After two years as 350.org’s director for North America, Tamara Toles OLaughlin resigned.Press releaseHer departure was announced with enthusiastic quotes from the head of the organization as well as from the Sierra Club leaders and Friends of the Earth leaders.
OLaughlin chose to join another green nonprofit instead and went on to become the president and CEO at the Environmental Grantmakers Association, the largest, and most likely the most important, green philanthropys many affinity organizations.
She wasn’t the first to encounter philanthropy. OLaughlin was also the Maryland Environmental Health Network’s leader. There, she encouraged collaboration between green groups and public health. This led to the state’s Green Amendment. She hopes this will be a catalyst for others to follow her lead.This year, pass.She also got to know several regional grantmakers. You will see below how the dynamics of philanthropy shocked her and eventually led her to return.
OLaughlin is now working to create a space that encourages generative conflict around racial equity. This is the best way to save a specie and more. It also reframes risk about what is possible to fund, all in the hope we don’t all die in a fiery gas ball. She brings a passion to help seed a deeper transformation to her work.
I was told by her that walking around as if you can make capital and have unlimited growth without feeling the impact on the environment and people would be a horrible status quo.
OLaughlin is also a frequent op-ed writer, founder of Climate Critical Earth, an anti-racist movement leadership support organization, and a regular fixture on social media. I spoke with her about her work at EGA, current trends in climate movement, and why Louisiana is a good example of the challenges humanity faces. Below are excerpts of that conversation, which were edited for clarity.
You worked with many grantmakers in Maryland before you joined 350.org. Why did you decide to return to philanthropy in the first place?
At the time, I was shocked at the link between philanthropy & the field., The complete disconnect between what gets funded and what doesn’t, and what people care most about. I wasn’t prepared to face the reality that very few people make decisions about what gets the light of day. I visited 350.org because I was somewhat astonished by these realities.
I have made an arch back to Philanthropy. After 20 years of working with mostly invisible people to create great ideas and do work that benefits all, it dawned on my that there are only a few years left to make real progress in the climate decade. We need systemic-level changes. It might be easier for those who decide what work gets done to have that conversation.
EGA had done a lot of work in racial equality before I came. That is why I came to them. That led to an open invitation for me to become a leader. One that didn’t require me to suppress any part I know to be true about the job in order to achieve other parts that are equally true.
EGA has been in existence for almost one year. What have the insider’s views of green grantmaking taught or reinforced about philanthropy for you?
It affirms that we are all just groups of people trying a good thing with what we have. EGAs role in convening this large group of people with vastly differing ideas is admirable.
It feels like there’s real momentum for issues I’ve written extensively about, such as the connection between a race and class analysis, especially in climate and environmental work. It seems like the right time to make investments that could really help small- and medium-sized organizations build on the data, resources, and public and policy education theyve been doing, and then spring up just in the time we need to find the solutions we need.
It feels smart to go to those who funded some of the greatest ideas in this space for 10, 20, 30, and sometimes 50 years and have a real open conversation about the rate-of-return for those types of investments.
What are you changing, evolving at the EGA?
This year we started a program to disaggregate the way our membership works. How can program officers and trustees and presidents manage this huge mandate to do the work for people, planet and others? Are we making sure that people who don’t necessarily have the same power and privilege as us continue to move the needle in a way that doesn’t erase climate as a threat multiplier for racially charged situations?
It is a great time to continue centering people who are being hurt, and who are losing a field of land. [every hour on average]Louisiana residents who are currently suffering from an energy burden and need to decide whether to leave the land they have lived on for generations. It is as useful to think about a specific animal or plant. It was a matter of being thoughtful about how to bridge the gap between things that were previously separated.
What does that work look and feel like? Here’s an example of how EGA attempts to bridge silos.
We released a number of new products this year.Racial Equity Point of view tool. It is rare for a philanthropy-serving institution to have one, a point or view. Two, the idea that racial equality will not be solved this week, next week, or it is an ongoing project. EGA is trying to figure out: How does race equity affect all types of philanthropists who care about the environment?
With a tent this big, we were able say, “We are not the experts here. But, here is another part of the membership that has been experimenting and examining itself in creating harmand trying something else.” We provide a safe environment for people to experiment with new things. Reframing risk is a large part of my job. The real risk is that we keep doing things the same way as before. We are 100% certain that this won’t work.
I was previously employed by Grantmakers Concerned With Immigrants & Refugees. In my experience, philanthropy-supporting organizations face a tough power dynamic: They are trusted as experts and conveners, but also reliant on grantmakersas members, funders, board members. PSOs are often more diverse than their members in terms of race. What has this dynamic been like for your family?
