I came to River Network from the land conservation movement. For over two decades, my work at land trusts centered on protecting open spaces, partnering with landowners, and building a strong philanthropic foundation for this work.
Most environmental professionals know that you cannot separate land from water. It’s obvious, right? Everything we do on the land flows downstream and, in turn, that water affects the health of the land. This relationship, situated in a broader ecosystem with animals, plants, and macroinvertebrates, impacts how we farm, how communities are developed, and how we make decisions about our environment’s protection.
Yet I often watch these conversations happen separately: the water people and the land people, fighting independently against the degradation of the exact same places. This, I believe, is where River Network brings immeasurable value.
In a time when so much online space is centralized and locked behind paywalls, a peer-to-peer knowledge commons matters more than ever. River Network believes that the technical information you need to protect rivers and communities, from federal policy updates to community advocacy resources, should be freely available to everyone working in this movement.
In pursuit of an active and thriving knowledge commons, we also facilitate topical peer groups, cohorts, and larger community gatherings like River Rally and the Environmental Flows Workshop. These are the spaces where we can trade experiences, human to human, to build stronger programs and partnerships.
The work to connect local and statewide organizations is essential to a thriving water movement. Unfortunately, funding this movement is becoming more challenging.
There is no denying that philanthropy is in a state of flux. Federal funding is declining and foundations appear to be diverting the bulk of their resources toward issue areas that matter most to them—both a challenge and an opportunity. Furthermore, donors are being stretched thin, as they are facing real uncertainty in the current giving landscape. This moment calls for us to make an even stronger case for long-term, multi-year investment in this work; one that deepens our relationships with donors at every level and helps them see the lasting, collective impact of sustained support for this movement.
These funding challenges lead me to an undeniable truth: both River Network and the organizations we serve are being asked to do more with less. But I believe that, through this network, we can overcome these funding challenges together.
We are always seeking to be the strongest possible backbone for our members, so we can show up fully for thousands of organizations that are facing similar challenges. This means working across the network to build organizational resilience for the years ahead. As we work toward the diversification of River Network’s backbone funding, I am committed to sharing what we learn with you, the network, along the way.
A deeper interrogation of the current philanthropic landscape could easily lead us to a conclusion of scarcity: that increased funding for one organization means decreased funding for another. But this is manufactured scarcity, not a reflection of the funds or support that are actually available. A thriving movement, one based on collaboration and collective action, must not fall into the trap of competition and antagonism against other organizations doing similar work.
I am proud to be leading a network that is not giving in to the trap of competition. This network is too tightly woven for that. Instead, we’ve seen organizations share and replicate program models, co-apply for funding opportunities, share staff, and co-host events. We are witnessing the result of movement-building in which one win means that another is not too far behind. When one of us succeeds, we all succeed.
If any of what I have discussed resonates with you, I hope you’ll reach out. Whether you are a network member, a funder, a conservation partner, a business leader, or someone who simply cares about healthy rivers, I would love to hear your ideas and learn about your work.
River Network exists to ensure that the people protecting our waters never have to do it alone, and I look forward to working with you and sharing what I’ve learned over decades of fundraising for land and water.
