Greening Grants

The Giant Steps Foundation works with those it supports to help minimize their impact on our fragile earth. By offering greening grants for special events, the foundation helps organizations offer their members and constituents organic menus, including organic meat, poultry, and dairy products that are not only healthier but more humane. Additionally, greening grants enable the use of recycled paper and plant-based inks as well as the purchase of carbon-offsets to help achieve a climate-neutral event.

Supported Organizations:

Trips for Kids (Mill Valley, CA)

www.tripsforkids.org

Trips for Kids was formed in 1988 to give disadvantaged kids from the San Francisco Bay Area the opportunity to discover the joy of mountain biking and the beauty of open space. The organization has expanded over the years to include a national program that introduces mountain biking to disadvantaged kids across North America. Trips for Kids also has programs that incorporate environmental awareness into mountain biking activities as well as job-training workshops.

Hidden Villa (Los Altos Hills, CA)

www.hiddenvilla.org

Founded in 1960, Hidden Villa uses its organic farmland and community resources to teach individuals from the San Francisco Bay area about the environment and social justice. Children, adults, and families attend Hidden Villa’s programs to learn about ecology, organic food production, and to experience a working farm.

Peninsula Open Space Trust (Palo Alto, CA)

www.openspacetrust.org

POST’s mission is to preserve the beauty, character and diversity of the San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Cruz Mountain range. POST encourages the use of these lands for natural resource protection, wildlife habitat, low-intensity public recreation and agriculture for current and future generations. Since its inception in 1977, POST has saved 60,000 acres of coveted open space – grasslands, woodlands, beaches, bluffs – in one of the worlds most desirable and expensive real estate markets.

The Garden Project (San Francisco, CA)

www.gardenproject.org

Since 1992, The Garden Project has been a prevention program that provides job training and continuing education to former offenders and at-risk youths in urban communities. Participants learn horticulture skills and grow organic vegetable [such as kale, Swiss chard, and broccoli] – which are distributed by community centers. Some locations offer nutrition and cooking classes with Garden Project vegetables, teaching children and families how to improve their diet.

Acterra (Palo Alto, CA)

www.acterra.org

Acterra means, “to take action for the earth.” The Peninsula Conservation Center Foundation (formed in 1970) and Bay Area Action (founded in 1990) created the organization in 2000. Acterra’s mission is to bring people together to create local solutions that enhance the natural environment. Programs include habitat restoration and energy efficient projects to preserve the land and reduce their environmental footprint.

Greenbelt Alliance (San Francisco, CA)

www.greenbelt.org

The Alliance was established in 1958 to protect the greenbelt of natural land in the California, Bay area. Greenbelt Alliance contributes to the Bay area by advocating for communities that will allow for bike trails and walkways for pedestrians, educating residents about community growth, and organizing hikes, bike rides, farm tours, and urban walks for hundreds of Bay area residents annually through various programs.

Bay Area Ridge Trail Council (San Francisco, CA)

www.ridgetrail.org

Representatives of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and the Greenbelt Alliance organized the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council in 1987. The purpose of the Council is to create and maintain an open trail for the public. This idea led to local organizations that collaborated to form the Ridge Trail, a place where you can walk, hike, run, bicycle, ride a horse, watch birds, and enjoy the soaring vistas with family and friends.