Yellowstone to Yukon Stocktaking

Sponsors: Kendall Foundation, Wilburforce Foundation, Woodcock Foundation

This report will be a probing overview at the ten-year mark of the Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) conservation initiative as an organized effort to protect one of the world's last relatively undisturbed landscapes. Rather than performing an impersonal "evaluation" using imprecise metrics, the Stocktaking will be journalistic in tone and rich in human voices so as to convey the essence of Y2Y, not only as it exists on the ground but as it exists in the minds of Y2Y residents and outside observers. The goal is to provide readers – both those familiar and unfamiliar with Y2Y – the true story of the landscape: how it has evolved over the past decade, how its inhabitants relate to it and each other, and where it will be 100 years from now.

Picture A Province 2006
Natural Landscapes and the Future of Alberta Southwest Region

A one-day event for funders and environmental groups to learn about opportunities to engage in shaping Alberta’s landscapes.   The event focused on Calgary and its environs, as well as the Rocky Mountain foothills and mountain regions.

Program Highlights included:

• Exploring the integral role of southwest Alberta in the Yellowstone
  to Yukon initiative, a large-scale collaboration for conservation.
• Learning about and discuss timely issues and innovative
  approaches in community efforts, applying new research
  to practice, land use planning, and more.
• Opportunities to meet leading thinkers and practitioners who are active in the region.

Picture a Province 2006 was hosted by several funding organizations including:

• The Calgary Foundation
• Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative
• Suncor Energy Foundation
• Max Bell Foundation
• Kendall Foundation
• Wilburforce Foundation
• Woodcock Foundation
• Alberta Ecotrust Foundation

The BeHeard! Initiative: Strategic Communications for Stronger Nonprofits

Sponsor:  The Woodcock Foundation

Over the course of 2005, the trustees, staff and grantees of the Woodcock Foundation took stock of the increasingly complicated and crowded information/advocacy environment in which not for profit organizations are working.  We canvassed the NGOs we support and heard repeatedly that they needed help understanding and responding to the rapidly changing media environment in which their advocacy efforts take place.  They needed, they told us, better tools to BeHeard!

The Foundation engaged the services of Doug Hattaway of Hattaway Communications, who in addition to providing strategic communications consulting for over 20 years to political, nonprofit, business and government clients, was also national spokesman for Al Gore's 2000 Presidential Campaign; and Larry Biddle of PlanningWorks, who over his career has raised over $350M for nonprofits, and over $30M for political candidates and who served as deputy national finance director for Howard Dean's presidential campaign where he worked intensively in the area of internet giving, direct mail and telemarketing. 

Starting with a pilot group of five, Doug and Larry are undertaking a communications assessment of each grantee to evaluate communications capacities, strategies – the toolbox – employed to achieve organizational goals related to advocacy, public awareness and constituency building.  Once the assessments are complete, Woodcock will then provide $25,000 to implement some of the recommendations made by the consultants.

Each grantee is selected on a competitive basis, through an application process, and must bring to the table another foundation willing to put $25,000 into the implementation phase of the program.   Grantee Collaborators are City Year/ New York, Common Good Ventures, Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute, the International Women’s Health Coalition and the Institute for Reproductive Healthcare Access.  Foundation collaborators include The Mott, Gimbel, Nike and Horizon Foundations, as well as individual donors who wish to remain anonymous.

Event: Playing Lead Roles in the Conservation of Y2Y: A Gathering of Key Y2Y Funders

Sponsor: Wilburforce Foundation

The two-day meeting held at the Wilburforce Foundation’s Seattle office enabled key funders of the Yellowstone to Yukon region to identify priorities and assess funding coverage in the region as well as begin to address some of the major challenges or issues in the region through collaborative working groups.  As a result of the meetings, funders came away with a renewed energy and commitment to funding in the Y2Y region; a greater degree of coordination, information exchange, and collaboration; a commitment to work together to enhance the funding coming into the region; and a sense that together they are collectively responding to the most pressing needs and opportunities in the region in ways that are appropriate to the scope and nature of the challenges.

Participants: Katie Eckman, Turner Foundation; Laurie Edward, Mountain Equipment Co-op; Rick Flory, Earth Friends Wildlife Foundation; Tim Greyhavens, Wilburforce Foundation; Denise Joines, Wilburforce Foundation; Steven Kallick, The Pew Charitable Trusts; Chris Killingsworth, Director of Conservation Lands; Del Langbauer, Harder Foundation; Ed Lewis, Ed Lewis Consulting; Jennifer Miller Goethals, Wilburforce Foundation; Fred Munson, 444S Foundation; Jim Owens, Brainerd Foundation; Chris Page, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors; Lee Robert, Earth Friends Wildlife Foundation; Eva Cheung Robinson, Vancouver Foundation; Ted Smith, Kendall Foundation; James Stauch, Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation; Rhea Suh, Hewlett Foundation; Gary Tabor, Wilburforce Foundation; Dan Thorburn, The Calgary Foundation; Kay Treakle, Harder Foundation; Sam Tucker, Wilburforce Foundation; Shelley Uytterhagen, Cathy Foundation; Angus Vaughan, The Northern Environmental Support Trust (NEST); Irene Vlach, The Lazar Foundation; Steve Whitney, The Bullitt Foundation; Kathleen Whitson, Brainerd Foundation; Cathy Wilkinson, Canadian Boreal Initiative; Erika Zavaleta, The Christensen Fund; Alexandra Christy, Woodcock Foundation.

