NOTE: Step One to apply: Please contact N2N’s Program Consultant to ensure that you are a strong fit for our current funding strategies. 

Neighbor to Neighbor (N2N)

Neighbor to Neighbor (N2N) is founded on the core values of Seattle Foundation: equity and opportunity. 

N2N supports grassroots efforts that increase engagement, power and influence of community members affected by poverty and racial disparities. Begun in 1991, N2N is a grant and technical assistance program and a key strategy of Seattle Foundation’s Center for Community Partnerships. Serving community-based organizations in South Seattle, White Center and Kent, N2N plays a crucial role in supporting the Foundation’s mission: to ignite powerful and rewarding philanthropy to make Greater Seattle a stronger, more vibrant community for all.

N2N Goals: Increased Engagement, Power and Influence to Achieve Greater Equity

Increased Engagement

• Grassroots organizations increase resident engagement and mobilization
• N2N advisory members effectively support community priorities
• Communities and funders develop and sustain strong networks and relationships

Increased Power 

• Community-initiated efforts are strengthened through funding
• Effective strategies leading to systemic change are demonstrated

Increased Influence 

• Community influence to improve practices, programs, initiatives and policies is strengthened 
• N2N advisory members amplify community voices

What N2N Funds

N2N supports grassroots efforts that lead to increased engagement, power and influence of community members affected by poverty and racial disparities. Priority is on efforts led by people from diverse and under-invested communities.

Mission

The mission of the Black United Fund of Oregon is to assist in the social and economic development of Oregon's underserved communities and to contribute to a broader understanding of ethnic and culturally diverse groups. 

Opportunities for Support

BUF offers unrestricted general operating grants to organizations whose work aligns with BUF’s mission and giving priorities. BUF’s annual grantmaking cycle opens each year in the late fall with applications generally due in January for a spring decision.

Two Grant Funding Tracks

Standalone Grants

Similar to previous grant cycles, BUF will be offering one-time monetary awards to several selected nonprofit organizations.

For the upcoming fiscal year (FY22), BUF will award approximately 6 to 9 nonprofits with grants ranging from $500 to $2,500, with the average gift being $1,500.

Organizations with 501(c)3 status are eligible to apply and selections will be made based on an organization’s alignment with BUF’s mission, impact on BIPOC communities, and more.

Nonprofit Leadership Program

Three selected organizations will be awarded a $8,000 grant along with enrollment in our Nonprofit Leadership Program. The program is an approximate one year commitment. Participating organizations are required to meet on a monthly basis with independent learning conducted between meetings. This program is designed to accelerate the growth, stability and success of Oregon’s BIPOC- and women-led grassroots nonprofits.

• Months 1-3: Organizational Basics: Governance, board development, operating and program budgets, financial management, policies and procedures, etc.
• Months 4-6: Programs and Services: Outreach, program planning, evaluation, partnerships, etc.
• Months 7-9: Fund Development: Identifying and vetting funders and donors, grant readiness, sources of support by type, etc.

The program’s core curriculum will be supplemented with one-on-one support from a variety of local subject matter experts (HR, strategic planning, fund development, etc.). Participants will also receive access to BUF’s conference room and resource library as well as reduced cost access to additional supports. This program prioritizes support for BIPOC- and/or women-led organizations. All participating organizations must already have established 501(c)(3) status. Only three qualifying nonprofit organizations will be selected for the upcoming cohort. It is requested that an organization's Executive Director, a board member, and a volunteer all participate (or a second board member if no paid staff).  Learn more

Grant Priorities

Priority for both tracks of grant support will be given to organizations whose mission and values align with BUF’s. The Black United Fund of Oregon’s mission is to assist in the social and economic development of BIPOC communities.

Funding Focus

Funding focus areas include prioritizing organizations that: 

• Offer services to BIPOC business owners and community members.
• Support BIPOC youth in achieving their career, college, and postsecondary aspirations.
• Celebrate and showcase Oregon’s diversity.
• Proactively address systems change to counter Oregon’s history of exclusionary and discriminatory policies towards ethnic and culturally diverse group.  

