Faith-inspired organizations and religious communities are at the center of efforts around climate change, depolarization, bridge-building, and social cohesion in America today – and they are worthy grantee partners.
However, institutional philanthropies often shy away from working with this large segment of the nonprofit landscape. In so doing, they miss out on impact and opportunities to work with trusted partners that are uniquely positioned to address polarized issues such as climate change. On that issue, evangelical concern for care of creation is a perfect example.
The Religion & Society Program (RSP) aims to encourage philanthropic giving to faith-inspired organizations across the sector, with particular emphasis on those areas such as climate change that can also bridge ideological divides. On July 31 – August 2, 2022, we will make a pitch to philanthropy association leaders to support religion-related conversations such as creation care at their conference spaces. Working in collaboration with us are several funder affinity groups, individual funders, and experts in philanthropic strategy and religion. By breaking the taboo around religion at mainstream philanthropy conferences, we can increase investment in the same way that attention to racial equity has done.