Among our many other grantees selected this year for their leadership, creativity, and impact: Hadar Susskind (Jewish Council on Public Affairs); Daniel Sokatch (Progressive Jewish Alliance & SF Federation); Rabbi David Saperstein (Religious Action Center); Nigel Savage (Hazon); Rabbi Jill Jacobs and Mik Moore (Jewish Funds for Justice); Jeremy Ben Ami (J-Street Education Fund) and Rabbi Eli Kaunfer (Hadar).

In the wake of a letter coordinated by the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR) and signed by more than 40 institutional investors, including the Nathan Cummings Foundation, the SEC has announced plans to focus on climate change disclosure requirements. Institutional investors like NCF have long argued that increased disclosure of climate related risk is necessary for improved investment decision making.

This NCF-funded project, based on work in Moss Point, Mississippi by the Institute for Sustainable Communities, will bring together local leaders from the most vulnerable coastal areas in Mississippi and Louisiana to share strategies for creating healthier, more sustainable communities.

Several recent stories have highlighted the dramatic increase in investor activity relating to health care reform in 2009 and the growing number of leading corporations, including Starbucks and Wal-Mart, that have publicly embraced principles for health care reform. Among the 26 proposals filed in 2009 is one led by the Nathan Cummings Foundation asking the world's largest restaurant company, Yum! Brands, to adopt principles for health care reform.

In a December 2008 special issue of the Clearinghouse Review, the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law published a 12-point agenda to fight poverty, improve access to justice and increase opportunity. Contained in the issue is an article co-written by John Bouman, President of the Center, and Dr. Robert Crittenden, Executive Director of the Herndon Alliance, urging advocates to adopt a pragmatic approach in working toward quality, affordable health care for all as a means of addressing the needs of both low and moderate income people.

Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, Program Director of Jewish Life and Values, who calls on the broader Jewish community to join with Jewish social justice organizations around shared values and collective action in this strategic moment.

Shareholder resolutions focusing on climate change achieved breakthrough results in 2008, reflecting growing investor concerns over global warming and its effects on long-term shareholder value. The Nathan Cummings Foundation was one of a number of institutional investors that together filed more than 50 shareholder resolutions on climate change in 2008.