ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON SELECTED GRANTMAKERS
3 September 2009
Agricultural Missions
Overview: Agricultural Missions is an ecumenical organization created in the early 1930s to work with U.S. churches in addressing the needs of rural communities around the world. Its founders also aimed at accompanying the rural poor in their peaceful efforts to confront the injustice of poverty, hunger, marginalization, exploitation and oppression. The current emphasis of their work is on strengthening people's organizations at the grassroots, both inside and outside of the churches. One primary method is to foster a network of communications among rural peoples' organizations for the exchange of information, technology, experience and spiritual support. Another method is to finance training in agriculture, management of cooperatives, community organization and related fields. A third is to provide technical consultant services in the search for and development of technologies that make for self-reliance and reduce dependency.
Current financial situation:Like grantmakers everywhere, Agricultural Missions was adversely affected by the economic crisis. In its latest annual report, the executive director wrote: “We have made some progress in terms of funding for Agricultural Missions and its partners, but we are still faced with a very tight financial situation. It remains crucial for us to sharpen the focus of our programs, develop more aggressive fundraising strategies and broaden our base of financial support.”
Submission information: No guidelines published.
Suggested approach: Heifer Ecuador’s and Agricultural Mission’s visions and missions are aligned. AMI seems to develop partnerships rather than simply give grants. Therefore, I would suggest that Heifer Ecuador contact Joseph Keesecker, AMI’s Executive Director, to begin building a relationship. It is worth noting that AMI recruited Mr. Keesecker in early 2007 to replace Winston Carroo, who is now serving as AMI’s Director of Programs.
Board / key staff:
Br. David Andrews, CSC, National Catholic Rural Life Conference
Marta Benavides, International Institute for the Cooperation Amongst Peoples
Elizabeth Calvin, World Day of Prayer
Richard Chambers,United Church of Canada
Guillermo Chavez, Community Activist
Lionel Derenoncourt, Presbyterian Hunger Program, Presbyterian Church (USA)
Christopher Falco, Church World Service, Inc.
Sherry Flyr, Presbyterian Women, Vice Moderator/Mission Relationships
Willis Goodwin, New Francis Brown and Washington, UMC
June Kim, United Methodist Church (UMCOR)
Sandra LaBlanc, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Sung-Ok Lee, United Methodist Church (Women’s Division)
Michael Mann, American Baptist Churches (ABCUSA, Thailand)
Virginia Nesmith, National Farm Worker Ministry
Denise O’Brien, Women, Food and Agriculture
Edward Pennick, Federation of Southern Cooperatives
Lorette Picciano, Rural Coalition
Shirley Sherrod, Federation of Southern Cooperatives
Samuel Smith, Caretaker Farm
Diana Stephen, Presbyterian Church (USA)
Joseph Szakos, Virginia Organizing Project
Baldemar Velasquez, Farm Labor Organizing Committee
Cynthia White, Self Development of People, Presbyterian Church (USA)
David Wildman, United Methodist Church
Junius Williams,Leadership Development Group
Billie Jean Young, The Drama Project/SWAARMW
Officers:
Lionel Derenoncourt, President
Marta Benavides, Vice-President
June Kim, Treasurer
Junius Williams, Secretary
Key staff:
Joseph Keesecker, Executive Director
Winston Carroo, Director of Programs
Stephen Bartlett, Constituency Education Coordinator
Mozzie Johnson, Program Coordinator for Business and Women’s Concerns
Doris Rivera, Administrative Assistant
AVINA Foundation / VIVA Trust
Overview:AVINA was founded in 1994 by the Swiss entrepreneur Stephan Schmidheiny. AVINA is maintained by VIVA, a trust also created by Stephan Schmidheiny to further sustainabledevelopment through alliances between successful and responsible businesses and philanthropic organizations that promote leadership and innovation.
AVINA focuses on four thematic areas: Equity of Opportunities, Sustainable Economic Development, Conservation and Management of Natural Resources, and Democratic Governance and the Rule of Law. There appears to be overlap between Heifer Ecuador and AVINA in at least the first three.
