EarthWays administers a funding program called
"Rainforest Information Centre Small Grants Fund".
Over the last fifteen years approximately $250,000 in grants
has been made to grass roots groups throughout the world with
an average grant size of $1000. Funds are provided by John
Seed’s roadshows and workshops in addition to grants
from foundations and individual donors.
Most of this money has been provided as: (1)
"grantor of last resort" (a few hundred to a few
thousand dollars at the time have gone to front-line projects
in many of the countries that John Seed judged would have
difficulty in findings funding from conventional sources),
or (2) emergency funding which could not wait for the long
cycles of most funding agencies. Rainforest Information Centre
Small Grants Fund is also a vehicle to provide funding for
projects which need discretion, such as those in Burma that
put lives in danger if the activists’ names are known.
John Seed has been working full-time in the
radical environmental movement since 1979 and has built up
an incomparable network of contacts and friendships who feed
him information on projects where a small amount of money
may make a big difference or where money is needed immediately
and cannot wait for normal red tape and funding cycles. Because
of his strong reputation with many people in the environmental
community, he can often "prime the pump," i.e. sending
$1000 to a group or individual who is doing important work
but is not well connected with the granting community. Along
with the grant, John Seed includes a list of potential funders
and suggests that a copy of his letter be included with their
further funding proposals. There is no doubt that many of
these projects would not have started up at all without these
small grants and the encouragement that came with them. With
this support, many projects have grown, and their impact has
been substantial.
In Australia, all of RIC’s work is carried
out by volunteers like John Seed. In the Global South (third
world), RIC provides financial support to their volunteers
so the work is able to proceed. RIC’s mission is the
protection of the world’s rainforest and other natural
areas and the support of the old ways of their indigenous
inhabitants.
Project Advisor: John Seed
Contact: Rainforest Information Center Box 368 Lismore, NSW
2480, Australia e-mail johnseed1@ozemail.com.au or: EarthWays
20178 Rockport Way, Malibu, CA 90265 tel: 310-456-8300
A summary of some of the grants that have been
made from this program may be found at the Rainforest Information
Centre website www.rainforestinfo.org.au (click on "conservation
projects" then "Small Grants fund)
Rainforest Information Centre Small Grants
Fund is a project of EarthWays: For the Earth, working in
association with John Seed.
info@earthways.org |
