A Regional Canyonlands Park System

From The San Diego Union Tribune
3/14/2007

by Richard Louv

On the first page of “Canyonlands: The Creation of a San Diego Regional Canyonlands Park” appears a curious juxtaposition of two graphic images.

One is a depiction of a set of human lungs, with stem branches, lobes, trachea and bronchi. Directly below this image is a satellite view of Mission Valley, revealing the bronchi and branches of San Diego's urban canyons lacing outward through the region's vast watershed.

“Our canyons bring us nourishment, maintain our health and ventilate our lives. They are our lungs and bronchial tubes,” according to the report produced by San Diego Civic Solutions, a collection of business and grass-roots leaders. The white paper will be presented at tomorrow's “Greening the City” symposium, sponsored by the local chapter of Partners for Livable Places.

Comparing our canyons to lungs is no exaggeration, not to anyone who understands their natural role in cleaning our air and preventing flooding and providing a natural water filtration system that would cost billions to replicate; they offer breathing room for wildlife and people; they connect our neighborhoods, towns and cities; they nurture the region's spirit. No other city in the world can claim such a unique topology.

“The idea (is to create) a visionary open space park ... a framework for our region ... a green infrastructure for the future – a necessity, not a luxury,” according to the proposal, which recommends that most canyons would be open to the public, while the most ecologically sensitive canyons would become plant and wildlife preserves.

“This is the time to create the Canyonlands Park,” the authors write. “We will not have another opportunity to create a coherent open space framework for the region.”

This proposal (to be posted at www.sdcivicsolutions.com) summarizes several years of work, including two public charettes and dozens of meetings by Civic Solutions, Citizens Coordinate for Century 3, the San Diego Design Council, Partners for Livable Communities – and Friends of the Canyons groups, sponsored by the Sierra Club, which adopt canyons in their own neighborhoods, haul out trash, remove invasive species, and, in the absence of city maintenance and security personnel, patrol the canyons.

The challenges are considerable. Aerial and satellite photos reveal hundreds of miles of canyons; ownership is sometimes unclear and the canyonland classification is vague.

Among the threats: channelization of creeks; expansion of water, sewer and power lines; utility roads and bridges; languished funding for open space maintenance; encroachment by new housing and businesses; and a school district that would rather grade, say, the 32nd Street canyon into a flat playing field than use it for teaching – though studies show outdoor classrooms improve test scores in science and math.

Thus the necessity of creating one entity, the San Diego Regional Canyonlands Park, which would send this message: If you hurt one canyon, you hurt them all.

The canyonlands proposal for a public/private partnership calls for a variety of funding mechanisms, including grant writing to nonprofit groups and federal and state government agencies, private capital campaigns, alongwith fees and assessment districts.

“For canyons not already in the public realm, incentives could be offered such as tax relief for property owners that provide conservation and public access easements,” according to the report. (Not incidentally, property values adjacent to parks are usually enhanced.) In addition, the application of Transfer Development Rights could help divert development away from canyons to “more agreeable areas.”

The ongoing benefits of saving the canyons would be enormous: natural drainage and protection of the bay from runoff pollution; visual, psychological and physical relief; educational opportunities; habitat preservation; ecotourism (birding is now big business); more pedestrian links; and the enhanced character of surrounding neighborhoods.

Does San Diego have the political will to create such a park in the current era of civic retrenchment? Maybe. Historically, big city mayors and other officeholders hope to leave some sign of their passage more visible, decades into the future, than a balanced budget. Today, expensive brick and mortar won't do.

But our canyons already exist. As hawks circle above and the scent of sage drifts into our neighborhoods, these trachea and bronchi already breathe for us. To survive, they need signage, observation platforms and people power.

In 1868, San Diego civic leaders set aside 1,400 acres for Balboa Park. Today we have the chance to create a regional park every bit as important.

A San Diego Regional Canyonlands Park would be one of the longest-lasting gifts we could give to future generations. The most important thing to do now is to declare it so, and the future will come.