AVINA promotes equity of opportunities for personal and community development, including access to decent employment, quality public goods and services, and a framework that promotes and respects human rights. In 2008, AVINA invested $6.2 million in equity, which corresponds to 35% of its annual Investments.
In terms of sustainable economic development, AVINA "encourages the adoption of patterns of production, distribution, and consumption that favor corporate social responsibility, social inclusion, environmental sustainability, fair trade, a culture of entrepreneurship, solidarity, and reciprocity." In 2008, AVINA allocated 40% of its annual investment, $6.9 million, in sustainable Economic development.
Its natural resource management objective focus on the protection of biodiversity, the integrated management of natural resources, and a "vision of water as a public good". In 2008, AVINA invested $2.1 million in NRM activities, which corresponds to 12% of its annual investments.
AVINA’s main office is located in Panama but the foundation also maintains offices in 10 other Latin American countries, including Ecuador. It appears that the Ecuador office was opened in 2007. In Ecuador, the following organizations are collaborating with AVINA on the Amazonian Regional Articulation (ARA) platform: Grupo Faro, COMAFORS Corporación de Manejo Forestal Sustentable, Ecociencia, Pueblo Sarayaku, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, Corporación Grupo Randi Randi.
Current financial situation:Despite the beginnings of what we now know was the worldwide financial crisis, AVINA reported to have improved its performance in 2008 compared with the previous year, with one significant exception: leveraging financial support from businesses, governments, multilateral organizations and partners. In 2008 AVINA registered a drop of $10 million compared with 2007, which it understandably attributes to the global financial crisis. It is worth noting that despite the overall drop, it AVINA did obtain some important leveraged support in 2008, including a $5 million grantfrom the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Submission information: The website and other documentation I have found do not include guidelines or information about applying for a grant. See below.
Suggested approach:AVINA is not a traditional grantmaker, but rather it seeks partnerships that enable it to leverage its resources. A partnership with AVINA will need to be cultivated from this perspective. First, I recommend meeting with other Ecuadorian organizations that have been working with AVINA on the ARA platform. Then, I would reach out to the AVINA representative, María Eulalia Pozo Vicuña, in Cuenca to try to set up a meeting. I believe AVINA will see Heifer Ecuador’s ability to partner with other Heifer country programs as a competitive advantage. In other words, before talking with AVINA, it may be a good idea to consult with other Heifer programs to propose some sort of multi-country initiative. Your approach would also be stronger if you could include some progressive business partners.
Board / key staff:
Brizio Biondi Morra, President
Sibylle Feltrin, Board Member
Antonio Espinoza, Board Member
Andreas Eggenberg, Board Member
Anamaria Schindler, Board Member
Sean McKaughan, AVINA's CEO and ex-officio member of the Board
Brizio Biondi-Morra holds a PhD in Business Administration from Harvard University and a PhD in Economics from Bocconi University in Italy. He is currently the President of AVINA, Chairman of FUNDES, a foundation promoting small and medium-sized enterprise development in Latin America with offices in 10 countries, and Chairman of INCAE, the leading Latin American business school with campuses in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Former Director of executive programs at Arthur D. Little´s management institute, he was founder and President of ICC, a chemical and printing company with headquarters in New York. He was previously a marketing strategist for E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co. in Europe. He is author of the book "Hungry Dreams" for Cornell University Press, Editorial Siglo XXI and Nicaragua’s Central Bank.
Sibylle Feltrin has worked as an executive assistant to Peter Fuchs in the AVINA Foundation and in VIVA Trust. As a former business analyst, her job was to evaluate the Foundation’s projects. In VIVA Trust, she is responsible for certain institutional activities. Sibylle is also accompanying a number of projects of AVINA Stiftung Schweiz and some activities related to the founder. Prior to joining AVINA, Sibylle worked for several years for the Swiss Reinsurance Company as a Credit and Surety analyst, responsible for France, Central America and Venezuela. During this period, she lived in Brazil for two years. Sibylle is a simultaneous interpreter graduated from the Zurich Interpreting School, and she speaks five languages. She is married and a mother of two children.
