Funders for Sustainable Food Systems [www.foodunders.org]

Problem
The Funders for Sustainable Food Systems (FSFS) is a California-based group of public and private grantmakers whose mission is to promote a sustainable agriculture and food system in California. The group was founded in 1999 as an informal meeting space for exchanging information and advice on funding the sustainable food system field. The group quickly evolved into a strong and growing affinity group with the goal of catalyzing significant change in the field through educating the philanthropic community and leveraging key funds.

However, the members of FSFS were in need of staff capacity to organize and strategically lead their process forward. The organization has the following goals:

• Raise the awareness within the funding community and among decision-makers in California of the benefits of sustainable agriculture and food systems and thus increase funding going to the field.
• Serve as a model for other regions.

Solution
CEA took on the role of Coordinator of the Funders for Sustainable Food Systems. Specifically, CEA:

• Drove forward the process of completing and distributing FSFS’s groundbreaking report on the state of agriculture in California, Roots of Change.
• Assisted in defining the mission and goals.
• Defined the governance structure and internal action plan for the group.
• Created and managed all organizational processes for the group, including materials and database management.
• Developed a foundation education strategy for FSFS.
• Managed foundation and stakeholder relations and fielded all inquiries from the field.
• Led FSFS through the process of developing and structuring a new foundation collaborative, the ROC Fund, that will achieve the goals outlined by the group.
• Served as a facilitator, mediator, and organizer at FSFS steering committee meetings and foundation education sessions.

Results

• Since CEA became coordinator for FSFS, membership has increased by 25%.
• Over 1000 copies of the report, Roots of Change, have been distributed to the philanthropic community and the sustainable food systems field.
• Since 2000, FSFS holds an average of 3—4 open educational sessions per year for the philanthropic community.
• FSFS has become a model for funders in other states to collaborate on sustainable agriculture issues.
• FSFS developed a foundation collaborative, the Roots of Change Fund, which brings new funds to the field to launch a significant funding effort, commencing with the development of a statewide, long-term action agenda. (See ROC Fund case study for more details.)