The Russell Family Foundation today announced a new round of grants and investments totaling $2.3 million, in line with a decision to increase annual outlays to 10% of assets, roughly double the level of most foundations.
To support its Food for Climate Solutions programs, which aims to cut food-sector emissions and boost access to locally produced, healthy food, the foundation is investing $250,000 in the Northwest Native Development Fund, an Indigenous-led community development financial institution that lends to Native-led food and agricultural enterprises.
Around 75% of the foundation’s assets under management are already in climate solutions, including its private asset portfolio, with investments in BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group, for example, and sustainable energy investor and operator Greenbacker. TRFF, as the foundation is known for short, is “activating every tool at our disposal—investments, grants, convenings, and advocacy—to advance climate solutions that are both impactful and just,” Simpson and colleague Sarah Cleveland wrote in a recent climate progress report.
TRFF also made a $500,000 recoverable grant to the Institute for Washington’s Future, a research and education center supporting equitable community development and environmental protection, and will act as a fiscal sponsor for Community-to-Community Development to support farmworker-led agricultural infrastructure. The funding round included more than 50 grants in support of the foundation’s Environmental Education program, including grants to Pacific Education, Aspen Institute and E3.
With about $100 million in assets, The Russell Family Foundation (ImpactAlpha Edge) is small compared to some of its peers, but Simpson hopes to nudge the field by sharing its impact-first strategy (see, “This family foundation is ‘meeting the moment’ with all of its $100 million in assets (podcast)”).