Antonio Espinoza is a Paraguayan businessman active in livestock breeding, real estate and other fields. He is a Director-member of the Fondo EcoEmpresas investment committee, a risk capital fund for investing in sustainable ventures, based in Washington D.C. He has carried out diplomatic missions abroad as Paraguayan Ambassador to Great Britain, Sweden and Norway. He does community service and union work, and is the Director of the Paraguayan-American Cultural Center, the Melody Foundation, the Initiative for Research and Transfer of Sustainable Farming Technology (INTTAS) and the Paraguayan Cooperation and Development Foundation. He is a member of the AVINA Asunción Supervising Council, the VIVA Advisory Committee, and the Managing Council of the AVINA Foundation. A Nuclear Engineering graduate from the University of Manchester, he has carried out graduate studies in Architecture at Harvard University. He is married to Diane Espinoza, with whom he has two children.
Andreas Eggenberg. Grupo ECOS manages two boutique Private Equity / Investment Funds (Ecos Sustainable Equity Fund, Inc. and Ecos Forestry Fund Inc.), both with an investment focus in Latin America in small and medium sized companies with growth potential, and active in sustainable development, cleantech, renewable energy and sustainable forestry. Mr. Eggenberg is a Swiss national, Political and economic scientist graduated from the University of Lausanne, Business Administration, management and executive management specializations at the Universities of Munich, UCLA, Kellogg and INCAE. Previously, he served as Executive Director Amanco Agricultural Solutions, leading irrigation systems provider in Latin America based in Brazil. Before that various executive positions at Grupo Nueva and Amanco in Argentina, Costa Rica and Guatemala, including Regional Head Amanco Central America and Carribbean. Before this, Mr. Eggenberg was Senior VP at Volkart Brothers Holding, and Executive Director at Green Cross International. Mr. Eggenberg is married, fluent in Swiss German, German, English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, he was President of Fundes Guatemala and member of the local INCAE Council and local BCSD; is Board Member of BCSD Panama, Advisory Board Member of the World Water Forum Mexico, and of the IDB Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility, Washington; and Member of the faculty at SustainAbility, London.
Anamaria Schindler co-President of Ashoka, has accumulated a wealth of experience working in the social sector in Latin America, particularly in the area of human rights. She has been an AVINA partner in Brazil since 2002 and was instrumental in building the Capoava Alliance among AVINA, Ashoka, Ethos and GIFE. Born in Germany, Anamaria was brought up and lives in Brazil, and she holds Brazilian citizenship. Anamaria is married and has one son and one daughter. At Ashoka, Anamaria supervises the Business-Social Bridge Programs as well as the Business-Social Bridge Practice Group. Prior to assuming her current role as co-President in 2006, she was Ashoka's International Vice-President of Strategic Partnerships. Anamaria has a master's degree in sociology and a doctorate from the University of Sao Paulo. Over the course of a decade, she worked as a researcher and research coordinator in the area of human rights and violence in various public and private study centers in Brazil, including the Studies on Violence Group (Núcleo de Estudios de la Violencia) at the University of Sao Paolo. In 1996, Anamaria formed part of the Ashoka Brazil team which developed and launched the Training Center for Social Entrepreneurs (Centro de Competencia para Emprendedores Sociales) in alliance with McKinsey & Co., a model which Ashoka has since replicated internationally.
Sean McKaughan is AVINA's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and member ex-officio of its Board of Directors. He began working in AVINA in 1998, and was one of the key architects of the strategy and implementation of its program in Brazil. Sean has been working in the field of Sustainable Development for the last 15 years in connection with institutions such as the World Bank, Instituto de Pesquisas Econômicas Aplicadas (IPEA), the LBJ School of Public Affairs, the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC), the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, and the Center for the Study of Western Hemispheric Trade. Regional Manager of AVINA's operations in Brasil for five years, Sean took on the position of Chief Operations Officer (COO) for AVINA in 2006. In January 2007 he was named CEO. Sean holds a Master of Science degree in Community and Regional Planning and a Master of Arts in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. He is married, has two children and has been living with his family in Rio de Jaineiro since 2001.
Blue Moon Fund
Overview: The Blue Moon Fund makes grants to nonprofit organizations that have developed innovative, holistic approaches to improving human quality of life in harmony with the natural world.Blue Moon seeks to improve the human condition by changing the relationship between human consumption and the natural world. Specifically, it supports new economic, cultural, and environmental approaches to resource use, energy use and urban development.