The Gathering Collaborative

$25 Million Total in Grants to Address Racism Is A Public Health Crisis

King County declared racism as a public health crisis in 2020, recognizing that governments need to acknowledge and respond by undoing the centuries of harms of systemic racism in our society and equitably invest in dismantling racism and protecting the health and well-being of Black, Indigenous and People of Color so that all communities thrive.

Envisioned jointly by community members and King County in August 2021 and launched in March 2022, The Gathering Collaborative is a group of trusted community members who are involved to uplift Black and Indigenous people and their communities – those who are most directly harmed by racism. The members largely reflect these communities and have lived experience in these communities that they serve, with Executive Dow Constantine, Abigail Echo-Hawk and Dr. Ben Danielson, serving as co-chairs. 

The Gathering Collaborative is an iterative co-creation effort between King County government and the community. The Gathering Collaborative community members will collaborate with King County to equitably distribute $25 million that starts to undo the harms of racism compounded by the pandemic, influence the County’s budget cycle and process, and establish a longer-term, multi-generational vision for King County to become an anti-racist government. 

Focus Populations

The focus of this effort and the related investments is to start to undo the harms on the following populations who, based on extensive research and data nationally and in King County, most negatively experience the generational, current, and longstanding impacts of racism, making it a public health crisis:

• Black Americans who are the descendants of enslaved Africans and continue to experience the ongoing and deep impacts of systemic racism in all of its facets. 
• Indigenous Peoples directly impacted by settler colonialism within the US borders which have created the systems of institutional and structural racism perpetuated by the United States government and ongoing settler colonialism of the United States. It includes American Indians/Alaska Natives/Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, American Samoa, and Pacific Islander communities. 

Grant Priorities

Together, The Gathering Collaborative and King County aim to invest in a wide range of services, programs, operations, community advocacy efforts, and physical infrastructure designed and delivered through community-based service providers and businesses that move the needle on the established grantmaking priorities. 

• Health and Wellness
  • Increase investments in and improve wraparound services to provide family and community-based approach to mental and physical health focused on the whole community, and the whole person
  • Invest in and increase culturally rooted, community-rooted mental health providers, services, and/or entities
  • Invest in and improve Black and Indigenous healthcare and wellness overall
  • Increase resources / funds for Healthy Aging support by increasing and creating multigenerational spaces, activities, use of arts toward social justice, health literacy services, and education around medical language (an umbrella of services)
  • Increase investments in efforts that center and advance Black and Indigenous joy, play, wellness, mental health, and resilience
  • Increase and improve access to culturally appropriate, reflective, and rooted services for reproductive, women's rights
  • Improve support for family caregivers that strengthen networks of care
  • Improve and increase youth safety
  • Invest in environmental justice and recognize that it is interconnected to climate change based on where Black and Indigenous communities live, work, play, and pray
  • Invest in resources that improve health of Black and Indigenous birthing people and after birth for the birther and baby
  • Acknowledge and repair harm done to Black and Indigenous women
  • Acknowledge and address various types of system violence that disproportionally affect Black and Indigenous women, LGBTQ2S people as victims of sexual assault  
• Economic Stability and Strengthening
  • Increase support and utilization of banks, businesses, educational entities, philanthropy whose work are led by and that serve Black and Indigenous communities
  • Increase investments in entrepreneurship opportunities for Black and Indigenous women
  • Help youth get better education and allow them to build leadership and cognitive skills
  • Support new and developing entrepreneurship in Black and Indigenous communities
  • Provide a social safety net to be able to support people in meeting their material needs 
• Housing
  • Ensure housing resources are equitably distributed particularly to Black and Indigenous homeless community members
  • Create conditions and places to prioritize housing stability of Black and Indigenous families and individuals and prevent them from going into homelessness in the first place
  • Relieve financial burden of elders in Black and Indigenous communities who are experiencing gentrification pressures and help keep our elders in the homes that they are in
  • Acknowledge and repair harm done to Black and Indigenous women 
• Education
  • Increase Black and Indigenous representation and leadership in decision-making roles across various healthcare professions and systems through workforce development
  • Help youth get better education and allow them to build leadership and cognitive skills
  • Increase access to Black and Indigenous-rooted education opportunities for STEM for Black and Indigenous families and their children
  • Acknowledge and address various impacts of racism in schools on Black and Indigenous young people
  • Invest in and/or increase access to mentors, field trips, afterschool snacks and activities, etc.
  • Support new and developing entrepreneurship in Black and Indigenous communities
  • Improve, increase access to and investment in arts and culture for our Black and Indigenous youth 
• Power and Capacity  Building
  • Increase Black and Indigenous representation and leadership in decision-making roles across various healthcare professions and systems through workforce development
  • Reduce the burden on community of receiving funding, including reporting requirements
  • Help youth get better education and allow them to build leadership and cognitive skills
  • Increase tracking and transparency of how funding is being directed (revisit if done toward our health and wellness)
  • Invest in and increase community defined, built, and owned culturally rooted data gathering and research
  • Grow regional advocacy and power to continue this work
  • Improve, increase access to and investment in arts and culture for our Black and Indigenous youth 

