California has long been a pioneer in climate action, including paving the way for other states with the passage of AB32, the Global Warming Solutions Act, in 2006. So it makes sense that one of the state’s prominent community foundations, the San Diego Foundation, established a climate change program that same year.
Started at a time when foundation involvement in the issue was relatively minor (national giving combined on the topic in 2006 totaled $144 million), the San Diego Foundation’s climate program has since been helping the region curb and prepare for climate change with a mix of research, funding and partnerships, putting a major focus on water systems. The foundation recently made a round of grants to engage impacted communities in water management decisions.
The San Diego Foundation’s climate program demonstrates how, for some place-based foundations and nonprofits, climate change is an undeniably local issue. In San Diego’s case, some of California’s largest wildfires have been in the county, notably the 2007 fires that left 10 dead and destroyed over 1,700 homes. The region is also bracing for increased storms and flooding, and its water supply is strained by a growing population, decreased annual rainfall and higher temperatures.
“California is aggressively pursuing how to adapt to what’s happening with our climate,” says Lydia Van Note, director of environmental initiatives at the foundation. “For us, if we’re not talking about climate change and we’re talking about all of these symptoms of climate change, I see us actually being called out.”
Helping the Community Engage
The San Diego Foundation has been around since 1975, and currently houses more than 2,100 funds, most of which are donor-advised funds. It also oversees endowed funds and its own programs, which are funded by other foundations and individual donors. The funder distributed $52.5 million across more than 5,600 grants in FY 2019. The bulk of the funding that year went toward education and health and human services, making up about 60 percent of its giving combined.
About 7 percent of funding that year went to the environment, and the foundation’s climate program has granted more than $3.5 million since it began in 2006.
The program got its start when Samuel Blasker, a local aeronautical engineer, left an $8 million legacy endowment fund to the foundation before he passed away to support science and technology, as well as climate-related efforts. Since then, the program has picked up other individual and foundation backers, including the Qualcomm and Marisla foundations.
Connie Matsui, interim leader of community impact, attributes the interest in climate change to a combination of San Diegans’ appreciation for their natural surroundings, but also a concern for the well-being of future residents in the growing region. This idea of long-term stewardship is something you see a lot in the foundation’s communications, including in research casting a future vision for the region.
“I think it's that combination of appreciating the natural assets we are blessed with here in San Diego,” Matsui says, “and then also a concern or a desire to be good stewards for the generations that follow.”
The foundation’s earliest climate work involved supporting government agencies to engage on the issue. SDF funded the region’s first GHG inventory to understand where emissions are coming from, and has now funded 24 government technical assistance projects, helping two-thirds of local cities develop or adopt climate action plans, according to the foundation.
“Let’s support government to create their own plans. Let’s empower them to really think about it,” Van Note says. “And then let’s ensure that the community has the capacity to engage in their processes.”
Implementing these climate plans has not always been smooth sailing. The local nonprofit Climate Action Campaign’s 2018 report card found that while the “region is making genuine efforts to move on climate,” the county government’s climate action plan is “fundamentally flawed.” For years, environmental groups have charged that the county’s plan does not reduce greenhouse gas emissions and allows car-dependent sprawl, with the Sierra Club and other groups filing multiple lawsuits against the county. The San Diego Foundation has funded one such group, the Endangered Habitats League, for its work to curb sprawl, including through improvement of the county’s climate action plan.
Assessing Regional Risks
Another way the foundation has set out to support climate action is through research on regional impacts. So far, the foundation has supported 21 reports on climate change, on topics ranging from which local populations are most vulnerable to the economic impacts of water shortages.
In 2009, for example, the foundation released “San Diego’s Changing Climate: A Regional Wake-up Call,” an assessment of the impacts the region faces, including severe water shortage and sea level rise.
Some of the research the foundation supports comes from Climate Education Partners, a collaboration that includes SDF and local universities. In 2014, the collaborative released “San Diego, 2050 is Calling,” a report rounding up scientists, as well as local government and business leaders, to outline the need for action.
For Matsui, the focus on research reflects a desire to be data-driven, but also to have more lasting impact.
“It’s important for us to think beyond simply charitable work, but to systems change and policy change, so really, for us, it's the long game,” she says. “Not only are we dealing with how can we implement certain projects, but how can we affect public opinion and ultimately policy change and policy strengthening.”
The Future of Water
Another area of climate action where the foundation is particularly active is in water resilience. The foundation released one research brief on the subject reporting that local demand for water in San Diego is expected to be 46 percent higher by 2035, with the region’s local and imported water supplies strained by higher temperatures, decreased rainfall, and higher reservoir evaporation.
SDF’s activity on water resilience has been funded in part by the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation, a private California funder that prioritizes water systems. Bechtel in 2015 started a Community Foundation Water Initiative, which directs funds to community foundations in the state to work on sustainable water management. The San Diego Foundation received three years of support from Bechtel of $650,000.
The latest round of water grants was just announced in October, and emphasizes equity and engaging the public in the region on water resilience. Grants include support for the local network Climate Science Alliance to work with youth and local Native American tribes. Another interesting grant funds county water boards, aiming to improve their racial, gender and socioeconomic diversity.
“I believe that I am no better in making a decision for these disenfranchised communities than they are. And so I want to see more civic engagement and support for these communities to be in the solution process,” Van Note says. “Empowering these communities to engage in how we move forward together seems like the only way to really move forward in a collective way.”