Philanthropic Services
CEA helps strengthen the philanthropic community by designing, managing, and evaluating environmental grants and investments.
CEA helps foundations and individual donors with both short-term projects and long-term engagements. Our expertise includes climate
change, energy policy, fisheries and aquaculture, land preservation, sustainable agriculture, air quality, and chemical and waste management.
CEA draws upon our deep knowledge of the environmental challenges facing philanthropists as we provide tactical and strategic advice
to our clients. We help donors and foundations leverage their investments, improve performance, and achieve their conservation goals.
On This Page:
SPECIFIC SERVICE OFFERINGS
Program and Fund Design: On behalf of philanthropists, companies, and a variety of investors, CEA creates
and nurtures innovative programs to address specific environmental problems. We have developed grant programs, led major research efforts, supported
collaborative initiatives, and designed program-related investments to create and nurture innovative programs that address specific environmental problems.
Program Evaluation:
CEA works with donors, foundations, and a variety of stakeholders to measure conservation benefits, identify ways to make programs more effective, and adapt to
changing circumstances through periodic evaluation.
Nonprofit Strategy and Business Planning: CEA develops strategies and business plans for nonprofits and
foundations. CEA combines a solid understanding of environmental issues with expertise in finance as it designs
program strategies, organizational structures, and financial plans that increase the efficiency and effectiveness of
nonprofits.
Grantee Convening and Collaboration: CEA works with philanthropic organizations and their grantees to facilitate
information sharing, relationship building, and project collaboration.
Affinity Group Development and Management: CEA helps to develop and coordinate affinity groups-collections of funders
with a shared interest in strategic grantmaking in a specific area or issue. Affinity groups provide ongoing opportunities for information exchange, shared
learning, and strategy development. CEA helps funders explore collaborative opportunities, develop the necessary organizational infrastructure, and administer
programs that help philanthropists achieve their goals.
Funder Awareness Building: CEA helps philanthropic organizations, nonprofits, and other entities create learning opportunities
and enhance awareness of environmental issues through research dissemination, educational symposia, learning tours, and other events.
Programmatic Research and Analysis: CEA has experience researching and analyzing policy, market-based incentives, the stakeholder
landscape, funding opportunities, environmental impacts, and cost-benefit tradeoffs.
Conservation Finance and Facilitating Investments: CEA works with a broad range of private, foundation, and public investors to
finance conservation initiatives through such tools as venture capital, program-related investments, and endowment funds. CEA is unique in its capacity to syndicate
biodiversity conservation investments across a range of capital providers. Working in partnership with foundations, multi-lateral organizations, and market-rate investors,
CEA can access a wide spectrum of capital, including grant funding, concessional finance, and private investments.
Creating Incentives for Conservation: CEA helps transform markets to achieve long-term conservation goals while simultaneously
creating economic opportunities for local communities. CEA has the ability to design and implement programs that can build essential local capacity.
Practice leaders: Andreas Merkl, Matthew Elliott
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