Funding

• Total Available Funding for this grant category: $3,312,500
• Minimum award:$25,000 
• Maximum award: $125,000    

The Gathering Collaborative

$25 Million Total in Grants to Address Racism Is A Public Health Crisis

King County declared racism as a public health crisis in 2020, recognizing that governments need to acknowledge and respond by undoing the centuries of harms of systemic racism in our society and equitably invest in dismantling racism and protecting the health and well-being of Black, Indigenous and People of Color so that all communities thrive.

Envisioned jointly by community members and King County in August 2021 and launched in March 2022, The Gathering Collaborative is a group of trusted community members who are involved to uplift Black and Indigenous people and their communities – those who are most directly harmed by racism. The members largely reflect these communities and have lived experience in these communities that they serve, with Executive Dow Constantine, Abigail Echo-Hawk and Dr. Ben Danielson, serving as co-chairs. 

The Gathering Collaborative is an iterative co-creation effort between King County government and the community. The Gathering Collaborative community members will collaborate with King County to equitably distribute $25 million that starts to undo the harms of racism compounded by the pandemic, influence the County’s budget cycle and process, and establish a longer-term, multi-generational vision for King County to become an anti-racist government. 

Focus Populations

The focus of this effort and the related investments is to start to undo the harms on the following populations who, based on extensive research and data nationally and in King County, most negatively experience the generational, current, and longstanding impacts of racism, making it a public health crisis:

• Black Americans who are the descendants of enslaved Africans and continue to experience the ongoing and deep impacts of systemic racism in all of its facets. 
• Indigenous Peoples directly impacted by settler colonialism within the US borders which have created the systems of institutional and structural racism perpetuated by the United States government and ongoing settler colonialism of the United States. It includes American Indians/Alaska Natives/Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, American Samoa, and Pacific Islander communities. 

Grant Priorities

Together, The Gathering Collaborative and King County aim to invest in a wide range of services, programs, operations, community advocacy efforts, and physical infrastructure designed and delivered through community-based service providers and businesses that move the needle on the established grantmaking priorities. 

