How Colcom Foundation Support Helped Unlock Federal Tree Funding
Federal grant programs tend to reward applicants that already have a record of getting work done. Pittsburgh’s success in landing Inflation Reduction Act money for trees shows how years of private foundation support can build that record.
The Pittsburgh Canopy Alliance secured an $8 million grant from the U.S. Forest Service, funded through the Inflation Reduction Act. The City of Pittsburgh received an additional $1 million. Both come with a five-year spending window, and the money must go toward tree planting, maintenance, education, and workforce development in high-pollution, economically distressed neighborhoods.
The Groundwork Behind the Grant
The Alliance did not appear overnight. Tree Pittsburgh led its formation in 2020, bringing together 20 environmental organizations, including Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, and Allegheny Land Trust. The group’s goal is no net loss in Allegheny County’s tree coverage.
Tree Pittsburgh’s ability to lead such a coalition traces partly to the Colcom Foundation. The Foundation began supporting the nonprofit in 2007 and has provided annual general operating support since 2012. Unlike project grants, operating support pays for staff and infrastructure, the unglamorous basics that let an organization grow. That funding sustains the Heritage Nursery, which grows thousands of native trees and shrubs every year, and helped Tree Pittsburgh expand and take on regional leadership in urban forestry.
Why the Need Is Urgent
The county’s canopy has been shrinking. Allegheny County lost 10,148 acres of tree cover from 2010 to 2015, driven by emerald ash borer, oak wilt, and development, and it continues to lose about 2% of what remains every five years. Before the federal award, Colcom Foundation grants paid for a 2019 to 2020 giveaway of 4,000 trees to the hardest-hit communities.
The federal grant concentrates resources in places that often have the fewest trees and the most pollution. Its workforce development component could also open job pathways in planting and tree care for local residents.
The sequence offers a lesson for philanthropy. Colcom Foundation’s patient operating support did not pay for the federal project directly, yet it helped build the organizational track record that made a much larger public investment possible. Refer to this article to learn more.
Find more information about Colcom Foundation on http://conservativetransparency.org/donor/colcom-foundation/
