Program Areas

Swift Foundation maintains that in order to address global climate change and ecological collapse, we must support, enhance and learn from existing systems of biological and cultural diversity around the planet. For in diversity, there is resilience.

We respect local land stewards with intimate knowledge of, cultural connection to, and ability to manage diverse biological landscapes. We honor indigenous communities and worldviews that reflect the sustainable management of lands and territories. We also support innovators, communities, and organizations creating alternative economic models that understand ecological limits and celebrate healthy communities.

Swift collaborates with organizations and individuals to advance our philanthropic goals both with regards to our grant programs and our mission relating investing. We have identified four program areas to this end:

• Land Stewardship, Biodiversity and Cultural Diversity
• Climate Advocacy
• Resilient Local Economies
• Global Networks and Collaborations

Land Stewardship, Biodiversity and Cultural Diversity

This program supports organizations working at the community level concentrating on biological and cultural diversity. Programs may include strategies such as:

• Preserving and enhancing forest and grassland ecosystems,
• Documenting, supporting, and expanding agroecological systems,
• Restoring and preserving wild salmon fisheries, and
• Integrating women’s empowerment, reproductive health, and the environment.

Climate Advocacy

This program supports organizations working to make systemic changes in addressing the root causes of climate change, including: a lack of local control over decision-making over resources, a lack of global governance structures that engage communities, and the impacts of extractive industries. Strategies include:

• Movement building to increase public participation and awareness;
• Legal support for networks and capacity building initiatives that empower community participation in land management and policy development;
• Engagement of Indigenous Peoples in key forums and collaborations.

Resilient Local Economies

This program provides support in shifting to economic models of carbon reduction while increasing investment in sustainable industries. Swift will look for organizations exhibiting the ability: to envision new ways of thinking about economic systems, to implement these new ideas in practical ways on a local level, and to influence systemic change. This may involve:

• Creative thinking and leadership on new economic models;
• Implementation of economic and environmental resilience at local levels; and
• Policy, research, and new technologies focused on the transition to an ecologically sane and socially just economy.

Global Networks and Collaborations

This program funds networks and associations that enable the exchange of learning and sharing among foundations, organizations and others in order to support work aligned with Swift’s mission, programs, and investment policy.