Environmental Organizations Receive Capacity-Building Funding
Date
2024-11-05
Photo credit: Athabasca Watershed Council
Alberta Ecotrust Foundation awards $100,000 in grants to support organizations working on environmental projects.
Alberta Ecotrust Foundation is proud to announce the recipients of its 2024 Springboard Grant. This grant program provides funding to organizations addressing Alberta’s environmental challenges, helping them build their internal capacity. By investing in themselves, grantees develop essential skills, strategize for the future and enhance their processes and systems to achieve greater environmental impact.
“The awarded organizations are addressing critical environmental challenges and reinforcing the foundation for their long-term success,” said Lori Rissling Wynn, Director of Grants & Initiatives at Alberta Ecotrust. “We are excited to see how this support will enable them to amplify their positive impact across Alberta.”
The grant recipients were selected based on their potential to scale and sustain positive environmental improvements and outcomes. They must also align with Alberta Ecotrust’s three focus areas: Climate resilience and emissions reductions, nature-based solutions and conservation, and the circular economy.
New this year, Springboard Grant recipients were chosen using a randomized selection process. By adopting this method, Alberta Ecotrust aims to foster a more inclusive and just approach, ensuring that all qualified applications have an equal chance of receiving support.
The recipients of the 2024 Springboard Grant are:
Athabasca Watershed Council (AWC) facilitates collaborative planning, education, stewardship and reporting on the watershed's health. Filling data gaps with partners and collaborating on watershed management opportunities can improve monitoring and reporting in northern, rural and remote watersheds. This grant will enhance the organization’s capabilities with staff safety training, technical skill development, procurement of equipment and support for a part-time staff member to produce educational videos.
Bighill Creek Preservation Society
Bighill Creek Preservation Society (BCPS) has embarked on its second year of developing a Bighill Creek State of the Watershed (SOW) report, following seven years of researching the scientific and human stories in the basin. The creek and associated springs are threatened by encroachment of expanding industries (oil and gas production, gravel mines) and urban development. By educating the public and area stakeholders through their SOW report, BCPS will hope to energize more well-informed protection builders.
Bragg Creek Wild aims to enhance its governance, strategic planning and nonprofit management systems. This work will help them manage their growth, amplify successes and better address human-wildlife conflicts over the long term. The grant will strengthen the organization’s foundation, enabling it to work toward a future of harmonious coexistence between people and wildlife across Treaty 7, 8 and 10 territories.
Elements Society for Environmental Education and Leadership
Elements Society is committed to empowering Albertans with the knowledge and tools to protect and sustain their natural surroundings. To expand their educational programs’ reach and impact throughout Alberta, they will hire a fundraising professional whose expertise will support the development of a robust fundraising strategy that diversifies revenue opportunities and increases financial sustainability.
Friends of Fish Creek Provincial Park Society
The Friends collect watershed data annually from Fish Creek Provincial Park by performing trout redd surveys, installing data loggers, and performing bi-weekly water sampling. To expand on their work, they are integrating sampling protocol to gain a complete picture of the creek's health, meet State of the Watershed goals and strengthen their Watershed Management Plan.
IslamicFamily is committed to advancing affordable housing solutions by leveraging the innovative findings from the Affordable Housing Solutions Lab. With this grant, they will collaborate with housing experts to deliver specialized staff training. The training will focus on the practical implementation of the solutions identified by the lab, including innovative financing models, energy-efficient building techniques and community engagement strategies.
With this grant, the Oldman Watershed Council (OWC) will build a Fund Development Plan to launch the next phase of its future success, increasing OWC’s donor base and enhancing investments in essential programs. Implementing a strategic fund development plan will allow OWC to scale up its effective nature-based programs that are improving the resilience of southwest Alberta to climate extremes.
The Pembina Institute is looking to improve the process and systems of its Strategic Partnerships group to support more effective fundraising, enabling the organization’s climate-focused programs to achieve their environmental objectives.
Waterton Biosphere Reserve Association
This funding will support image capture, databasing, planning/training time, travel expenses and collaboration to improve the Waterton Biosphere Reserve Association's imagery. Relevant, timely, high-quality imagery will help grow the organization’s membership, bolster volunteer recruitment, enhance project uptake, and foster youth engagement. These efforts, by extension, will improve the adoption of nature-based solutions, support species at risk, reduce conflicts with wildlife and foster appreciation for sustainable development within the Waterton Biosphere Region.
The Women in Need Society (WINS) empowers women and their families by providing essential resources to help them thrive and achieve financial stability. They will use this grant to obtain a second baler for their donation centre to manage recyclable donations efficiently and reduce waste. This will also generate more revenue from recycled materials, helping to sustain the organization’s long-term programs. It will also provide valuable training for their warehouse-ready participants, improving their employment prospects in the warehouse industry.
Alberta Ecotrust would like to thank its funders, supporters and volunteers for their continued support and for helping turn positive intentions into meaningful actions to preserve our ecosystems.
Media Contact:
Jessie Cheveldayoff, Communications Specialist, Alberta Ecotrust Foundation
j.cheveldayoff@albertaecotrust.com
403.209.2245
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