Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors

Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health

Welcome! We invite you to learn about The Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health by using the navigation menu at the side of this page.

To read “Stories from the Forgotten Coast,” interviews with Gulf Coast Fund grantees, click here.

For more information on the kinds of projects that the Fund supports, view the Request for Proposals.

For guidelines and application instructions, view the Request for Proposals.

To apply on-line go to the GCF On-line Application.

To download a PDF version of the application, click here.

Grant applications are due on November 1, 2007.
Grant decisions will be announced by December 20, 2007.

Notice on Renewal Applications: Organizations that received a grant from the Gulf Coast Fund in the May 2006, July 2006 and December 2006 Grant Cycles are now eligible to apply for renewal funding.

About the Fund:

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have exposed the human and ecological costs of racial discrimination and unsustainable development. The rebuilding of New Orleans and Gulf Coast communities that have been damaged by these hurricanes is an historic opportunity for philanthropic organizations to participate in the Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health (the “Fund”). The Fund has been supported by a number of foundations and donors. Click here for a list of donors and supporters.

The Fund recognizes the pernicious nature of institutional racism, as evidenced by the abandonment of African Americans for days without food, water, shelter, and safety following Hurricane Katrina. The Fund also recognizes that other communities were deeply affected and continue to suffer.

The Fund is a collaborative grantmaking fund supporting community, state and regional efforts that engage, empower and benefit displaced and returning residents, and that promote the sustainable and just rebuilding of neighborhoods, cities and ecosystems throughout the Gulf Coast.

The Fund is committed to an open and transparent decision-making process that is led by the communities most affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. To achieve this, the Fund operates in partnership with an Advisory Group consisting of a cross-section of leaders working on the ground across the Gulf Coast. This Advisory Group informs the grantmaking process and identifies needs on an ongoing basis. All grant recommendations will be made by rotating panels of Advisory Group members through a Panel Process. For more information on the Advisory Group, view Advisory Group Members. Final grant decisions will be made by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

The Fund will support projects that strengthen and amplify local organizing, social justice concerns and movement-building, and those that address the underlying causes that contributed to the severity of the disasters in the Gulf Coast. The Fund focuses on communities that have been historically disenfranchised due to race, class, gender, and/or immigration status. The majority of Fund grantees are organizations led by people of color and/or historically disenfranchised constituencies that reflect and are grounded in the communities in which they work. Further, the Fund seeks to support the building of community-based regional power that can inform and affect local, regional and national policy. The Fund considers only those proposals that are developed by or in collaboration with residents and advocacy organizations affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The Fund was launched with two grants in 2005 and in early 2006 grants were made to each of the organizations represented by Advisory Group members. To view a list of the Fund’s grants to date, view Grantees.

For more information, please contact Annie Ducmanis at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors by email at aducmanis@rockpa.org or by phone at (203) 287-1948.