Every foundation operates from a theory of why problems exist. For the Colcom Foundation, the starting point is population. Its primary mission is to foster a sustainable environment that ensures quality of life for all Americans by addressing the major causes and consequences of overpopulation and its adverse effects on natural resources.
That outlook draws on a formula described by Ehrlich and Holdren in 1971. Known as I = P x A x T, it holds that total environmental impact results from population size, affluence or consumption, and technology. When regional population and development grow, pressure on habitat grows with them, and restoration becomes more urgent.
Evidence at Two Scales
The Foundation points to national data to show the stakes. Rosenberg et al., writing in Science in 2019, documented that nearly three billion birds have vanished from North America since 1970. That loss reflects habitat decline on a continental scale.
Closer to home, the Colcom Foundation applies its principles to a specific place. Southwest Pennsylvania carries damage from more than a century of coal mining and industrial development, and the Foundation funds work to repair it: acid mine drainage treatment, riparian buffer planting, streambank stabilization, and native tree planting.
Science Shapes the Spending
Evidence-based conservation is one of the Foundation’s stated principles, and its grants reflect that. Its 2006 grant of $2 million to Western Pennsylvania Conservancy created the Conservation Blueprint, built on 25 years of Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program data. The Blueprint prioritizes high-biodiversity forests, streams, and wetlands across four ecoregions, and it has since helped protect more than 4,000 acres of forestland.
Transparency rounds out its stated principles. The Foundation commits to communicating its mission, its reasoning, and the outcomes of its grantmaking openly.
Its overall aim, in its own description, is a balance between human development and the natural world. Colcom Foundation grants seek to protect and restore threatened and endangered ecosystems and species, supporting both national biodiversity goals and the vitality of communities across its home region. Refer to this article for more information.
Learn more about Colcom Foundation on https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/311479839