I can confirm that Rachel Leon, my predecessor, did a lot. The world of philanthropy has changed. There are now a variety of people who give money to environmental philanthropy. This trend is expected to continue. The question isn’t how big this tent can be, but how large it will need to be to allow money to flow towards the types of things that can really make a difference. How do people distinguish between scare tactics, greenwashing, and good ideas?
A role of philanthropy-supporting organizations, specifically of EGA, is to hold space for generative conflict about which ideas are good, for whom those ideas will work, where we have made mistakes, to lift up works in progress and to reward risk. Our role is not to judge taste but to facilitate people to come together and work out what the work looks like when you stop focusing solely on one species of bird and realize that the whole context of their habitat and all the people living there are part of the conversation. Biodiversity is not about one species. It’s about all of them.
To be able to dive into this without hurting anyone, the conversations must focus on integrating work across silos. Before we Focus on tactics. We need a great strategy. EGA feels in a good place because of its long history, how its members trust it, and its ability create conflict-generating conditions. We don’t promise that everything will go well. We tell people that they will have the chance to solve it themselves and we will help them.
There has been a new wave of billionaire climate philanthropists. We’ve seenHistoricAwardsClimate justice and major collective commitments like the$1.7 billion Indigneous land tenure promise. It seems like the largest checks and most dollars are still going towards the largest groups. How do you try to influence these new donors at EGA
We can offer a lot of data through our website.Tracking the Field program. We can help people to get a true sense of where money is going, and what types of experiments have been run. Our Racial Equity Point-of-View tool allows us to examine where inequity exists and where it is not. Inclusion has created real power dynamics, and where issues are creating tension among people.
We find new people interested in this space every day. This gives us an opportunity to raise the questions our members are already asking: How can we ensure a healthy democracy that is sustainable for a healthy planet? How can we deal with reparations?Land backAndLand trusts? These members have performed some of the earliest experiments in this area. EGA has been a long-standing focus on energy democracy and energy justice.
A new group that cares about this work is what the larger movement needs to survive. They will be less productive if we don’t give them good information. It feels like a chance to get to know each other and to say, Here’s what we know and how it can help you do what you want better.
After the 2020 racial protests, there was a flood of statements by philanthropy. There was more attention to diversity, equity and inclusion, and more funding. I keep hearing that there will be a pullback but it is a temporary trend. What are your thoughts?
I recently read one of the most important and devastating pieces of research I have ever seen. Mismatched: Philanthropy’s Response to the Call for Racial JusticeThe Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity. I found it really powerful that a lot of money goes towards educating people about racism. It is not as much money that goes to what we are going to do about it. It’s still difficult to find money for the work of organizing and of supporting people to do the right thing. But how do we let people know that racism is a problem? There’s plenty of money for that. It feels like there is a real gap. It fits in nicely with our Racial equity Point of View. We have stated clearly, clearly, and explicitly that we will help you to move from acknowledging that racism is a problem, to taking action in your own portfolio.
Youve written for Rolling Stone, The Nation,GristThese publications. What piece would you like to see written about environmental Philanthropy?
A healthy democracy is essential for a healthy planet. An op-ed may be in the works. Sometimes, 501 (c)(3) philanthropy is more timid than it should about its role in the development of democracy. There are tax rules that limit who can have a conversation on electoral politics. This has had a chilling affect on all the ways you could support grassroots groups, help people obtain information, and encourage voters who care about the environment and climate not to be passive. Every role I’ve ever had, the most powerful thing that you can do is remind people who are in agreement with you that you can do something.
If there was one thing that would make environmental philanthropy more interesting, it would be the fact that we fail to pay attention to democracy’s health and make it very difficult for us to do the good deeds for people and the planet. It is time to stop being disinterested and become people who care about the things that matter to us. It is important that people are able to safely exercise their rights.
I noticed that you enjoy traveling. Which is your favorite recent destination? What did it change your perspective on climate change?
I was recently in Louisiana, and I loved it for many reasons. The music, the food, and the people. It is all wonderful. I met with colleagues to discuss the big picture of our environment.
During my travels, I visited a community that was losing land. A football field of land is lost. [every hour]Louisiana. I went to the meeting on a street which looks like confetti. The concrete had buckled under the loss. Because it is going to keep happening, the parish isn’t going to spend money on replacing it. People live in an area where the streetlights collapse and the concrete buckles. All this is taking place under the Mardi Gras shadow. It’s quite a bizarre juxtaposition.
Louisiana is as magical as it is. However, Louisiana is being lost at an alarming rate and people feel abandoned. The simultaneous loss of all these things is for me a truly amazing snapshot of what was happening.