• Health and Wellness
  • Increase investments in and improve wraparound services to provide family and community-based approach to mental and physical health focused on the whole community, and the whole person
  • Invest in and increase culturally rooted, community-rooted mental health providers, services, and/or entities
  • Invest in and improve Black and Indigenous healthcare and wellness overall
  • Increase resources / funds for Healthy Aging support by increasing and creating multigenerational spaces, activities, use of arts toward social justice, health literacy services, and education around medical language (an umbrella of services)
  • Increase investments in efforts that center and advance Black and Indigenous joy, play, wellness, mental health, and resilience
  • Increase and improve access to culturally appropriate, reflective, and rooted services for reproductive, women's rights
  • Improve support for family caregivers that strengthen networks of care
  • Improve and increase youth safety
  • Invest in environmental justice and recognize that it is interconnected to climate change based on where Black and Indigenous communities live, work, play, and pray
  • Invest in resources that improve health of Black and Indigenous birthing people and after birth for the birther and baby
  • Acknowledge and repair harm done to Black and Indigenous women
  • Acknowledge and address various types of system violence that disproportionally affect Black and Indigenous women, LGBTQ2S people as victims of sexual assault  
• Economic Stability and Strengthening
  • Increase support and utilization of banks, businesses, educational entities, philanthropy whose work are led by and that serve Black and Indigenous communities
  • Increase investments in entrepreneurship opportunities for Black and Indigenous women
  • Help youth get better education and allow them to build leadership and cognitive skills
  • Support new and developing entrepreneurship in Black and Indigenous communities
  • Provide a social safety net to be able to support people in meeting their material needs 
• Housing
  • Ensure housing resources are equitably distributed particularly to Black and Indigenous homeless community members
  • Create conditions and places to prioritize housing stability of Black and Indigenous families and individuals and prevent them from going into homelessness in the first place
  • Relieve financial burden of elders in Black and Indigenous communities who are experiencing gentrification pressures and help keep our elders in the homes that they are in
  • Acknowledge and repair harm done to Black and Indigenous women 
• Education
  • Increase Black and Indigenous representation and leadership in decision-making roles across various healthcare professions and systems through workforce development
  • Help youth get better education and allow them to build leadership and cognitive skills
  • Increase access to Black and Indigenous-rooted education opportunities for STEM for Black and Indigenous families and their children
  • Acknowledge and address various impacts of racism in schools on Black and Indigenous young people
  • Invest in and/or increase access to mentors, field trips, afterschool snacks and activities, etc.
  • Support new and developing entrepreneurship in Black and Indigenous communities
  • Improve, increase access to and investment in arts and culture for our Black and Indigenous youth 
• Power and Capacity  Building
  • Increase Black and Indigenous representation and leadership in decision-making roles across various healthcare professions and systems through workforce development
  • Reduce the burden on community of receiving funding, including reporting requirements
  • Help youth get better education and allow them to build leadership and cognitive skills
  • Increase tracking and transparency of how funding is being directed (revisit if done toward our health and wellness)
  • Invest in and increase community defined, built, and owned culturally rooted data gathering and research
  • Grow regional advocacy and power to continue this work
  • Improve, increase access to and investment in arts and culture for our Black and Indigenous youth 

Funding

• Total available funding for this category: $9,563,000
• Minimum award: $100,000 
• Maximum award: up to 50% of the highest total annual revenue during 2019-2022 OR $550,000 -- whichever amount is lower. 

Liberated Paths Grantmaking Program

Building a More Just and Sustainable Outdoor and Environmental Movement Together

Black, Indigenous, and People of Color-led organizations are on the frontlines of the grassroots work being done to build a better planet but our work is chronically overlooked and underfunded. We know that when our voices are left out, our communities suffer, and our planet does too. With the Liberated Paths Program, we envision a way to bridge that gap.

Through this program, we are working to create a more just and sustainable outdoor and environmental movement by shifting resources to and building power with Black, Indigenous, and Communities of Color. The Liberated Paths Program supports outdoor initiatives and organizations that cultivate and celebrate the contributions of Black, Indigenous, and Communities of Color and affirm the many experiences and identities our communities hold, through grantmaking, capacity building, and network building.

Through our Liberated Paths regional grants, we support organizations and initiatives of all sizes located in California, the Pacific Northwest (Oregon and Washington), the Southwest (Arizona and New Mexico), and the Delaware River Watershed that work at the intersection of racial justice, outdoor experiences, and the environment. In 2023, we will also launch grantmaking in North and South Carolina. Our Liberated Paths: Youth Access to Nature Fund supports efforts in the San Francisco Bay Area that increase safe and equitable access to the outdoors for Young People of Color.