Event:  Pitching Your Ideas in South Africa: A Brief Workshop in Financing Your Dream

Participants: Mikaela Boyd, Vernon Endley, and Sarah Nogueira Sanca, City Year; Niamani Mutima, Africa  Grantmakers' Affinity Group; Stephen A. Foster, Overbrook Foundation; Michelle Jules, Yolanda Arias, and Anita Chandrasekhar, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors; Alexandra Christy,  Cynthia Kerr, and Lindsay Davidson Shea,  Woodcock Foundation.

Event: Yellowstone to Yukon Funders Meetings in Calgary

Sponsors: Woodcock, Wilburforce and Kendall Foundations

Several meetings took place over the course of three days gathering funders from the U.S. and Canada to discuss ways to collaborate and leverage funds in support of efforts in the Yellowstone to Yukon region. 

 Participants: Tim Greyhavens and Jennifer Miller Goethals, Wilburforce Foundation; Jeremy Guth and Alexandra Christy, Woodcock Foundation; Kim Bater, Banff Community Foundation; Ralph Strother, Max Bell Foundation; Pat Letizia and Jill Kirker, Alberta Ecotrust Foundation;  Barry Worbets, Canada West Foundation; Shelley Uytterhagen, Carthy Foundation; Jim Hume, Kahanoff Foundation; Bill Friley, Telluride Oil and Gas Corporation; Peter Poole, UTSB Centre; Dan Thorburn, Calgary Community Foundation; Ted Smith, Kendall Foundation; Rob Buffler, Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative; Larry Simpson, Nature Conservancy Canada; Mike Quinn and Danah Duke, Miistakis; Ed Abbot, Alan Dibb, Terry McGuire, Kathy Rettie, Jillian Roulet, Cyndi Smith, Ian Syme, Jen Theberge, Cliff White, Joanne Williams, Parks Canada;  Clayton Apps, Parks Canada and the University of Calgary; Tony Clevenger, Western Transportation Institute; andConrad Thiessen, University of Alberta, Edmonton.

Event: Needed: A New Social Financial Services Industry

Co-Sponsors: Woodcock Foundation and Ashoka: Innovators for the Public

This event was designed as a conversation to discuss the best ways to change the dynamic of the capital markets available to social entrepreneurs. It arose out of a belief that Woodcock shares with Ashoka that the social capital market is fundamentally inefficient.   Social entrepreneurs, even ones with proven impact, are constantly struggling to find the capital to build their institutions and spread their impact. At the same time, people with high net worth have difficulties finding opportunities for philanthropic investments that will produce the kind of social return that they expect. This event was organized to look at how Ashoka is creating ways to make this market function more efficiently and pursue strategies to change the dynamics of the market as a whole.

Presenters: David Green and Fernande Raine, Co-Directors, Ashoka's Alternative Financial Services Program.

Participants: A select group of venture capital and financial industry experts and foundations/social investors. Andy Adelson, Alliance Capital; Mark Blair, Wealth, Design & Coordination; Doug Bauer, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors;  Melissa Berman, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors; Mary Duke, HSBC Private Bank; David Patterson, Brandywine Management Services; John Trask, Trask Associates; Josie Sentner, Sentner & Company; Seth Masters, Style Blend Services; John D. Goldstein, Medley Institute; and Woodcock Foundation 's Board of Trustees, staff and advisors.

Event: Pitching Your Ideas in South Africa: A Brief Workshop in Financing Your Dream

Sponsor: Woodcock Foundation

In this event, Woodcock gathered other funders and people in the philanthropic community to meet with 12 South Africans who were part of the Woodcock-funded City Year Clinton Democracy Fellowship.   The fellowship is helping to build a citizen service movement in South Africa, and each fellow prepared a three-minute proposal for a service idea and then worked one-on-one with an attending funder on how to strengthen the presentation.  