Project Seeks to Raise Green for the Environment

From The San Diego Union Tribune
11/28/2006

By Mike Lee

Former Microsoft executive Aaron Contorer settled in San Diego two years ago, aiming to start a software company. He found that his heart just wasn't in it.

Contorer, 39, soon discovered what he really wanted to do: Jumpstart the region's mostly cash-strapped environmental movement. He and others say it largely lacks the sophisticated management and well-heeled backers befitting a county of some 3 million people, many of whom enjoy nature as they swim, hike and surf.

So, along with other philanthropists, Contorer aims to raise $1 million by year's end for groups that do things like fight for clean water and better beaches. They will announce their campaign today – to take advantage of year-end giving by companies and major donors – after having provided $400,000 in seed money.

Their project, known as the Environment Accelerator Fund, is the latest in a string of recent efforts to boost the profile of conservation causes in San Diego County. For example, a leading foundation is trying to build a $25 million endowment for environmental work. Elsewhere, new alliances have been formed for canyons, sustainable development and global warming.

“San Diego's environmental nonprofits are poised to grow to the next level to help bring vision, science, and intelligence” to regional issues, said Paul Eichen, chairman of the Rokenbok Toy Co. in Solana Beach and a charter donor for the new fund.

The region is widely recognized as a biological gem and it's home to one of the nation's largest collections of threatened and endangered species. But the county's environmental corps still hasn't reached the big leagues.

“Historically in San Diego, the environment has been woefully undersupported and underfunded,” said Bruce Reznik, executive director of San Diego Coastkeeper. “It's sort of an odd dynamic considering that people come to San Diego for the coast, for the environment, for the water.”

Reznik joined what was then called Baykeeper seven years ago. Despite having only two employees at the time, it was the region's largest nonprofit group dealing with coastal issues, he said. Today, the regionally prominent organization has seven staff members but often struggles to meet budget.

“I have a little bigger vision than my ability to raise funds,” Reznik said.

Scrappy movement

The reputation of a small and scrappy environmental movement in the county is largely supported by a new report from the University of San Diego.

Researchers there counted 257 locally based groups dealing with animals and the environment. Because of how the IRS keeps its data, the category goes far beyond what generally is considered environmental activism. For instance, it includes dozens of pet welfare and garden groups.

The organizations reported combined revenues of nearly $240 million in 2004. The total is far larger than in Orange County or the Silicon Valley but far smaller than the Bay Area, which is home to the Sierra Club's national headquarters and about 750 other environmental and animal outfits.

Much of the local income is raised by one organization – the Zoological Society of San Diego, which runs the San Diego Zoo, the Wild Animal Park and a research center. Tax records from 2004 show that its revenues topped $160 million, about two-thirds of the regional total.

More than 60 percent of the county's environmental groups collect less than $25,000 per year. That means they can't support a professional staff, a typical prerequisite for generating more income and improving the quality of their programs.

Nonetheless, thousands of volunteers, new alliances and a few major court victories have helped environmentalists gain influence beyond what their balance sheets might suggest.

“(Environmentalists) seem to be doing a lot with a little,“ said Laura Deitrick, co-author of the USD report.

She does see a potential problem.

“They have been busy doing their daily work and have not spent as much time thinking forward in terms of growing their assets,” Deitrick said.

Less 'old money'

San Diego County's environmental sector remains modest because of several reasons, nonprofit experts say. One is that the region's growth spurt is relatively recent, so there's less “old money” than in places such as San Francisco and Boston.

The limited number of major corporate headquarters also plays a role. Such offices often employ big donors who become board members for nonprofit groups.

“We are just now starting to see the generational continuity and the embracing of place” that long has been common in Northern California and other parts of the country, said Bill Kuni, a local entrepreneur and philanthropist.

When Kuni arrived in San Diego 24 years ago, he looked for groups helping to protect the landscape that he found so attractive.

