(Co-Chair)
Jovanna García Soto, Program Officer for Latin America, Grassroots International (Co-Chair) 

Amalia Fischer, General Director, Elas Social Investment Fund, Brazil

Cristi Nozawa, Executive Director, Samdhana Institute, Philippines

Ellen Dorsey, Executive Director (with support from Mark Annunziato),Wallace Global Fund, USA

Graciela Hopstein, Executive Coordinator, Philanthropy Network for Social Justice, Brazil

Graciela Selaimen, Senior Program Officer, Ford Foundation, Brazil

Martin Modlinger, Director, Renewable Freedom Foundation, Germany

Sarah Pugh, Grants and Communications Manager, Bertha Foundation, UK

Stigmata Tenga, Executive Director, Africa Philanthropy Network, Tanzania

Tanya Dawkins, Trustee, CarEth Foundation, USA

Tin Gazivoda, Senior Program Officer, Open Society Initiative for Europe, Spain

Valeria Scorza, Program Director, Fundación Avina

 

The cohort will be led by EDGE's collaborator Arianne Shaffer with Indie Philanthropy Initiative and guided by movement partners ( Pablo Solon with the Solon Foundation in Bolivia, Cindy Wiesner with Grassroots Global Justice Alliance in the US and Edouard Morena with the University of London in France), and by three GEL 1 "graduates" who will serve as participant-advisors: Augusta Hagen-Dillon with Prospera in Holland, Cuong P. Hoang with Chorus Foundation in the US and Martin Modlinger with Renewable Freedom Foundation in Germany.

The first in-person meeting will take place at La Bergerie de Villarceaux, an organic farm near Paris, in November 4-8, and culminate in Brazil just ahead of the April Conference. 

More information about the GEL can be found in the report from the 2017-2018 cohort, or by contacting EDGE staff.

EDGE has grown significantly in Europe since its inception three years ago, and the retreat was an important opportunity to meet potential new members and continue the discussion on how to scale up the impact of systemic change in grantmaking. "Politics of care" played a particular, cross-cutting role in order to deepen reflections on how EDGE be a space of care and solidarity, and how can we address the care dimension in grantmaking and relationships with activists.

A detailed report is now available for members and participants in the retreat, and upon request by email to Tobias Troll (EDGE Funders Europe).

In September EDGE's Just Transition Fellow Samantha Harvey worked together with Chorus, Libra and Surdna Foundations wtih other EDGE members and allies, helping organize activities during the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco. Working alongside international delegates with the It Takes Roots Coalition, EDGE helped organize an orientation and information exchange luncheon with funders, and a two-day "People's Orientation for Funders" in conjunction with ITR's Solidarity to Solutions week.

Following these activities Samantha organized and moderated a post-GCAS webinar for nearly 100 funders, on the People's Orientation: What Happened, Takeaways and Next Steps. She continues to provide support to a growing group of members and allied funders interested in building a progressive philanthropic response to the $4 billion "climate pledge" made by more mainstream philanthropic groups at GCAS.

If you are interested in being part of this group on engaged funders, feel free to contact Samantha at [email protected]. 

[On a related note, a film we had a hand in helping with, from longtime partners at Kontent Films, is now available on line. Not Without Us documents international grassroots climate activist partners on the road to the Paris COP, and provides a moving exploration of the themes and struggles that continued being relevant in San Francisco at the Summit.]

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