August 2020 Newsletter – Grants awarded, the Great American Outdoors Act, arts and collections in the news, and more…

At our virtual board meeting in July, the board approved 40 grants totaling $2.1 million across our program areas and regions. 15 of these totaling nearly $450,000 were to organizations new to us. See the full list of grants awarded this year, including emergency and expedited grantmaking due to the pandemic.

LAND CONSERVATION

We are excited about this week’s passage of the Great American Outdoors Act. In a historic victory for conservation, through the passage of the Great American Outdoors Act, the LWCF is now permanently funded at its intended full level. This guarantees that hundreds of millions of energy lease revenues will fund conservation acquisitions and maintenance of our national parks. The two articles below explain the Act’s land conservation impacts in each of our regions.

• Commentary from South Carolina Wildlife Federation (SCWF)
  From SCWF executive director, Sara Green: Federal act holds promising future for SC public lands and wildlife.
• From Chicago Sun-Times’ Outdoor editor
  Dale Bowman with the Illinois and regional perspective.

“Racism makes it impossible to live sustainably and racism prevents us from winning on climate.” 
Aimee Witteman, the McKnight Foundation’s Midwest Climate & Energy program director, discusses why racial equity needs to be centered in the climate movement [photo of Aimee from article].

ARTISTIC VITALITY

SC Art of Community program expands to 15 counties
This program of the South Carolina Arts Commission (SCAC), poses the question: “How can we use arts and culture as strategic tools to address local challenges we face?” Read more. [Photo from article].

GDDF on Bad at Sports podcast
Senior Program Officer, Ellen Placey Wadey, was featured on this Chicago-based arts podcast, discussing how the Foundation is approaching the shifting needs of small arts organizations, especially during the pandemic.

COLLECTIONS

GDDF on the radio
Ellen Placey Wadey, Senior Program Officer, was interviewed with Dr. Lynn Hughes, founder of the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum, on the “Bonnie’s Eye” radio show. The Museum was one of the grant recipients of our emergency relief fund for small collecting organizations.

Museums as Catalysts for Climate Action
We’ve been discussing this article from the American Alliance of Museums, which asks what role might museums play in becoming catalysts for meaningful climate action?