“It was almost totally individual champions who did not have a major organization behind them,” Kuni said.

In 2000, he helped start the Environment Working Group at The San Diego Foundation in an effort to buoy conservationists trying to contain fast-growing development.

The Environment Working Group proved to be an important mechanism for spreading cash and convening experts in ecology. It has distributed about $3.35 million since its inception. The money often is awarded in chunks of $15,000 to $50,000.

Last year, the foundation kicked off a $25 million endowment campaign to support environmental work. There is $1 million in the pot.

Many of the county's well-known environmental groups owe part of their growth to the foundation. They include the San Diego River Park Foundation, the Environmental Health Coalition, the local Sierra Club chapter and the Escondido Creek Conservancy.

The Escondido conservancy started in 1991, but didn't have the money for an executive director until last year. Unlike most environmental leaders in the region, the conservancy's executive director, Geoffrey Smith, has a master's degree in nonprofit leadership.

“A lot of . . . (environmental groups) really lack the business skills of understanding what their mission is and how to build a program around their mission and stick to it,” Smith said.

A 2003 study of land conservancies in the county found they were twice as likely to have done a formal planning process for on-the-ground work as they were to have a strategy for the organization.

The lack of management expertise is especially apparent at the board level, Smith and others said. Currently, the boards commonly consist of friends and activists without much regard for specific skills such as public relations and fundraising.

That's where Contorer and Eichen come in. They are seeding the new fund with $200,000 each as they court other contributors.

They also expect to get donors involved on boards and demand measurable results from groups receiving money from them. Their fund is managed by San Diego Social Venture Partners, a grant-making group that donates its services.

“We're trying to grow the (environment) sector. That means supporting the research to understand the problems and what it takes to fix them and then impact a society,” said Contorer, a full-time philanthropist.

The effort comes as national environmental groups are struggling to connect with the American public. Contorer thinks there is a large and untapped segment of donors who don't consider themselves traditional environmentalists but want San Diego to not become “a second-rate Los Angeles” because of overdevelopment.

“It's not about banning cars and hugging trees. It's about having a wonderful way of life now and not ruining it” for future generations, Contorer said.

Giving A Boost To Philanthropy

From The San Diego Union Tribune
8/3/2006

By Nancy Jamison

I have the good fortune to work with philanthropists every single day. Not Warren Buffett or Bill and Melinda Gates, but good people right here in San Diego County who are all, in their own ways, making a significant contribution to the well-being of our community. Nearly everyone can be a philanthropist – and you don't have to have billions.

Philanthropy – which translates from Greek as “love of mankind” – is no longer the domain of the Rockefellers and Carnegies. Today's philanthropy is much more widespread, democratic and even scientific.

And while stupendous gifts will always make the front page, wonderful hometown philanthropy happens every day, with smaller dollar amounts but huge benefits for nonprofit agencies and the people they serve. As an article in a recent issue of The Economist magazine stated, “the $1.5-billion that Mr. Buffett will contribute each year over the coming decades is only a small addition to the total contributions from the rest of us. In fact, it is just about one-half of 1 percent of the $260-billion that Americans gave to charity last year. The knowledge of how to use charitable dollars effectively turns out to be a much rarer commodity than the dollars themselves.”

In other words, while giving away money can be an easy and fun thing to do, it requires some homework to ensure that your charitable dollars will have the desired results.

Late last year, I became the executive director of a membership organization called San Diego Grantmakers. Our purpose is to connect, educate, develop and inspire a diverse group of foundations and corporations to stimulate effective philanthropy in the San Diego region.

We have 81 members – including family foundations, community foundations, independent foundations and corporate giving programs. Our members are committed to making a difference in ways that have true and lasting impact.

They carefully analyze and work with the groups that serve our most underserved populations. They study community needs not addressed by the public sector and fill in the gaps in a professional and fair manner. They anticipate trends and leverage dollars. They are working more strategically, because they know that charitable donations alone will not solve society's problems.

