Chronicle of Philanthropy on Children and Nature
Chronicle of Philanthropy – April 17, 2008
By Debra E. Blum
The following is an Excerpt from the April 17th Article:
Support From Grant Makers
Among foundations, it is difficult to add up support for get-outside programs. Traditionally, much of the private money aimed at young people has supported environmental education, like through curriculum guides and teacher training, and that support, says Nicole Ardoin, a research fellow at the Environmental Grantmakers Association, in New York, appears to be on the wane.
But, she says, the drop may be misleading because grant makers may be redirecting money to areas, like youth advocacy, community gardening, and efforts to promote environmental justice, that could be considered under a broader definition of environmental education.
"They may not be calling it environmental education anymore," says Ms. Ardoin, who is just starting a research project exploring the issue, "but many of these things — like setting up a school garden to show kids where their food comes from — is back-to-nature, teach-kids-about-nature stuff under a different label."
But no matter what grant-making category is used to classify the efforts, the No Child Left Inside brand may invite other challenges to attracting support.
Grant makers that give money to environmental causes often focus on physical threats to the environment, like pollution, or they generally want to have a direct effect, like so many acres preserved.
"Addressing the issue of childhood moving indoors is addressing a very different kind of threat than most funders are used to dealing with," says the National Wildlife Federation's Mr. Coyle. "This is more of a social issue that has to be looked at over a very long timeline, and it is very difficult to measure results in the short term."
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C&NN has designated April "Children & Nature Awareness Month." As part of this effort, we invited network members (like you) to list their April programs and share their strategies for building public awareness. Find out what's happening in your community on the C&NN Movement Map.
As part of our ongoing efforts to build the movement, the Children & Nature Network has published two new resources for leaders, organizers, and participants at the local, national, and international levels:
An annotated bibliography of 20 premier studies focusing on the children and nature connection.
