Organization Gives Donors a Firsthand Look at Oil Spill’s Consequences in Effort to Raise Funds

A grant-making organization founded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has started an aggressive fund-raising effort to make sure that grass-roots environmental groups and community organizations along the Gulf Coast have the money they need to respond to the oil spill.

So far, the Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health, a project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, has raised more than $110,000, and has awarded $47,000 in emergency grants to nine grass-roots environmental groups in the region. The fund dipped into its reserves to make the first round of awards.