I hope that the focus on Buffett and Gates leads to more and better giving, and that more successful business people make similar choices about how to spend their time and money. It is not just the super-rich who can decide to donate money strategically. Current and future philanthropists can learn lessons here as well.

The Gates Foundation has systems in place to carefully evaluate the performance of its grants – and change things if it is not getting the results sought. It does so with rigorous analysis, using best practices in evaluation and benchmarking.

This is a trend in grant-making that will benefit the social sector. Nearly all San Diego Grantmakers members are exploring how to do evaluation on a scale that makes sense for them. It is not as easy as it seems in the business world, because positive outcomes mean more than just making money – and the reason the need exists in the first place is that other efforts have failed.

Gates and Buffett are partnering, collaborating, joining together to create greater benefit. This, too, is a trend in philanthropy. If I have $1,000 to give away and you have $1,000, let's give it to the same worthy nonprofit organization so that it can really accomplish something.

In San Diego, we have powerful examples of such pooled efforts and funding. The Homelessness Working Group, San Diego Neighborhood Funders, the San Diego Women's Foundation, San Diego Social Venture Partners, the Jewish Women's Foundation and the San Diego HIV/AIDS Funding Collaborative are just a few. They operate on the same basic principle: working together to understand problems and then funding together for bigger, better impact.

This collaborative approach is also known as “giving circles.” Anyone can participate – billions not required. There is a giving circle in South Carolina called Dining for Women. Friends get together for a potluck and then donate what they would have paid had they gone out to dinner. They spend the evening socializing and researching prospective recipients. It's a “Giving Club” instead of a “Book Club.” They may be giving away hundreds of dollars instead of billions – but they are still making a positive difference in the lives of others.

At San Diego Grantmakers, we believe in helping philanthropists of all shapes and sizes give in ways that increase the quality of life for everyone in our community. Ultimately we can all join the same club that Bill, Melinda and Warren belong to – the club of generous people who choose to use their personal or corporate resources in an organized and intelligent way to help others, to help our country, to help the planet. It is a club that I am extremely proud to be associated with, and I hope that even more San Diegans will join.

Business People Lend their Talents to Worthy Organizations

From The San Diego Union Tribune
5/14/2004

By Michael Kinsman

As a busy and successful businessman, Dale Stein used to have a way of dealing with the nonprofits that always seemed to hover nearby.

"I told them: 'You need money? I'll write you a check. And if I give you more than you need, will you leave me alone?,' " Stein said.

That was before he figured out that the best investment he could make in a nonprofit organization was one of time, not money.

Stein is one of 53 members of San Diego Social Venture Partners, a group of businesspeople who have banded together to help nonprofit organizations become more stable and sophisticated in their operations. The group formed after learning about the success of a similar partnership in Seattle.

The venture partners target social organizations by providing them funding, management expertise and strategic guidance over a three-year period. The group's goal is to help nonprofit groups operate more efficiently, so they spend more time on their missions instead of having to scramble for operating cash year after year.

"Every nonprofit wants to feed 5,000 people when they have the resources to feed 50," said group member Alan Sorkin, a former housing developer who now devotes his time to nonprofit pursuits. "But the passion that exists in these organizations is amazing. It is passion most for-profit CEOs would kill for in their businesses."

Stein, who has been involved in founding or running companies such as Westec Security, Technology Assurance Group, IPx Connect and Glacier Water, is quick to agree. Tapping into that passion, he finds himself re-energized.

"I've had a lot of successful businesses through the years," he said, "but the most enjoyment I've ever had in my life is working with a nonprofit."

Stein, 57, currently is the venture partners' chief liaison with the nonprofit Human Development Foundation, a San Diego organization that is tutoring highly gifted students from lower-income and non-English-speaking families through its Open Gate program at Oak Park School in San Diego.

In addition, foundation tutors work with the children's parents to help them understand the curriculum the children are following. These tutors often communicate to the parents through languages other than English.

