US economic crisis could spur serious funding crunch in 2009.
By EHUD ZION WALDOKSpoland 224.88(photo credit: AP)
Environmental organizations are starting to batten down the hatches in the wake of the economic storm that has swept through the US financial centers.
While no one is certain as yet what the outcome of the upheaval will be, both the groups and the foundations that support them fear there could be a serious funding crunch in 2009.
Representatives of two of the biggest foundations that fund green groups in Israel told The Jerusalem Post last week that while it was too early to predict with any certainty, they were not optimistic. While most of the funding through the end of this year was locked in at the end of 2007, grants for 2009 might be vastly reduced or in jeopardy altogether.
Green Environment Fund (GEF) Director Sigal Yaniv told the Post she had already heard of one small foundation that had announced it was not funding any of its causes in 2009, including the environment.
GEF is a joint venture of the New Israel Fund, the Dorot Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies.
"How much money a foundation has usually depends on the amount of profits [from the companies or people that support it]. I think there will be a drop in giving to the whole rainbow of issues. There won't be specific impact just on environmental groups," Yaniv predicted.
However, "for those foundations who give to many other issues and to the environment as well, but it is farther down on their list [of priorities], it is theoretically possible that they won't have enough [for environmental organizations]," she added.
Yaniv predicted that they would know much more around December or January, after the next round of grants was decided upon.
Bonnie Boxer, Israel representative of the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund from San Francisco, concurred with Yaniv's assessment.
"Certainly we are proceeding with caution. It is too soon to be certain, but it is unrealistic not to expect it to have an effect. Which organizations, by how much, it is still too early to say."
The crisis could affect many more than just the environmental NGOs, Boxer said.
"I am concerned for all the NGOs across the board," she told the Post.
While the environmental groups had not heard any definite tidings yet, they told the Post they were preparing for lean times.
The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI), the largest environmental organization in Israel, was most sanguine.
"SPNI has been in existence for more than 55 years. Over the years, we have gone through tough economic times, and I am sure that if the State of Israel can withstand a recession or a financial crisis because of the global crisis, then we can also withstand it.
"It is important to note that most of the income SPNI collects comes from its activities, but donations do make up some of its budget. We are preparing for possible cutbacks which could hurt our activities, but at the same time we believe that if we must withstand a tough time, then we will weather it successfully. This is because of the fact that most of SPNI's income comes from its activities and from the dues of its wide base of tens of thousands of members," SPNI head Gershon Peleg said in an e-mail.
The Israel Union for Environmental Defense (IUED), the second-largest green group in Israel, which subsists mostly on grants from foundations, was preparing for every eventuality, said its head, Tzipi Iser Itsik.
"It's a problem," she acknowledged. "Most of our money comes from foundations in the US. All of the money comes from donations and none from the government, so that we can't be accused of being influenced.
"Last month, I was in the US when [the crisis] started. It wasn't clear what was going to happen. They said it was too early to say how it would affect funding."
Iser Itsik said IUED would be prepared if need be.
"We are always ready to adapt to situations quickly. We fund-raise all of the money every year. If the money sources will lessen, we'll have to initiate our emergency plans," which might include cutbacks and streamlining, she said.
She said they would also focus more on something they've been pursuing for a while: switching the main funding source from the US to here.
"We would like to switch to money from Israel, not the US. We have seen a rise in donations from Israel," she said.
The Zalul group, which works to protect the seas, said it had not heard of any reductions yet, but was preparing for that eventuality.
"In general, we expect that some of the philanthropic funding will decrease and the struggle for available resources will increase," Zalul head Yariv Abramovich said.
"Zalul, as is its way, is preparing for 'out-of-the-box' activities to preserve our funding level and our ability to continue to spearhead the environmental movement," he said.
"As far as I know, the foundations and big supporters of the environmental movement have yet to announce any reduction in support, but it's hard to know what will happen in the future. I am convinced that the main foundations which have supported Zalul throughout the years will continue to believe in what we do and our success and will make the funding available," he said.
Sagit Rogenstein, a deputy director of Zalul who deals with fundraising, added, "So far it's still hard to tell, but I know of one foundation that supported us who sent us a letter saying that they would be stopping all their funding - not only for us, but for all the organizations they support - for the next year at least. We hope that this letter will not begin a trend."
Boxer noted that the potential funding crunch comes at a bad time for the environmental movement in Israel.
"It comes at the wrong time. Something has changed in the last two years toward the environmental movement. There has been more openness and receptiveness on the part of the government and the public. It's a shame they can't make use of the momentum, but the global financial crisis is bigger than all of us," she said.
While acknowledging the threat to environmental efforts, there was also a sense among some that the crisis presented an opportunity.
Life and Environment chairman and Heschel Center head Eilon Schwartz was one such individual. Life and Environment is the umbrella organization of environmental groups in Israel.
"It is far too early to tell in what ways things will affect us. I know that most organizations are being far more conservative fiscally, until there is a clearer picture. There are many possible scenarios. I actually think that there are opportunities here," he said via e-mail.
"As Thomas Friedman has been reporting in The New York Times, the economy needs to refocus itself on growth that is tangible and contributes to the common good," he went on.
"A green new deal can do that - stimulating the economy with business investments in a future that is solar-powered and freed from the social, environmental and political disaster of the fossil fuel economy. Part of the challenge for environmental groups is to show how the environmental and economic crises can be solved simultaneously, rather than seeing them as independent - or worse, conflicting interests," he said.
GEF's Yaniv also thought there was an opening for a new kind of discourse in the face of crisis.
"The biggest environmental challenge right now is changing consumer habits," Yaniv said. "There is a rare opportunity to convey a message. The only question is whether the green groups will seize it."
She pointed out that crises were actually good for causing change, particularly in the environmental world. She highlighted as examples the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, as well as local disasters such as the Maccabiah athletes who fell into the Yarkon river in 1997 and the navy frogmen who fell ill after training in the Kishon.
There has also been some indication internationally that environmental goals will not be shunted aside should a crisis arise. Late last week, the EU upheld an expensive program designed to reduce greenhouse gases on the continent by 20 percent below 1990 levels, by 2020.
if(catID != 151){
var cont = `Take Israel home with the new Jerusalem Post Store
