About Sitka

Mission

The Sitka Foundation is a family foundation with a simple mission: to be a catalyst in the conservation of nature and the protection of biodiversity. We work to achieve this mission by engaging through philanthropy in strategic grantmaking programs as well as through the activation and mission alignment of our investment capital. At present we are a grantmaking foundation that operates by funding multi-year, relationship driven grants that align with our strategic framework which is based in British Columbia. Our investment capital is managed in house with a focus on supporting solutions and reducing harm to nature.

Philosophy

We created the Sitka Foundation to support organizations dedicated in one way or another to the conservation of nature and the protection of biodiversity.

The loss of biodiversity and continuing destruction of our natural environment pose an existential threat to human populations and countless other species. The twin enemies of nature – growth in human populations and growth in per-capita consumption, and the associated pollution of earth’s air and water – must moderate either by design or disaster. Climate change, ocean contamination, destruction of natural lands by the bulldozer or plough, and damage to the earth’s endowment of soil and groundwater are reversible with dedicated and educated effort. Our foundation serves this effort. We note that more than 99% of all giving goes to “human” causes. The Sitka Foundation exclusively supports the other 1% since, without clean water, clean air and healthy biodiversity, human existence is impossible.

The Sitka Foundation directs its limited resources to support and speak for the millions of species without voices whose existence is being threatened by our heavy human footprint. We are convinced that economic growth cannot persist as it has for the past 200 years without degrading our global environment beyond redemption. Humans must moderate their expectations, reduce their per-capita consumption and live more sustainably. Exponential growth in any finite natural system always ends in collapse; to avoid this, humans must adapt their lifestyles to more permanence. But we cannot be all things to all causes, and our focus on environment and biodiversity comes first. For example, climate change is a drastic threat to many species, yet it is a subset of all the issues affecting biodiversity.

We see global warming, ocean acidification, species extinction, excessive non-renewable resource consumption, unsustainable economic growth, population growth and irreversible soil and groundwater loss (to name a few) as major issues confronting human society. Sitka exists to help address such issues.

With twinned biodiversity and climate crises, what does Sitka do?

We are in a critical juncture in human history. It is time to apply all the tools we have as a philanthropic organization to fulfill our sole-focus mission. Sitka is all in. We apply a thoughtful and relationship driven approach to the deployment of capital, be it investment, social, or philanthropic. We activate our whole portfolio in a mission driven way to try to mitigate harm and have the left hand talk to the right. Too often in financial and philanthropic institutions are people and tools siloed, to the detriment to communities that are needed to drive change. Sitka believes that we can activate different financial tools to support our mission to support biodiversity.  By using different approaches from the same toolbox we can amplify impact – and drive permanent change in the systems that we work in, all across the board. And of course we do this alongside many other partners, funder, agencies, and leaders.

Story

The Sitka Foundation is a private Canadian family foundation. Founded by Ross and Trisha Beaty in 2008, it has evolved in size and scope since inception. We began by supporting organizations close to our hearts and communities here in the Pacific Northwest, but have since become active both nationally and globally. We work with an invitation-only application process to qualified donees, granting several times a year in a way that is driven by strategic granting, influenced by trust, and married to a process that is reliant on a deep, multi-year relationship to place and people. The Foundation is run by a staff of four and a board of four. Its investment capital is managed in-house and by several external investment advisors.