Presenting: Mihloti Baloyi, South African Local Government Association; Beryl Canham, Ladysmith-Drakensburg Community; Aislinn Delany, Community Agency for Social Enquiry; Vernon Endley, Women on Farms Project; Julian Hewitt, AIESEC South Africa; Nditsheni Maanda, South African Human Rights Commission; Mphatheleni Makaulule, Luvhola Cultural Village; Noko Maoka, Nations Trust; Chief (Inkosi) Khulezweni Maphumulo, Department of Local Government & Tribal Affairs; Tshediso Phahlane, Indali Agricultural Communal Property Association; Jacobus Francois Pienaar, Metropolitan Evangelical Services; and Hubert Tiger, Miles and Associates.

Participants: Greg Ricks, Kirstin Henninger, Sarah Nogueira Sanca, and Michaela Boyd, City Year; Niamani Mutima, Africa Grantmakers' Affinity Group; Stephen A. Foster, Overbrook Foundation; Doug Bauer, Michelle Jules, Amy Holmes, and Gabrielle Holburt, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors; Mary Lindsay, Planned Parenthood New York City; Alexandra Christy, Cynthia Kerr, Virginia Montgomery, and Lindsay Davidson Shea, Woodcock Foundation.

Event: Large-scale Conservation: Exploring Challenges, Perspectives, and Opportunities in the Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) Case

 Co-Sponsors: Woodcock Foundation, Henry Kendall Foundation, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (Yale FES) and The Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative.

This workshop was conceived to bring together the best minds working on large-scale conservation issues, using the example of the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative in the Rocky Mountains, one of the highest profile, most referenced conservation efforts on the planet.   Close to two dozen leaders of environmental organizations from Canada and the U.S. spent two days assessing progress to date in the Y2Y initiative, and identifying what else needs to occur if large-scale conservation is to have a long term and successful effect. The workshop employed the Q method and was facilitated by Steve Brown of Kent State University, and Kimberly Byrd of the University of Minnesota.  

Participants: Ted Smith, Kendall Foundation; Jeremy Guth, Woodcock Foundation; Steve Brown, Kent State University; Kimberly Byrd, University of Minnesota; Rob Buffler, Y2Y; Barb Cestero, Sonoran Institute; Charles Chester, Kendall Foundation; Bob Ekey, The Wilderness Society; Wendy Francis, Consultant; Harvey Locke, Canadian Parks & Wilderness Society; David Mattson, USGS Southwest Biological Science Centre; Jim Pissot, Defenders of Wildlife Canada; Mike Quinn, Miistakis Institute for the Rockies; Bart Robinson, Kicking Horse Communications; Jillian Roulet, Parks Canada; Murray Rutherford, Simon Fraser University; George Smith, Canadian Parks & Wilderness Society; Carole Stark, Chinook Institute for Community Stewardship; Craig Stewart, Natural Resources Canada - GeoConnections; Gary Tabor, Wilburforce Foundation; Cliff Wallis, Cottonwood Consultants; Jason Wilmot, Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative (NRCC); Seth Wilson, Yale FES and NRCC; and 13 students from Yale FES.

Event: Bringing Scale to Social Entrepreneurship

Co-Sponsors: Woodcock Foundation and four grantees working in the field of social entrepreneurship: Acumen Fund, Ashoka, Common Good Ventures and Women's World Banking.  

At this roundtable, we invited grantees to join with our board and a half dozen or so other funders in a conversation about the extent to which the world is prepared to take advantage of the capabilities that these four entrepreneurial nonprofits have built up, what financial instruments are currently available to them, what kind of financial institutions their own clients will need in five years, and what philanthropies can do to meet those needs.

Presenters: Jacqueline Novogratz, Acumen Fund; Bill Drayton, Ashoka; Kristen Majeska, Common Good Ventures; and Nancy Barry, Women's World Banking.

Attendees: Woodcock Foundation Board of Trustees; Jeanette Wagner, Estée Lauder Companies; Sharon King and William Dietel, F.B. Heron Foundation; Michael Seltzer, New York Regional Association of Grantmakers; Steven Foster, Overbrook Foundation; Sal LaSpada, The Philanthropy Workshop; and Melissa Berman, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

Event: Just Buzzwords or Meaningful Models?
The Latest Look at Social Enterprise and Venture Philanthropy

 Co-Sponsors: Woodcock Foundation and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

 Our two organizations have been active in the debate about the merits and value of venture philanthropy and social enterprise. This symposium brought together top thought leaders and practitioners in the nonprofit and philanthropic fields to reflect on new data, research and experience in these arenas. Some 120 people attended.

Presenters: Melissa Berman, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors; Stuart Davidson, Woodcock Foundation; Christine Letts, Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations; Kristin Majeska, Common Good Ventures; Mario Morino, Venture Philanthropy Partners; Randy Newcomb, Golden Gate Community, Inc.; Jacqueline Novogratz, Acumen Fund; Mark Swann, Stone Soup; Melinda Tuan, Roberts Enterprise Development Fund.