In a second phase of work, this team successfully leveraged initial grants for community foundations into a total of more than 10 times the original amount, and it produced and distributed materials to guide foundations in environmental grantmaking.

In one case, the team leveraged $173,000 into $4,945,944—a 2,860 percent increase—to support local community foundation development and implementation of innovative strategies addressing watershed, brownfield, or land use issues in their regions. A grant of $60,000 to 12 community foundations increased their aggregate endowment by more than $1.5 million. A grant of $127,000 to six foundations resulted in the successful recruitment of 20 new agencies and increased agency endowments to community foundations by $241,380. Beyond monetary support, more than 22 educational publications offered guidance in the development of community foundation environmental programs, including a focused toolkit and directory.

Team members distributed more than 850 foundation “growing” guides to every Great Lakes community foundation in the U.S. and Canada. They also produced and distributed more than 600 copies of an educational video that they produced, entitled “Community Foundations as Environmental Stewards,” to community foundations in the U.S. and Canada. This project expanded the reach of environmental foundations across the U.S. and Canada to more effectively serve and protect the Great Lakes region.