Environmental Initiative

Environmental Initiative brings business, nonprofit, community, and government partners together to tackle environmental challenges, from clean air and drinking water to agriculture and corporate responsibility. For more than 30 years, our work has depended on the relationships we built over time, because lasting progress depends on the people who keep showing up.

Clean Air Minnesota (CAM), a group of air quality leaders which we have convened for more than two decades, makes that clear. In late 2025, participants at a Clean Air Minnesota workshop discussed how Payne-Phalen, a Saint Paul neighborhood beside Interstate 35E and Highway 61, could prepare for wildfire smoke and extreme heat on top of the near-road pollution residents already face. Relationships built across the partnership helped bring the right people to the table: CAM member Ramsey County connected the team to the City of Saint Paul and provided climate risk data for a grant application. This year, Environmental Initiative, WSB, the Payne-Phalen Community Council, and the City of Saint Paul received a $115,000 Climate Smart Communities Initiative award to create a neighborhood resilience playbook. 

Work like this depends on flexible funding to support the planning and grant writing that allows us to maintain relationships between projects. Our general operation fund lets us keep convening partners and be ready when an opportunity appears. When you give, you join the people who keep showing up for this work, year after year.

Donate by Dec. 31 to help us reach our $100,000 goal. Gifts are matched dollar for dollar by our board up to $30,000.