Earth Day is an annual opportunity to celebrate the planet and bring awareness to environmental causes and organizations that are making our planet a better place to live, work and play.
But that’s something we try to do everyday.
In 2021, The Foundation signed the Canadian Philanthropy Commitment on Climate Change, a joint initiative of Community Foundations of Canada (CFC), Environment Funders Canada, Philanthropic Foundations of Canada, and The Circle on Philanthropy. To learn more about the Commitment, click here. By becoming a signatory, The Foundation committed to act on climate change and do so together, with others.
Since then, The Foundation’s Board of Directors struck the Climate Commitment Task Force to help plan and provide a forum of volunteer experts. Over the last year, The Foundation has made significant progress through growth, learning and, where possible, changing things we do for an everyday impact.
Here are just a few examples:
- The Foundation partnered with Enable Education to create a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) online course that includes Indigenous Cultural Advisor Peter Schuler speaking on topics such as the Indigenous connection to the environment
- Community Classroom, The Foundation’s school-focused initiative, includes a number of environmental-related online lessons
- Grant applications have been adjusted to include climate/environmental and Indigenous lenses and successful applications and grants are noted for tracking purposes
- The Foundation has moved to a hybrid work and meeting format and adopted a new Green Procurement Policy
- Staff and Board Members have taken up learning opportunities related to climate and the environment
These changes are ongoing and we know our commitment to climate is important for many of our Fundholders, donors and partners. We’re excited to continue working within this lens and, most importantly, learning about all of the new opportunities available.
To learn more about what you can do on April 22 to celebrate Earth Day — or what you can do everyday — click here.
How can you help?
Part of the Earth Day campaign this year isn’t just to raise awareness but to raise money for climate change and environmental organizations. Consider supporting the following Funds and organizations:
