JULY 28, 2022 – After fourteen years, Peter Kostishack steps down from his role as Director of Programs.
(Boulder, CO) – July 28, 2022 – This week, we celebrate one of Global Greengrants Fund’s longest-standing staff members, our Director of Programs, Peter Kostishack. After fourteen years working with Greengrants to shift much-needed resources to grassroots climate solutions in the Global South, Peter is stepping down from his role and moving on to the next phase of his professional life.
Greengrants would not be what it is today without Peter. Holding Greengrants’ values and principles at heart, he has boldly stewarded the organization’s participatory grantmaking strategy through over a decade of global political and environmental change, while always centering the needs and autonomy of our advisory network. Peter’s impact on Greengrants includes contributions like supporting the founding of Fondo Tierra Viva in Central America and the He Yi Institute in China, sparking the creation of the Next Generation Climate Advisory Board, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Advisory Board, and most recently, our new Disability Rights and Environmental Justice Advisory Board, as well as establishing our partnerships with 350.org and Oilwatch International. During his tenure, our regular grantmaking has increased from $3 million to $10 million per year and our network has awarded 10,000 grants.
As Allison Davis, Director of Programs and Learning, put it: “Peter held the responsibility of leading an entire department, advocated for our advisors and independent fund allies, raised a huge amount of funding, reported to the board, and mentored employees. He has offered incredible effort, time, and generosity to this network and organization, always with such thoughtfulness and deep care for people and their lives.”
While Greengrants will miss Peter, we are excited for him as he moves into his next steps. Peter will next serve as Senior Advisor at the Climate and Land Use Alliance in their support of Indigenous Peoples’ organizations and Global South funds. We are confident that he will continue to advocate for a more just world and healthier planet.
As part of Peter’s transition, we have set up an interim structure for our Program team. In this interim structure as well as the permanent structure we grow into, all current Program staff will collectively take on the work that has previously been held by Peter and support the work of our advisor network and partnerships collectively. This interim Program structure is in line with recent shifts we are making within the larger organization towards a more horizontal, decentralized structure—because we firmly believe that through collaboration, cooperation, and freedom, people think creatively and our system becomes more efficient, adapts better, and generates more abundancy. We will share more details about these organizational shifts in future communications.
As we move forward into this new phase for Greengrants’ Program work, we extend our deepest gratitude to Peter for all the ways he has laid a solid foundation on which we will continue to build and evolve to best fit the needs of our planet and the movements we support.
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ABOUT GLOBAL GREENGRANTS FUND: Global Greengrants Fund mobilizes resources for communities worldwide to protect our shared planet and work toward a more equitable world. We believe solutions to environmental harm and social injustice come from people whose lives are most impacted. Since 1993, Global Greengrants has awarded over 13,000 grants in 168 countries worth more than $92 million.