GREEN LEADERSHIP TRUST
OUR WORK
Launched in 2013, the Green Leadership Trust works to build an environmental and conservation movement that wins. We are unique in a number of ways because we are the first cross-organizational effort focused on building power and diversity in any advocacy sector. We are guided first and foremost by our responsibility as fiduciaries of the organizations we represent.
We successfully place our leaders as Board members to environmental organization
CLEAR LEADERSHIP AND VALUE
The Green Leadership Trust and its mission is well-known, highly regarded, and clearly understood. Our Board Leadership Committee focuses on crafting our Equity Agenda to ensure our actions as board members are coordinated and integrate values of equity and justice. We have drafted support statements during these times of racial discourse and we have stepped up and provided insight to equitable actions after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, as well as during the Flint Water Crisis.
We have created a CEO Evaluation tool with equity metrics to incorporate in the annual performance evaluation of all CEOs. All our actions ensure our core constituencies (our members, our fellow board members, and environmental organizations and their leaders) benefit from and are closely connected to our work.
High Levels of board engagement
The Green Leadership Trust is a vibrant community of board members of color and indigenous people. The Capacity Building Committee works to build strong ties between members so that members have robust formal and informal collaborations. The Committee helps to develop a well-curated set of events, secure engaging speakers, impart webinars and spearhead trainings so that members are skilled, confident, and ready to lead.
We are currently working on a complementary onboarding curriculum for new Board members to be more effective from the perspective of a person of color serving on a Board for the first time. Numerous best practices for first year Board members are being shared by veteran peers via monthly webinars in our inaugural Cecil Corbin Mark Vanguard Fellowship cohort.
Membership Growth
The Green Leadership Trust has a growing roster of members. We successfully place our leaders as Board members to environmental organizations.
The Membership Committee organizes activities to add members to our network. As more people of color and indigenous people join environmental boards, the pool of potential Trust members grows.
Vanguard Fellowship
Green Leadership Trust is the first cross-sector network of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color fiduciaries that serve on the boards of U.S. nonprofit environmental organizations. Our members include individuals with a wealth of knowledge and decades of experience navigating predominantly white in environmental and conservation nonprofits.
The Cecil Corbin-Mark Vanguard Fellowship is a six-month development program where we leverage our combined talent and shared knowledge to impart valuable lessons with the next generation of environmental and conservation leaders of color. The program is designed as a peer-to-peer learning experience primarily executed in a virtual setting with in-person training opportunities when possible.