We work with leaders and organizations who are rooted within their communities with the lived experiences to understand how to best advance justice and center the needs of the community. We support Leaders of Color to design and lead the types of joyful outdoor experiences and environmental efforts that are most meaningful to them and their communities. 

Liberated Paths support looks like:

• Relationship-driven and trust-based support
• Multi-year grants of $1,000 to $20,000 per year when possible
• Long-term, deep engagement in financial, operational, and fundraising capacity building
• Network building with a cohort of grantees to facilitate shared learning and systems-level changes
• Eligibility that is not hinged on organization size, ability to do impact reporting, or 501(c)(3) status
• Support for organizations and initiatives of all sizes and in all stages of their development
• Prioritized funding for organizations and initiatives led by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color
• Capacity building trainings and workshops for grantee partners

Capacity Building

Our model offers financial grants, as well as consistent coaching and mentorship. We want to connect our grantee partners with the tools and resources they need to sustain their vital work. To that end, in addition to trainings and workshops for all grantee partners, we work with each partner to identify areas where they want to grow and tailor our support to their needs. These areas could include: board recruitment, financial sustainability, staffing and hiring considerations, executive leadership coaching, budget planning, program design, insurance and liability considerations, safety, guidance on applications for additional grants, and more.

Network Building

Through Liberated Paths, we seek to bring together organizations and leaders working at the intersection of environment and racial justice. We do this through virtual get-togethers and information sessions. We facilitate network building within each cohort of grantees to facilitate shared learning and systems-level changes.

We also bring together funders and partners through a webinar series to connect, share information about the Liberated Paths Grantmaking Program and to also hold critical conversations regarding topics such as the explicit role of race in Liberated Paths, the racial funding gap, and racial bias and its impact in philanthropy.

Liberty Mutual Foundation

Established in 2003, Liberty Mutual Foundation supports the communities in which Liberty Mutual employees live and work. In conjunction with our nonprofit partners, our common purpose is to invest in the expertise, leadership and financial strength of Liberty Mutual Insurance and our employees to advance security and build resiliency for people and communities in vulnerable situations. To further this purpose, we are launching Climate Resiliency as a new priority area of funding. Building on its efforts to strengthen communities, Liberty Mutual Foundation believes philanthropy can play an important role in increasing climate resiliency in vulnerable communities. These efforts can bridge the divide between mitigation and adaptation approaches to climate change. Philanthropy can support innovative solutions, scale-proven strategies, support nature-based climate solutions, strengthen grassroots efforts, and more.

Our grants help nonprofits that work to empower families and individuals who are struggling to thrive amid challenging situations. To that end, our grant-making priorities focus on organizations and programs in Greater Boston, Greater Puget Sound, and select counties of Washington State (defined below) to provide advanced security and resilience for people and communities. We seek to accomplish this through our three strategic goals by:

• Creating a safe and secure place
• Providing access to workforce and educational opportunity
• Creating climate resilient communities

Education RFP

The goal of the Liberty Mutual Foundation Education Initiative is to improve the educational achievement of underserved youth. Programs and services must expand educational opportunities for children and youth using vetted solutions developed with input from experienced staff, instructors, and educators. Furthermore, the Education Initiative will support educational programs at all grade levels that build on prior academic success. Programs and services must also highlight a path to postsecondary education and/or certified career training. The Liberty Mutual Foundation aims to achieve these goals by funding catalytic nonprofits to:

