Advancing climate solutions by building resilient, equitable regional food systems in Western Washington.
Food and agriculture are affected by climate change, and they can help address it. Through Food for Climate Solutions (FCS), The Russell Family Foundation supports the people, working lands and waters, and shared resources that help regional food systems thrive.
We focus on selected places in Western Washington and work with partners over multiple years. By bringing together grants, mission-aligned investments, relationships, and learning, we aim to strengthen climate resilience, local economies, equitable access to food, and community well-being.
Our Approach to Regional Food Systems
A resilient food system is built through relationships among the people who grow and harvest food, the communities they serve, and the land and waters they steward. It also depends on the infrastructure and markets that help food move from producers to households. When one part of that system is missing or under strain, the effects reach well beyond a single farm or organization.
We support partners who work across those connections. By investing in community leadership, working lands and waters, and the shared resources people need, we aim to help build a regional food system that can respond to a changing climate while supporting viable livelihoods and equitable access to food.
Our vision is one in which producers, communities, and ecosystems thrive together, with local decisions and lasting relationships shaping the future of food in Western Washington.
Addressing environmental challenges by focusing on local farmers and our regional food system
Food is fundamental, and how we grow it can play a significant role in mitigating the effects of environmental challenges. Leading researchers note that the food, agriculture, and land use sectors are crucial to addressing the climate crisis. These sectors contribute ~24% of emissions from agricultural practices, making it a key pathway to pursue significant reductions in emissions. In addition, by improving our land use and agricultural practices, we maximize the potential for land-based enhancement of soil health, helping to reduce overall emissions.
Our vision is to address the negative impacts of environmental challenges while fostering more inclusive access to local, healthy, and sustainably grown food. We will achieve this by supporting organizations that focus on farmland stewardship, enhancing the sustainability of farm businesses, empowering farmers, strengthening regional food system infrastructure, and advancing adaptive, organic, and regenerative farming practices. We prioritize opportunities for organizations serving underserved communities, recognizing the systemic barriers they face in accessing land, healthy food, and sustainable farming enterprises. These communities also bear a disproportionate burden from the negative impacts of environmental challenges, making inclusion a core principle of our approach.
By investing in regional systems and supporting small farmers, we can tap into the potential of farming as a nature-based solution to environmental pressures, making it feasible for communities to embrace and benefit from “eating local.”
Our Five Funding Priorities
Place-Based Ecosystems
Support efforts to strengthen coordinated food system networks within a specific region, focusing on places where sustained investment and trusted relationships can create greater system-level impact.
Regenerative Agriculture and Land Stewardship
Support efforts that advance regenerative farming, climate resilience, and long-term stewardship of agricultural lands and waters, recognizing land and stewardship as foundational to climate outcomes and resilient food systems.
Equity and Food Sovereignty
Support community-led solutions that expand access to land, capital, markets, leadership opportunities, and culturally relevant food while strengthening food sovereignty and addressing systemic barriers in the food system.
Infrastructure and Market
Support infrastructure and market solutions that strengthen the food system web by improving connections across production, processing, distribution, markets, consumption, and stewardship.
System-Wide Collaboration
Support organizations and partnerships that strengthen alignment, coordination, shared capacity, and leverage across the food system, including efforts that complement public, private, and philanthropic investment.
Where We Work
Our work focuses on Western Washington. We concentrate resources in selected regions where relationships and coordinated investments can create lasting change. We support state-wideorganizations and networks when their work benefits the communities and places at the center of our program.
Funding and Partnership
We focus deeply on a limited portfolio of partners and geographies, prioritizing sustained, system-level investments over broad, short-term, or isolated funding. We look for opportunities to strengthen multiple parts of the regional food system and to build trusted relationships and models already demonstrating impact.
Our investment approach may include multi-year, flexible grants; mission-aligned investments that address barriers such as land access, food system infrastructure, and financing gaps; and non-grant supports such as convening, collaborative planning, networking, connections to public and private resources, and knowledge sharing. We coordinate these tools when doing so can advance long-term outcomes in the food system, climate, equity, and community.
Food for Climate Solutions is an invitation-only program and does not accept unsolicited letters of inquiry, proposals, or grant applications. Staff proactively identify organizations whose work aligns with our strategic priorities, geographic focus, and available resources.
Although we cannot fund every opportunity, we welcome inquiries that help us learn about emerging work and potential alignment with the program.
Funding Priorities
We prioritize partnerships with organizations and initiatives that address multiple interconnected components of a healthy and sustainable regional food system. Our focus is serving underserved small to medium-sized farmers and other individuals essential to creating a resilient food system. Our funding priorities include:
Building a Strong Regional Food System Infrastructure
Supporting shared facilities such as cold and dry storage, value-added processing centers, and distribution hubs to create economic opportunities and strengthen connections across the food system.
Providing Resources and Technical Support
Equipping farmers with essential tools, technical assistance, and access to emerging technologies that enhance farm resilience, sustainability, and competitiveness.
Advancing Regenerative and Adaptive Practices
Promoting farming approaches that improve soil health, foster biodiversity, and ensure long-term farm viability, positioning agriculture as a nature-based solution to environmental challenges.
By investing in these interconnected areas, we aim to create a forward-thinking and inclusive regional food system that benefits farmers, communities, and the environment.
Where We Work
Our work focuses on Western Washington. We are committed to refining our geographic scope as we grow and learn alongside our partners.
