Maryland League of Conservation Voters Education Fund
$10,000 / 2011 / Environment
For continued support of programs designed to educate conservation voters about key public policy issues on open space, transportation, and storm-water management. By serving as a communications hub with its enhanced online list reaching more than 241,000 environmental voters, the League is in a position to advance conservation policies and to strengthen the environmental collective voice of Maryland.
The Sierra Club Foundation
$30,000 / 2011 / Environment
Toward support of the Beyond Coal Maryland project, an effort to end burning coal for energy. The campaign has been designed to reduce dependency on coal as a major source of energy and to encourage the development of cleaner alternative energy.
Blue Water Baltimore (formerly Baltimore Water Alliance)
$30,000 / 2010 / Environment
For a challenge grant to launch an inaugural membership campaign for Blue Water Baltimore, a merger of five Baltimore watershed associations. By creating a consolidated organization with a common mission, the newly formed organization will be able to increase its capacity, be cost efficient, reduce duplication, attract and retain specialized staff, expand volunteer opportunities, undertake more effective fundraising, and work toward creating a stronger and more united voice for local watersheds.
Chesapeake Bay Foundation
$5,000 / 2010 / Environment
In support of the 2011 Environmental Legislative Summit. The summit will focus on issues that include implementation of a stormwater utility program to address failing systems, sustained funding for the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund, continued smart-growth strategies, and wind energy.
Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN)
$25,000 / 2010 / Environment
Additional funding for staffing support of the Maryland Open Government Campaign, the goal of which is to make existing environmental laws more effective, encouraging Maryland leaders to enact changes in the state’s enforcement program, and to build a network of informed Maryland citizens working toward internal institutional reforms. By acting as a “watch-dog” group, CCAN will use grassroots mobilization to organize public comments and testimonies at permit hearings. It will also identify and recruit well-informed experts in public health, biological sciences, and climate issues to represent citizens in affected communities, and to voice their concerns about noncompliance among known polluters and lack of enforcement.