Historically, big corporations and foundations have supported the largest “professional” environmental groups. Those organizations in the top tiers have budgets over $5 million and receive more than 50% of all environmental grants and donations, yet they only account for 2% of the non profits and environmental groups fighting to create change. But if this sounds like it’s shaping up to be a mirror study on social and economic stratification don’t worry. It simply points out the daunting task and smaller pool of resources available to the grassroots environmental groups around the world today.
In a little more than 30 years, Patagonia has donated about $70 million of their profits to support over 3,500 environmental advocacy groups. That money has included donations to support local grassroots environmental groups, along with 2015’s to do list of inviting 85 grassroots organizations to their Tools Conference in Tahoe and giving $6.2 million in cash to rivers and forests and to promote sustainable agriculture, among other causes that are being spearheaded from the ground level. It’s one of those “big corporations” that doesn’t really fit the skeptic’s view of a big corporation, raking in the dough while making contrived donations in the name of public relations and opportunities for tax write offs. And to make a long story short, we can now trust they know a thing or two about what it takes for those little fish to thrive in a big pond. They’ve compiled their own lessons and those 30 plus years of building successful grassroots environmental campaigns into Patagonia’s Tools for Grassroots Activists: Best Practices for Success in the Environmental Movement.
“In a just society, the people with the best information win. But we’re not dealing with a just society,” said Yvon Chouinard, founder and owner of Patagonia. “We need to fight with the same tools the enemy is fighting us with. We have to be more clever and more creative. And we can never lose sight of the fact that every lasting revolution has begun at the bottom, not at the top.”
The book itself is a compilation of essays from notable activists and case studies from campaigns like the Sierra Club’s fight to stop the construction of coal-fired power plants with its Beyond Coal campaign. The book even goes as far as digging for advice on everything from the nuts and bolts like fundraising to the the mysteries of social media.
“Small environmental nonprofits with shoestring budgets often go up against opponents with deep pockets and armies of consultants,” said Lisa Myers, co-editor of Tools and Patagonia’s Environmental Grants Manager. “This book helps teach strategies for leveling the playing field and winning the ground-level fights at the heart of the environmental movement.”
