Ray C. Anderson grandchildren on climate change

NextGen Committee

The Foundation's NextGen Committee, established in 2012 is made up of Ray's grandchildren and their spouses. The group meets regularly and takes an active role in perpetuating Ray's legacy by investing in projects geared to making the world a better place for Tomorrow's Children.

 

“Each of us on the NextGen Committee brings something special to the table. We’re each making our own unique brushstrokes on the canvas that is Daddy Ray’s legacy."

McCall Langford, granddaughter of Ray C. Anderson

 

Over the past ten years, the committee has funded more than half a million dollars in programs with focus ranging from conservation and climate change education, to urban agriculture, agroforestry and now grassroots solutions to climate change in Indigenous communities.

Most recently, the NextGen Committee awarded a $94,000 grant to Women’s Earth Alliance (WEA) for two of their Women in Forests programs. The grant is directed towards the Clungup Mangrove and Native Forest Conservation (CMC) project in Indonesia, and the Kakamega Rainforest in Kenya.

 

“Clearly we are not the biggest players, but we can find success in the multiplier effects.  The rate at which the NextGen has been able to focus its efforts on addressing global warming and climate change education has proven effective."

Jay Lanier, grandson of Ray C. Anderson

 

In 2021 the NextGen Committee awarded a $100,000 grant to Ducks Unlimited de México to improve infrastructure and conserve blue carbon through erosion control and protection of 94,016 acres of the Seri First Nation Reservation in the area of Canal del Infiernillo in the mid-Pacific coastal state of Sonora, México.

In 2020, the NextGen committee awarded a $100,000 grant to Cultural Survival. The NextGen Committee’s grant allowed Cultural Survival to direct the funds to Indigenous communities addressing climate change on a variety of fronts, through 13 small grants awarded through the Keepers of the Earth Fund (KOEF)

In 2019, the NextGen committee awarded a $100,000 grant to the Inga Foundation. Their "Land for Life" model offers families in Honduras (and all of the humid tropics as there are 300+ native Inga species) increased soil fertility with no chemical fertilizers/pesticides/herbicides or heavy equipment--ensuring good harvests, long-term food security and improved income potential, on the same plot of land--without the need to slash and burn fresh land.

In 2018, the NextGen Committee awarded a $90,000 grant to Second Nature to provide the tools necessary to allow universities to collaborate and pool their financial investments, to increase the number of large-scale renewable energy projects in the national grid, and to achieve climate neutrality on more U.S. campuses.

 

NextGen Spotlight Stories:

Jay Lanier

McCall Langford

Meet the NextGen

  • Samantha Filipovich

  • C. McCall Langford

  • Chantel Lanier

  • Jay Lanier

  • John Anderson Lanier

  • Patrick Lanier

  • Stephanie Lanier

  • Whitney Lanier

  • Jason Wells

  • Melissa Wells