Established in 1993, the Global Greengrants Fund (GGF) “mobilizes resources for communities worldwide to protect our shared planet and work toward a more equitable world.” The fund distributes grants on behalf of private foundations, including anti-GMO organizations like the Tides Foundations, to grassroots environmental advocacy groups in the developing world, though it usually does not disclose the names of these organizations. GGF has made contributions worth more than $71 million over last 25 years.
GGF noted its opposition to GMOs in May 2016, writing that “chemical pesticides and genetically modified organisms have taken the place of much healthier organic practices. This has resulted …. in serious damage to the soil and a loss of nutritional value in crops, [and] caused local farmers to become dependent on these products ….” The Swift Foundation, which has contributed nearly $2 million to the Global Greengrants Fund, is also opposed to the use of crop biotechnology, and lobbies against its introduction in the developing world. For example, the foundation says it works to protect Africa’s agricultural biodiversity from “the threats posed by genetic engineering (Genetically Modified Organisms) and industrial agriculture.”
GGF maintains partnerships with several high-profile anti-GMO advocacy groups, including Friends of the Earth and Pesticide Action Network (PAN). PAN argues that “biotech corporations have dictated how we grow food, placing the health and economic burdens of pesticide use on farmers, farmworkers and rural communities.” Friends of the Earth similarly believes that “emerging biotechnologies are used to develop products that benefit companies’ bottom lines at the expense of people and the planet.” 350.org, a politically progressive activist group that contributed $200,000 to GGF in 2017, says that “widespread use of chemicals in GMO crops” is an environmental crisis comparable to climate change and “water contamination and scarcity.”
Financial Data
Annual Revenue: $8,837,927 (2017)
Total Assets $8,136,404 (2017)
Major Donors (total contributions 2012-present)
Marisla Foundation $2,240,000
Aveda Corporation 1,827,684
Swift Foundation $1,785,000
Tides Foundation $724,000
Novo Foundation $500,000
350.org $200,000
Blossom Fund $85,000
Aria Foundation $40,000
Peterffy Foundation $25,000