"San Diego Social Venture Partners has enabled us to do things we would have never accomplished on our own," said Marjorie Fox, who heads the foundation.

"It makes us more sophisticated because we've had some very strong businesspeople look at our organization and tell us what we needed to do to be more effective," Fox said. "There's no way we could go out and hire the experts they have been able to bring us."

The venture partners currently work with six nonprofit agencies, adding two a year in a three-year rotation. The group helps organizations working with teen mothers, education, work-force training and justice issues, Sorkin said.

It recently began working with Second Chance, a downtown social service agency that bought a Ben & Jerry's ice cream shop in Hillcrest. Second Chance operates Strive, a tough-love program for the long-term unemployed thay will steer some of its graduates in jobs at Ben & Jerry's for a six-month period to help them reacclimate to the work force.

The venture partners found that many of the issues facing the Human Development Foundation were like those that affect many other nonprofits in San Diego. The organization labors year after year to gain enough funding to keep its program rolling.

Stein estimates that Fox was spending 60 percent of her time just to raise the $160,000 her organization needs to operate each year.

"She spends her time and energy just trying to stay in business," Stein said. "We wanted to free her from that and let her concentrate on her program. We basically see what the needs of the organization are and then figure out a way to fill them."

Recruiting assistance

When manpower or expertise is not readily available, the venture partners solicit help from other businesspeople. That's how Mike Richardson, a strategic planning specialist from Carlsbad, was recruited to assist the Human Development Foundation develop a long-range plan. Most of his work involves small and medium-sized, fast-growing firms, and Richardson found nearly an identical situation in the foundation.

"Most organizations are trying to grow so fast that they rarely take time to plan where they are headed," Richardson said. "They don't ever seem to have the resources they need to do that. With nonprofit organizations you have an even more acute set of circumstances with even less resources."

Richardson spent six months working with Fox to develop a strategic plan, eventually joing the Human Development Foundation's reconstituted and expanded board of directors. He said his involvement with the organization opened his eyes to the world of nonprofits.

"It really was an easy buy-in," he said. "It's a no-brainer when you see how your expertise can be used to help an organization. Who wouldn't want to help out once they see that?"

The venture partners also found two firms to help develop software for a computerized scheduling program for the foundation's tutors and at one point solicited donations of 26 personal computers for the gifted children whose families couldn't afford to buy them.

Marketing strategies

As part of its new strategic plan, the foundation will work with the venture group to develop a marketing strategy for creating a $2.5 million endowment that will allow the foundation to concentrate on expanding its educational programs.

Each member of the venture partners agrees to put up $5,000 each year, plus lending time and expertise to individual nonprofits.

Sorkin said he tries to find out what skills his members have and what interests they have.

"A lot of times you find someone who has skills, but is looking for something else to give them satisfaction," he said. "It isn't necessarily using the same skills you do eight hours a day."

Commitment levels vary. Some partners work a few hours a week with a nonprofit and others 30 or more. Many have spouses who participate.

"When you are asking someone who already probably has a packed schedule to do more, you want to make sure that their spouses approve," Sorkin said. "We found that by including them you eliminate the hurdle of them adding something else to their plate."

The venture partners carefully review nonprofits they may wind up supporting. Their goal is to find organizations doing socially beneficial work that have the potential to expand.

They want to provide some financial support, but larger amounts of business expertise.

"We can give them money – and do – but the management help we give them is more valuable," Sorkin said.

When he was approached about joining Social Venture Partners last year, Stein said he was immediately struck by the "sanity" the organization was taking into nonprofits.

He said finding people who share his values makes his experience with the venture partners more rewarding. He also appreciates that he is able to put his time and energy into a project to make sure his money was being wisely spent.

"The goal is to make the nonprofits we work with self-sufficient," he said. "We have a three-year commitment, and then we're gone. But if you really are committed to these nonprofits, why would you get out after three years?"