Equity and justice have always been guiding principles for the Onion Foundation. They’re the driving force behind our mission to increase Maine residents’ access to life-enriching experiences with the arts and the state’s natural environment.

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In 2023, these principles led us to shift our grantmaking model for our Environment Program’s focus on Maine land trusts.

To democratize our grantmaking process in this area and enable those closer to the work to make funding decisions, we established a philanthropic partnership with an organization at the forefront of the environmental movement in Maine: Momentum Conservation. By awarding Momentum a starting grant of $680,000 over two years, we expanded its role as an intermediary by enabling it to create a grantmaking function and extend its ability to provide technical assistance to land trusts throughout the state.

The result of this shift? A greater collective capacity to support more land trusts in developing equitable internal structures and inclusive, justice-oriented programming.

The State of Maine’s Land Trusts

From Peaks Island to Presque Isle, Cape Elizabeth to the Kennebec Valley, Boothbay to Bangor — Maine’s 80+ land trusts conserve more than 12%, or 2.34 million acres, of the state’s land.

As a critical component of a healthy and vibrant natural world, land trusts primarily work to protect land from development, safeguarding forests, farmland, freshwater, and healthy ecosystems.

Conservation efforts have also been proven to drive significant benefits to individuals and communities. When a land trust takes a social justice approach to its work, research shows, they can not only improve biodiversity and ecosystem services, but also:

• Expand access to the outdoors, particularly in underserved communities

• Enhance people’s mental and physical health

• Help restore marginalized communities — historically those with greater populations of Black, Indigenous, and people of color and/or low-income families

• Raise critical questions about norms related to capitalism and the nation’s racial history

At their core, land trusts give communities safe spaces to play, work, learn, and heal.

A Thriving, Impactful Intermediary Role

The benefits land trusts offer Maine communities are the exact reasons we made them one of our key Environment Program priorities — and exactly why we decided to partner with Momentum Conservation to ensure those close to the work are able to make funding decisions.

Momentum Conservation fundamentally believes in the power of the land and our collective responsibility as stewards to it. Founded in 2012, the nonprofit promotes climate resiliency, community health, and justice for all by supporting the conservation sector in Maine.

“What we stand for is the ‘how,’” says Jess Burton, Momentum Conservation’s executive director. “We provide opportunities for organizations to network, to build relationships with each other and with us, to access resources and educational opportunities. We amplify voices.”

To advance its mission, Momentum has historically provided technical assistance and hands-on service to support conservation organizations in the state.

With an expanded role as a grantmaking intermediary, however, it’s now able to amplify its impact. “We’ve never run such a large, robust, and formal program as the one we are running now,” says Burton. “Onion has jumpstarted [our having] a much larger footprint, so we can add capacity and streamline and democratize our work.”

A Philanthropic Partnership for the People

Intermediaries, the Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) argues, are born from a movement, not made for it. As a baseline, they bridge grantmakers and organizations doing community work to expand service delivery.

But SSIR claims there’s a new generation of philanthropic intermediaries committed to “people-powered activism” and social justice. And Momentum Conservation perfectly represents this approach.

As Burton puts it, the organization “centers our values: equity, justice, bravery, vulnerability, openness, and respect. We exist to change the way dominant culture practices conservation.”

These values carry over into Momentum’s hands-on work, as well. In addition to focusing on the external work of helping organizations acquire and protect land, the nonprofit also focuses on the internal. “How organizations operate internally impacts how they operate externally, so we’re really trying to focus on the culture within organizations — decision-making, teamwork, diversity,” says Burton.

Momentum’s values-driven approach to conservation work resonates with our core belief at the Onion Foundation in the impact nature can have on our health and lives. Our Environment Program grantees work to expand equitable outdoor access, especially in rural areas and marginalized communities, and we approach every engagement with accessibility, inclusion, equity, and learning top of mind.

These values guide — and will continue to guide — our work within this new philanthropic partnership with Momentum Conservation. “I believe land trusts are better if they’re centering justice, if they’re centering vulnerability,” Burton says. And we believe the same.

Expanding Outdoor Access for All

When we set out to democratize funding through this intermediary structure, we wanted to strengthen land trusts’ leadership in the communities they serve, help them generate more social capital, enable them to share learnings, and aid them in integrating equity into every area of their organizational structures.

And we know that Momentum Conservation’s expanded role as an intermediary allows the organization to accomplish these goals by extending tangible support in the form of:

• Financial resources

• Technical assistance

• Convening

• Research

• Advocacy

These activities have already enabled Momentum to support conservation and the climate change movement and increase equitable access to land for people living in poverty, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, and Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

But Momentum’s approach to this work has spurred significant impact to land trust organizations themselves: “If we can help organizations build that internal capacity, change the way they’re seeing things, understand what community engagement and community listening means,” says Burton, “that will result in better relationships and better partnerships.”

Perhaps most importantly, this new structure enables both Momentum and the Onion Foundation to foster a more robust land trust sector in Maine. By serving as an intermediary, Momentum will be able to attract new donors — including those outside of Maine — to support land trusts throughout the state.

Meaningful experiences in nature start with community, land protection, and equitable access — and land trusts are vital to providing that. When nonprofits and grantmakers partner to support these organizations, the entire sector benefits.

A Bright Future for Conservation in Maine

Our partnership with Momentum Conservation has enabled us to reach more land trusts in the state and bring funding decisions closer to the on-the-ground work. For Momentum, the change has allowed it to add two new staff members to its team and into the conservation movement — a critical need in this all-hands-on-deck climate moment.

While climate change challenges abound and a shifting economic landscape poses ongoing obstacles for land trusts in Maine, conservationists and their supporters are committed to protecting the land and the communities within it.

Healthy ecosystems, accessible trails, resilient communities, and more — they’re all central to a socially just conservation movement. With our new grantmaking structure and partnership with Momentum Conservation, we’re dedicated to encouraging more and more inclusive programming across these areas to serve all Mainers and visitors.

Big change requires innovative approaches — and we’re excited to see where this one leads us.