Collaboration.
The Jenifer Altman Foundation (JAF) is a small, agile foundation that works with funder partners on strategic initiatives in philanthropy. We work on issues Jenifer cared about: environmental health and justice, global trade, and emerging technologies. Through our core support grant through Commonweal we support initiatives in health and healing, education and the arts, and environment and justice.
Since 1999, JAF has helped our partners make strategic use of over $20 million. In addition to traditional co-granting, JAF designs and manages programs for other philanthropic institutions, advises on strategic grantmaking, and facilitates collaborative granting processes among colleague funders. Many of our partners and their grantees continue to play leadership roles in environmental health science, advocacy, and justice. In 2019, JAF participated in the co-founding of the Omega Resilience Funders Network.
We dedicate much of our energy to collaborative learning in the philanthropic community about environmental health and justice issues. We helped found and guide the Health and Environmental Funders Network (HEFN). From its origins with a handful of interested funders in 1999, HEFN has grown to 170 partners investing approximately $100 million annually in environmental health work.
We seek to contribute our passion and expertise in service to environmental health and integrative health, and to honor Jenifer’s memory. We also – on occasion - engage in projects in related fields. We welcome partnerships with those who share our vision, and Jenifer’s, of a better world.
Current Partnerships Include:
The European Environment and Health Initiative (EEHI)
The goal of EEHI is to raise public awareness and policy support for a science-based precautionary approach to managing endocrine disrupting chemicals in the European Union. EEHI works collaboratively with existing NGO networks to identify and fill unmet needs in moving EU precautionary chemical management forward. EEHI is a joint effort of the Oak Foundation and the Jenifer Altman Foundation.
Funders for Fair Trade
Funders for Fair Trade seeks to support civil society critique of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, a trade agreement currently under negotiation between the United States and Europe. All FFT grantees are based in the EU, and they work on the issue from a range of perspectives, including advocacy, research, and public awareness-raising.
The Global South Plus Program
In partnership with the Global Greengrants Fund, the Jenifer Altman Foundation designed and manages this program to build and strengthen a global environmental health and justice movement. Granting nearly half a million dollars annually to NGOs throughout the Global South and transitional economy countries, the GS+ Program utilizes the expertise of four major international networks to help shape and guide the grantmaking.