It seems that there is a fit between Heifer Ecuador’s work and Blue Moon’s program titled “Balancing Human and Natural Ecosystems”. According to website, this initiative promotes “new economic and culture approaches to reducing resource pressure and preserving biodiversity. Blue Moon is primarily concerned with the value of diverse ecosystems for human quality of life. The Fund seeks economically sustainable development models that do not displace humans and that take advantage of market forces.”
Current financial situation: There is no information indicating that the downturn has negatively affected the Fund’s grantmaking and it appears to still be accepting applications. Nevertheless, it is safe to assume that it has been impacted.
Submission information: As a first step, Blue Moon accepts letters of inquiry (LOI) through its online system, which it uses to gauge the fit of the organization and project with the Fund's mission and initiatives. If it is determined that the project might fit into its funding portfolio a Blue Moon staff person will contact you and you may be invited to submit a full proposal. A full proposal is then submitted through its online system.
After submitting your letter of inquiry or full proposal, you will receive acknowledgement via email that it has been received. For LOIs, Blue Moon will contact you in the event that it needs further information. For full proposals, you will generally receive a decision 4-6 weeks after all of your documentation has been received and approved by Blue Moon staff.
Blue Moon only accepts applications in English and U.S. dollars. LOIs and full proposals are considered on a rolling basis.
Suggested approach: I suggest submitting an LOI via the online system.
Board / key staff:
Trustees
Diane Edgorton Miller, President Chief Executive Officer & Trustee
Ethan A Miller, Trustee
Gordon Walker, Secretary & Trustee
Jalme E Yordan, Treasurer & Trustee
Patrica Jones Edgerton, Trustee
Keystaff
Dr. Adrian Forsyth, Vice President of Programs, joined the Blue Moon fund staff as Vice President for Programs in January 2006. He previously served on the Blue Moon fund board while working as Director of Biodiversity Science for the Andes/Amazon at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. He received his PhD in tropical ecology from Harvard University. He has worked as vice president of Conservation International, is currently a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution, and serves as President of the Board of the Amazon Conservation Association, USA. Adrian has supported his fieldwork as a university professor, professional conservationist, and consultant. He is also one of North America's finest natural history writers and the author of nine books, including Tropical Nature, Mammals of the Canadian Wild, The Natural History of Sex, The Nature of Birds, Exploring the World of Insects, and Portraits of the Rainforest.
Stefan Jirka, Senior Program Associate: Prior to joining the fund, he worked as an intern in the Office for Sustainable Development at the Organization of American States in Washington, DC. He received a BS in biology and an MS in environmental science from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, where he grew up. Stefan has participated in research projects in Brazil, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, and Austria. He enjoys flyfishing, biking, gardening, and travel.
Naomi Ryan, Grants & Technology Officer, joined the Blue Moon Fund as Grants & Technology Officer in July 2008. She has previously worked at iris Magazine, the Jefferson Area Board for Aging, and Children, Incorporated. In her spare time, she enjoys volunteering, reading, and hiking. Naomi received a BA in mathematics and classics from Skidmore College.
Conservation Food & Health
Overview: The Conservation, Food and Health Foundation seeks to promote the conservation of natural resources, improve the production and distribution of food, and improve health in the developing world. The foundation helps build capacity within developing countries in its three areas of interest – conservation, food and health – with grants that support research or projects that solve specific problems. The Foundation supports projects that demonstrate strong local leadership, promote professional development in the conservation, agricultural, and health sciences; develop the capacity of local organizations; and address a particular problem in the field. It prefers to support projects addressing under-funded issues and geographic areas.
Food grants seem to be the most relevant to Heifer Ecuador, as they support focused efforts to improve access to food for consumption in developing countries. Specific areas of interest include projects that: (1) promote or develop specific sustainable agriculture practices with potential to advance science and practice in other countries; (2) develop new approaches that address fuel and resource problems related to food production and preparation in developing countries; (3) explore and refine innovative education and training interventions for small scale food producers and farmers; and (4) advance new approaches to control pests and diseases affecting important food crops of developing countries.