EMBERS FOUNDATION JOINS 1% FOR THE PLANET AS NON-PROFIT PARTNER
The organization builds wild resilience in first responders, communities, and surrounding habitats
The Embers Foundation, its origin inspired by gratitude for first responders after a harrowing encounter with the Thomas Fire, is honored to join 1% for the Planet as a non-profit partner. With a core operating budget supported by 1% of net sales of Flying Embers, the Foundation offers 1% for the Planet business members a unique opportunity to protect first responders, communities, and surrounding habitats from catastrophic wildfire.
“For years, I’ve followed the inspiring work of 1% for the Planet and dreamed of collaborating with both them and their diverse network of brand partners,” said Embers Foundation President, Beryl Jacobson. “Together, we will take meaningful action towards a more sustainable future for generations to come.”
The organization’s charitable work is centered around three programmatic pillars:
1. Rewild: Catalyzing wildfire prevention and restoration that regenerates watershed resilience and reduces risks to communities. The Rewild Program strives to create a world in which wildlands surrounding communities are restored to create a buffer of fire-resistant native habitat, protecting homes and businesses and revitalizing watersheds. Supported strategies include:
Replant: native replanting that stabilizes severely burned habitats; and native seed foraging that ensures seed supplies of locally adapted native species are adequate to replant post-wildfire landscapes.
Reduce: While replanting helps regenerate lands after wildfire, we urgently need to scale prevention-focused restoration practices that protect communities and first responders from mega fires: reducing overgrowth through prescribed and cultural burns, and conservation-focused mechanical removal.
Research that (a) documents the valuable environmental and people benefits of stewardship practices that prevent catastrophic wildfire and rehabilitate burned habitats; and (b) seeks to diversify tree species used for the spirits industry’s cooperage barrels, leveraging biodiversity to enhance the resilience of this forest-based supply chain. With our founding benefactor (Flying Embers) in this sector, we are working to address a critical supply chain risk that their industry is facing.
2. Respond: Serving the needs of firefighters and communities during and immediately following climate disasters. The Respond Program ensures that communities are immediately equipped with the timely, strategic resources needed to collaboratively address today’s unnaturally intense natural disasters.
3. Recover: Providing mental health training and tools for the well-being of firefighters and their families. The Recover Program connects first responders combating climate disasters with the physical and emotional tools needed to succeed and thrive.
Wildfire Resilience Philanthropy: “An Incredibly Nascent Sector” and Opportunity for Corporate Donors to Lead
The Embers Foundation stands apart as an exceptional giving opportunity for 1% for the Planet’s business members in three compelling ways:
1. We Listen, We Learn, We Serve: “Our approach to philanthropy is that we listen, we learn, and we serve”, said Beryl Jacobson, the organization’s president. For example, we seek out leaders from local, regional, and national fire departments, community leaders, land management organizations, and universities to listen to their needs, insights, strategic points of view, and direct experience. Through these conversations, we learn about priority problems that first responders, communities, and wildlands are facing, including:
Fire season is now almost year-round due to the climate crisis. Fires burn hotter and longer, leaving firefighters exhausted and their mental health suffering.
Mega fires are incinerating seed banks, causing a shortage of native seeds for replanting charred habitats.
Land and water ecosystems are devastated and vulnerable to subsequent disasters such as flooding and mudslides. Replanting with locally-adapted native species stabilizes slopes and accelerates watershed recovery.
Many forest ecosystems - especially pine forests across the American West - are unnaturally dense after 150 years of misguided fire suppression, combining with the climate crisis, poor land management, and increasing human activity in wildlands to fuel mega fires.
Disaster relief priorities vary by incident making it difficult to develop a template for real-time climate disaster response. The best approach is to listen to firefighters’ needs in the moment and be prepared to offer a variety of solutions.
The spirit industry’s forest-based cooperage barrel supply chain is vulnerable to disruption due to predominant use of a single tree species (white oak).
These key takeaways inspire our 360º program design, which addresses the complete cycle of climate disaster prevention and response. Applying a strategic approach to success, we seek out gaps where other organizations are not focused, and collaborate with other funders to implement larger projects than we could support on our own. Our multi-media marketing and communication strategy is built on storytelling. We share our activities to educate, inspire and amplify our accomplishments. In these ways and more, we serve in advance of our mission.
2. We are collaborating with leading Wildfire Resilience funders: Our outreach to what we’ve found to be a surprisingly small cohort of fellow wildlife resilience funders has revealed valuable insights and opportunities. For example, one program officer observed that the broader state of wildfire resilience philanthropy, “has been and continues to be incredibly nascent”. She noted that the Hewlett and Moore Foundations are currently the only major giving organizations that have made large-scale commitments to wildfire strategies. In addition, she praised the Embers Foundation’s work, noting that in private philanthropy, there is currently “little support for place-based work” like that backed by Embers’ programs.
While there are a growing number of federal and state wildfire resilience funding programs (e.g., CalFire's Forest Health and Wildfire Prevention grants and the US Forest Service’s Community Wildfire Defense Grants), the program officer described corporate funding of wildfire resilience programs as “under explored”. This means that there is a valuable opportunity for 1% for the Planet’s business members to establish themselves as leaders by supporting solutions to the wildfire crisis.
To further develop our network and expertise in the sector, the Embers Foundation has joined the new Wildfire Resilience Funders Network. We look forward to getting to know our fellow wildfire resilience funders and identifying ways that we can collaboratively support each other in achieving our goals.
3. We welcome opportunities to support wildfire resilience programs of tribes, who offer society millennia of indigenous knowledge on how to safely return “good fire” to the land. “Investing in indigenous-led programs can not only regenerate habitats, conserve biodiversity, and safeguard communities,” said conservation scientist, Jonathan Gelbard (Senior Program Officer, Rewild). “Through this work, we aim to do our part to help heal centuries-old injustices by funding initiatives that steward ancestral territories and support economic opportunities rooted in eco-cultural revitalization.”
HOW YOU CAN PARTNER WITH THE EMBERS FOUNDATION
We invite business members of 1% For the Planet - and other organizations and individuals - to join our growing family of supporters. Here’s how:
Reach out via our website’s Partner page (scroll down to the web form) or Contact page;
Donate online or via your 1% For the Planet membership;
Follow us on social media, including Instagram, Twitter, Linked In, and Facebook;
Join our email list for updates, including announcements of special events & auctions; and
Help us spread the word that 1% of every purchase of Flying Embers (organic hard kombucha, hard seltzer, and canned cocktails) supports the work of the Embers Foundation!
Additional Quotes:
PHIL CAPUTO, Executive Director: “We proudly serve firefighters, their families, and communities and welcome 1% for the Planet’s members interested in partnering to support the resilience of our first responder heroes and precious natural heritage.”
BILL MOSES, Flying Embers CEO: "Celebrating The Embers Foundation's partnership with 1% for the Planet is truly exciting. As the founder of Flying Embers, I'm proud to see the foundation's unwavering dedication to social and environmental causes reflected in this collaboration. Together, we look forward to working alongside 1% for the Planet and its diverse network of partners to create a more sustainable future."
JOE WOYJECK, Sr. Program Officer, Respond & Recover; Respected leader in the first responder community:
"As someone who has dedicated their life to responding to emergencies and disasters, I am acutely aware of the devastating impact that climate change is having on our planet. That's why I'm thrilled to see The Embers Foundation join forces with 1% for the Planet, an organization committed to taking meaningful action towards a more sustainable future. As we work together, we will not only protect the planet we call home, but also support the first responders and communities who are most vulnerable to climate disasters."