In 1996, four New England foundations met to examine environmental priorities in New England. Their conclusion was
“for the New England environmental movement to succeed, the New England environmental movement must project a broad and compelling vision that will persuade large numbers of people that they are stakeholders in the formidable effort to build a sustainable future. This effort must begin at the local level. If environmental protection is imposed upon people, we will surely fail. But if it is accomplished with, for, and because of people, we may succeed…”.
The participating funders recognized their limits – not enough staff resources and extensive grant application processes that neither reached nor attracted local level community groups to their foundations. In order to extend and fine tune their philanthropic efforts a different kind of funding structure was needed to offer proactive, professional grantmaking, skills-building and networking opportunities to support the needs of emerging volunteer-based organizations and leaders. The New England Grassroots Environment Fund was created and till this day remains one of very few organizations focused on the local level, reaching across issues, breaking across issue silos and offering network support to local New England initiatives.
NEGEF is both a Funders/Activists’ Collaborative and a Community Network Builder. Our mission is: to energize and nurture long-term civic engagement in local initiatives that create and maintain healthy, just, safe and environmentally sustainable communities.
Since its inception 12 years ago, NEGEF has built up a core grantmaking program that has funded over 1,000 different community groups located in over 40% of New England’s cities and towns putting over $2.5 million directly into these communities. These grants are typically between $500 and $2,500 for its regionwide small grants program, with a range of $500 to $10,000 for its urban grants program: the Boston Grants Initiative. NEGEF invests in constituencies from rural, suburban and urban areas, working on a wide range of projects.