Roots of Change Fund [www.rocfund.org]

The Roots of Change (ROC) Fund is a funder collaborative supporting work to accelerate California’s transition to more sustainable food systems. CEA staffs the ROC Fund on an ongoing basis, strategically managing the direction and activities of the Fund.

Problem
In 2001, the Funders for Sustainable Food Systems (FSFS) discovered that there was no single, dependable source for information on the environmental and health effects of conventional agriculture. FSFS commissioned the report, Roots of Change: Agriculture, Ecology, and Health in California []. This report makes the case that multiple environmental, social, and economic problems in California can be addressed simultaneously by a systemic transition to sustainable food systems. In consultation with stakeholder groups, the funders identified the major barriers to systemic change.

The findings of the report pointed to the need for a strategic and collaborative vehicle to pool financial and intellectual resources to work on this issue. The funders wanted to build a funding collaborative to identify key, high leverage funding opportunities to support the systemic transition to healthier, more viable food systems in California.

Solution
CEA assisted in creating the Roots of Change Fund—providing strategic counsel and staffing to the funders. CEA worked with the funders to design the fund, develop a strategic plan for the fund, build an administrative structure, syndicate additional collaborating funders, and build a high level board of advisors—the Roots of Change (ROC) Council. CEA then helped to identify the funding priorities and launched the Roots of Change (ROC) Fund as an independent entity from FSFS in January 2003. Additionally, CEA managed the further development of the Fund’s infrastructure—refining the governance structure, developing the evaluation and communication framework, creating the grants administration structure, and building mechanisms for project collaboration.

Results
This multi-million dollar fund is continuing to expand as the projects underway gain momentum. Additional funders, businesspeople, advisors, and public interest leaders are becoming partners of the Fund and assisting in defining the best strategies to accelerate the transition to sustainable food systems in California. CEA continues to staff the ROC Fund on an ongoing basis.

To learn more about the structure of the ROC Fund,
please visit the ROC Fund website.