We’re thrilled to share the names of those who will shape CJRF’s grantmaking priorities in the coming years.
CJRF’s new Governing Board members are:
Alicia Wallace, a queer Black feminist and LGBT movement leader in the Bahamas, who pivoted to center climate justice in the wake of Hurricane Dorian
Angela Sanau, a gender activist based in Kenya and the senior programmes officer – gender and youth at the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association (MMWCA)
Diana Samarasan, an experienced cross-movement builder who founded the Disability Rights Fund
Helen Biangalen-Magata, an expert advocate on the UN Green Climate Fund and communications officer of the Filipino Indigenous advocacy organization Tebtebba
Maria Alejandra Escalante, a queer, feminist researcher from Colombia and the climate and environmental justice advocacy officer for FRIDA|The Young Feminist Fund
Nilesh Prakash, a former member of the UN Adaptation Fund Board, who has advised several Pacific civil society networks and now works for the V20 coalition of climate-vulnerable governments
Panganga Pungowiyi, currently Climate Geoengineering Organizer at Indigenous Environmental Network, who has served her community through past work with several well-established Alaska Native organizations
Samuel Yagase, a long-time Congolese activist and co-founder of Group of Village Organizations for Autonomous Development (GOVA), which focuses on building sustainable and resilient communities in the rainforest as documented in the film Mabele Na Biso
Zahid Shashoto, a grassroots youth activist and programme development officer for the Bangladeshi organization Uttaran
You can visit Our Team to read their full bios.
The path to this new board was an exciting one, born from a desire not only to fund climate justice, but also to operate in alignment with our goal of transforming systems for justice and equity.
Selecting A Practitioner-led Board
In May of 2021, CJRF’s previous board—made up of representatives of our funding partners—decided to pursue a more participatory grantmaking structure. By October we had established a plan for the transition: gather ideas from our grant partners; consult with experienced participatory grantmakers; and form a diverse design team to help us think through how we could best change how we work.
After several months of work, the design team presented a set of options to the old board, which decided to form a new board for CJRF’s new phase of work. In doing so, the old board made two decisions that were important departures from business as usual in philanthropy:
The new board would have no foundation representatives or philanthropists. It would be, instead, comprised of activists and practitioners—people further from the sources of money, and closer to the climate problems and solutions.
We would recruit the new board through an open call for applications, circulated globally.
“With its new Board, CJRF is committed to a real powershift in decision making on strategy and grants—from Global North funders to practitioners at the front lines of the climate crisis and thus to the people the fund wants to serve,” said Ottilie Baelz, outgoing CJRF board member and Senior Vice President Global Issues at the Robert Bosch Foundation. “This is an exciting process also from a funder’s perspective.”
Our call for applications went out late in August of 2022. In only a few weeks more than 100 candidates applied.
“We were deeply honored and humbled that so many people wanted to take a leadership role with this fund,” said CJRF Director Heather McGray. “And the pool of applicants was very impressive—we could have developed five separate boards, all highly qualified.”
To drive the selection process forward and make the final decisions, CJRF formed a selection committee made up of design team members, grant partners, representatives from our previous board, and members of our Council of Advisors.
“I was honored to be part of the design team and the selection committee,” said Emily Wanja, global community manager of the Climate Story Unit at CJRF grantee Doc Society. “I have seen the power of locally led action and the solutions that people and our communities continue to create when faced with devastating climate impacts. Having their voices and experiences on this new board is visionary in shifting power to those on the front lines of this crisis. I am confident funds will be well-spent and have the greatest possible impact.”
The selection committee developed a set of criteria to evaluate candidates and formulate a board with a balance of skills, experiences, and perspectives. They looked for:
Representatives of CJRF’s core constituencies—women, youth, Indigenous Peoples
Experience in movement building, including, but not limited to, climate justice movements and ‘cross-movement’ linkages
Ability to connect local action and insight to global impact
Grantmaking experience, including participatory grantmaking and governance structures
Representatives of frontline communities, primarily in the global South, but also in hard-hit communities in the North
Traditional board skills, including fundraising, budget oversight, and human resources
The CJRF team announced the membership of the new governing board during an in-person celebration on November 12th at COP27 in Egypt. We anticipate making our first grants under their leadership in the first half of 2023. Subscribe to CJRF’s email list to see how the Fund progresses under the direction of the new practitioner-led board.