including strategic planning, program development, and evaluation and learning for climate change, energy, water, and public health initiatives. Much of her previous work had a strong focus on equity, just transitions, and community resilience. Nandini has a Ph.D. in History from Columbia University, and spent a decade conducting research and analysis on colonialism and empires that shapes her work and understanding of the world. Nandini is originally from Wichita Falls, Texas and currently resides in Austin.
Monique Van Buren, Executive Assistant (she/her) is an honorably discharged Army Veteran who has worked in nonprofits for over 15 years. She has been a strategic thought partner and right hand to C-suite executives at organizations including NAACP, Boys and Girls Club, and Amvets Service Foundation. Her hobbies include listening to jazz, volunteering, cooking, writing poetry and traveling. Monique is based in Baltimore, Maryland.
It is with deep gratitude that we say goodbye to Christen Dobson, our part-time community care and learning officer whose early consulting work helped shape the Hive Fund. She leaves us to focus on her work co-leading the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre’s Civic Freedoms and Human Rights Defenders program, where she collaborates with groups across the globe to challenge corporate abuse and address the root causes of violence against human rights and environmental defenders.
What we’re reading/listening to
Putting more climate philanthropy toward economic and racial justice David Roberts interviews Abdul Dosunmu of the Climate Funders Justice Pledge on his Volts podcast.
Citing ‘Racial Cleansing,’ Louisiana ‘Cancer Alley’ Residents Sue Over Zoning Sharon Lavigne of RISE St. James is a plaintiff in a groundbreaking new lawsuit to stop petrochemical expansion in St. James Parish.
Thank you
We’d like to thank all of our funding partners for their continued support for this collective effort. Special thanks this month to the Clara Lionel Foundation for renewing their support, and a warm welcome to our newest funder, Oak Foundation. Visit our funders page for more information on our funding partnerships and a full a list of our partners.