Here is UUCville Ministry for Earth’s list of environmental groups that can use your support. This may not be an easy time of year to make a donation – but after you pay off your holiday bills, please consider supporting one or more of these groups. They are on the front lines helping to save our environment. This is of course not an exhaustive list, but these are groups we at UUCville Ministry for Earth personally recommend:
Local/Regional
ReLeaf (https://www.releafcville.org) – a public/private partnership between the Cville Tree Commission, The Nature Conservancy, Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards and Van Yahres Tree Company. Their mission includes planting trees, preserving trees, and education on the value of trees and the tree canopy.
Rivanna Conservation Network (https://www.rivannariver.org/) – a watershed organization created to provide the Cville community with a set of tools and programs specifically designed to help clean and protect the Rivanna River and its tributaries.
Blue Ridge PRISM (https://blueridgeprism.org/) – Founded in 2014 as a volunteer-driven project of the Shenandoah National Park Trust, now the statewide leader in invasive plant education, training, and advocacy. They are dedicated to helping reverse the spread of invasive plants
Appalachian Voices (https://appvoices.org/) – brings people together to protect the land, air and water of Central and Southern Appalachia and advance a just transition to a generative and equitable clean energy economy. Their ultimate goal is to establish economic solutions that create community wealth and sustain Appalachia’s mountains, forests and waters
Virginia Conservation Network (https://vcnva.org) – committed to building a powerful, diverse, and highly-coordinated conservation movement focused on protecting our Commonwealth’s natural resources through a network of 150+ partners across VA. It is a facilitator of strategic action, a resource for Network Partners statewide, and a constant conservation presence in Virginia’s Capitol. Playing a unique role in Virginia’s conservation community, VCN helps the community speak with one coordinated voice.
Chesapeake Climate Action Network (https://chesapeakeclimate.org) – dedicated to fighting global warming in MD, VA, and DC. Their mission is to build and mobilize a powerful grassroots movement to call for state, national and international policies that will put us on a path to climate stability.
Southern Environmental Law Center (https://www.southernenvironment.org) – the largest nonprofit, nonpartisan environmental legal advocacy organization rooted in and focused on the South. Their mission is to protect the basic right to clean air, clean water, and a livable climate; to preserve our region’s natural treasures and rich biodiversity; and to provide a healthy environment for all.
National
Green America (https://www.greenamerica.org) – harnesses economic power—the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace—to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society. They do this by supporting consumer education & mobilization, small green innovative businesses, and working for greening corporate supply chains
EarthJustice (https://earthjustice.org) – the premier nonprofit public interest environmental law organization. We wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people’s health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change. We are here because the earth needs a good lawyer.
States Project (https://statesproject.org) connects the importance of state legislatures to every aspect of our lives and brings together communities to help build a healthy, sustainable, and prosperous future for all. Our electoral work focuses on winning governing majorities in the states by making state legislative campaigns more effective and better-funded. Our policy work provides nonpartisan tools and resources that connect a diverse community of state lawmakers committed to improving lives for the people they serve. They are the only national organization hyper-focused on both winning state legislative power and helping state lawmakers govern effectively.
Environmental Voter Project (https://www.environmentalvoter.org) – identifies millions of non-voting environmentalists and turns them into consistent voters. We estimate that over 8 million environmentalists did not vote in the 2020 presidential election and over 13 million skipped the 2022 midterms. We are a nonpartisan nonprofit focused on a simple, high-leverage solution to this problem: with an 8-year track record of success, we are accurately identifying these non-voting environmentalists and efficiently converting them into a critical mass of consistent voters that will soon be too big for politicians to ignore.
Generation180 (https://generation180.org) – a nonprofit working to inspire and equip people to take action on clean energy. They lead nationwide campaigns and equip clean energy ambassadors across the country.