Cross sector initiative wins MacArthur Award for Creative & Effective Institutions

blogimage_foresttrendsThe MacArthur Foundation recently announced nine nonprofit organizations that will receive the Award for Creative & Effective Institutions, which provides up to $1 million dollars to support strategic planning, development, and communications efforts. These grants are given to existing MacArthur grantees who are key to advancing the Foundation’s goals for their respective fields, exhibit strong leadership and governance, have demonstrated impact that is likely to continue into the future, and are ready to implement a plan for expansion or sustainability. The foundation makes a significant investment in these promising organizations in order to advance progress on some of society’s most important problems and to help position these organizations for long-term growth and impact.

Forest Trends, a Washington D.C. based international nonprofit organization created in 1998 by leaders from conservation organizations, forest products firms, research groups, multilateral development banks, private investment funds, and philanthropic foundations, was among the winners. Forest Trends bridges cross-sector and cross-cultural divides to promote market-based approaches to forest conservation. It plays three principal roles: convening market players to advance market transformations, generating and disseminating critical information to market players, and facilitating deals between different critical links in the value chains of new forestry.

One important initiative Forest Trends manages is the Public-Private Co-Finance Initiative. This program focuses on creating public-private “architectures” that increase the amount of capital flowing to land use practices that reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation, improve the productivity of agricultural and livestock systems, and enhance livelihoods of rural populations. Forest Trends works with public and private sector partners to create “innovative, integrated, and efficient” financing structures. As part of this initiative, the organization is currently assisting the State of Acre in Brazil to monetize ecosystem assets and deploy funds strategically to catalyze private sector investments in activities that reduce deforestation, assisting the government in meeting its emission reduction targets.

The Intersector Project would like to congratulate all of 2015 winners for their invaluable and innovative efforts to help tackle complex and interconnected issues worldwide. May these awards ensure growth, longevity, and financial sustainability for years to come.