• Create programs and initiatives to accelerate learning, especially for students of color and students with disabilities who came into the pandemic with the fewest opportunities and have experienced the greatest learning loss. This includes programs serving early education and K-12 aimed at Social and Emotional Learning, mental health issues, individualized tutoring, and efforts to deepen and broaden access to learning.
• Expand academic opportunities for low-income and limited English-proficient (LEP) students by increasing instruction by bi-lingual educators and those with knowledge of cultural values. This funding will promote learning in out-of-school-time and during extended learning programs. It should increase programs that ensure a successful transition to high school, programs that emphasize and highlight the path to college success, and programs that offer early college learning.
• Implement programs that foster school readiness, as well as elementary and middle school programs that seek to prevent the achievement gap by employing results-based curricula and focusing on competency-based learning, literacy and/or numeracy.
• Support programs that create pathways for older youth and young adults ages 16 to 24 to re-engage with the educational system. This includes youth who have abandoned school prior to completion and youth who have attained a high school diploma/GED but have not progressed to higher education or training. 

Queer Justice Momentum Giving Project Grant

SJF is pleased to announce the 2022 Queer Justice Momentum Giving Project Grant, open to queer-led grassroots organizations in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and/or Wyoming. 

What we will fund

Queer communities need our support NOW, with unrelenting attacks to reproductive justice and widespread surges in trans-antagonistic, anti-queer rhetoric, organizing, and legislation.

The 2022 Queer Justice Momentum Project will support building new and imaginative systems that help achieve a world where queer communities are protected, honored, and thriving. We hope to resource those working towards dismantling sexist, heteronormative structures and building practices and systems that protect and honor individuals and communities of different genders and sexual identities outside of the heteronormative binary. Through this grant, we hope to support organizers in working towards a world where LGBTQIA+ folks, fem(me)s, and gender non-conforming people are able to identify and express their gender and sexual orientation without fear, discrimination or harm, and have the economic, social, and political power and resources to make healthy decisions for themselves, their families, and their communities in all areas of their lives.

This grant will support groups led by LGBTQIA+ individuals, non-binary folks, and fem(me)s who are organizing against heterosexism, transmisogynoir, homophobia, cissexism, and working to build the liberation of groups who have been marginalized because of their sexual and/or gender identity in meaningful ways across Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming. We will prioritize funding organizations with Black, Indigenous, and/or POC leadership, and/or who conduct most of their work in rural, small town, and/or reservation communities.

• Some examples of organizing work that is eligible for this grant include: 
• Resource mobilization for LGBTQIA+ folks
• Establishing queer and nonbinary community spaces
• Reproductive justice organizing
• Leadership development programs for LGBTQIA+ individuals, nonbinary folks, and fem(me)s
• Facilitating healing and wellness
• Developing community restorative justice processes
• Civic engagement
• Organizing against gender based violence

What is a Momentum Giving Project?

The funding from this grant will be raised by an SJF Momentum Giving Project cohort. Momentum Giving Projects are designed to be responsive to the “movement moment” that is happening at the time. We recognize that our grantees are organizing — strengthening communities, training activists, building analysis, developing leaders, making change — all the time. But sometimes, a spark catches. Circumstances come together so that there’s new momentum and focused attention around a particular issue.

What is a Giving Project?

Giving Projects are a unique, participatory model of funding which provides significant financial resources to grassroots organizing for long-term progressive social change. Giving Projects bring together a diverse group of people of varied class identities who are passionate about social change and want to strengthen their skills in fundraising, grantmaking, and community building. Participants work together to deepen their understanding of social justice principles and engage in collective giving and fundraising to support grassroots organizations.

Click here to learn about Social Justice Fund’s Giving Project model.

Funding

Grant amount: Two-year grants of $40,000 ($20,000 per year).

The FishAmerica Foundation is soliciting projects from grassroots, nonprofit organizations conducting projects designed to improve sport fish populations, aquatic habitat, or water quality. Projects must be conducted in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, New Hampshire, or Washington (state). Grants are limited to a maximum of $25,000 but smaller projects are encouraged to apply. Matching funds are desirable but not required.

“Hands-on” projects designed to directly improve water quality or aquatic habitat for recreational species are eligible for funding.

The Community Response Fund (CRF) is for work being done that enhances the greater objectives of our Growth Management and Aquatic Ecosystems programs. With this program, the Foundation aims to honor and sustain the rich history of grassroots engagement in our state and bring new voices and organizations into our grantmaking.The Community Response Fund serves two main goals: Grassroots Engagement: We invest in local organizations that are often the first to see, experience and understand environmental needs, threats and trends, but they may lack the resources of larger organizations to respond. Environmental Movement Building: We support efforts to bring new voices into the environmental movement and encourage proposals that will grow the base of environmental advocates beyond those historically involved.In both cases, sample activities may look like:

• Lead community engagement on a proposed plan, vision or process. 
• File lawsuits or comments to stop proposed projects or activities that violate local, state or federal environmental regulations pertaining to aquatic ecosystems, land use or native species.
• Support leadership development and organizing capacity, particularly in under-resourced communities.
• Support for: trainings, list-building, canvassing and developing and implementing communications needs.

Likely Candidates:

• Community-based, locally-focused organizations 
• Applicants with a need for one-time funds for a discrete project
• Organizations piloting new projects, seeking small start-up funds

Growth ManagementThe goal of the Growth Management Program is to promote smart growth land use policies and to prevent damage to environmentally sensitive areas that are threatened by development, climate change impacts and the weakening of existing environmental laws and regulations. The Northwest Fund seeks to fund work advancing these objectives:

• Encourage transparent, sustainable, inclusive, community-driven land use planning and management within the State of Washington.
• Promote land use practices and policies which seek to reduce impacts, such as carbon emissions, that contribute to climate change.
• Increase the effectiveness of citizen advocates and nonprofit organizations to implement and maintain smart growth land use policies.
• Support compliance with and enforcement of growth management laws and regulations that result in long-term, statewide net benefits for the natural resources of Washington State.

We place emphasis on these strategies to advance our objectives:

•  Use litigation, mediation and other legal tools to enforce and monitor compliance with existing growth management laws.
•  Educate, organize and engage the public in land use planning processes and management that is consistent with smart growth.
•  Promote and defend the use of best available science to achieve growth management objectives.

Aquatic EcosystemsThe goal of the Aquatic Ecosystem program of the Northwest Fund for the Environment is to protect and restore the extensive network of fresh and saltwater ecosystems in the State of Washington and the native species that inhabit these ecosystems. Our program is divided into two areas of emphasis:

• Freshwater ecosystems including rivers, streams, wetlands, and riparian areas. We are concerned with water quality, water quantity and connectivity issues as they affect aquatic ecosystems.
• Saltwater ecosystems of Puget Sound and the Washington Coast, including estuaries and saltwater shoreline areas.

The NWFE seeks to fund work advancing these objectives:

Freshwater Ecosystems

• Improve implementation of water quality standards throughout Washington State, including the protection of waterways  from both point and non-point sources or the weakening of existing environmental regulations.
• Establish and protect adequate instream flow levels statewide to provide healthy habitat for native species.
• Enhance connectivity of freshwater systems – both instream and with other functioning water bodies and sources.
• Prepare and plan for changes in water availability attributed to climate change.

Saltwater Ecosystems

• Reduce and respond to threats to marine resources from external harms such as oil spills, invasive species and climate change impacts.
• Protect marine and estuarine habitat and native species from pollution or weakening of existing environmental regulations.
• Support and promote marine resource management that is sustainable, transparent, community-driven and ecosystem-based in its approach.

The NWFE places emphasis on these strategies to advance our objectives:

• Monitor the implementation and application of existing laws.
• Promote public policies that enhance, protect or restore aquatic ecosystems.
• Litigate to enforce and defend key laws e.g., Clean Water Act (CWA), Shoreline Management Act (SMA), and the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as they apply to these areas.
• Participate in ongoing public processes and negotiations.
• Inform and engage the public in the stewardship and protection of aquatic ecosystems and resources