Funding Futures
Funding Futures: Gameplan
Introduction
The 1-year listening campaign portion of Funding Futures: We Decide is drawing to a close at the end of June 2026. The Understory invites groups from the six communities to submit letters of interest (LOI) for Funding Futures: Gameplan. This Phase 2 of Funding Futures focuses on capacity building: organizing your people power, developing project action plans, and determining your financial viability.
Offering
Phase 2 offers support for planning, professional services, technical assistance, community events, and/or administrative staffing. This is not a reimbursement grant. Half of the funds will be awarded up front, and the remaining half will be awarded midway through the project, subject to good standing. Matching funds are encouraged but not required. Grant amounts available up to $25,000, and funds are limited (see the Request for Proposals for details).
Applications will be considered and awarded on a rolling basis until mid-September or until all funds are deployed. Applicants are encouraged to maintain momentum following the vote and apply before the mid-September deadline. The grant term ends May 31, 2027.
The goal of this grant is for groups to grow their skills and come to a consensus on a plan to achieve their project. The Phase 2 grant is considered complete upon delivery of a final presentation with a proposal for how the group will move forward, including how to be financially and operationally viable. A simple grant report will be required at the end of the grant term by The Understory’s fiscal sponsor, the New World Foundation.
Eligibility
The Understory invites letters of interest from groups emerging from the Funding Futures process in the 6 towns. Applicants must apply as a group of at least three people from their community, not as an individual person. Any applications to create project action plans must align with The Understory’s focus on resiliency in the Hudson Valley:
land use planning
ecological repair and connecting people with the outdoors
climate adaptation
community preparedness
food systems
affordable and green housing and infrastructure
fostering community connections
self-sustaining funding mechanisms
Application Process
LOI - First, submit a letter of interest (LOI) and an interview request.
The Understory (Paige and Vanessa) will review each LOI and follow up to schedule an interview with applicants as soon as possible.
Interview -
After the interview, The Understory will let applicants know if they are invited to submit an application.
Application -
The application consists of an online form with questions, a budget, and a refined proposal informed by the interview.
A letter of support is required from the tax-exempt entity attached to the project. Depending on the nature of the project and application group, this may be a municipal government, a local 501 (c) (3) or other tax-exempt entity directly attached to the project, or a fiscal sponsor.
Additional letters of support are encouraged.
Please review the full RFP and submit a LOI (prompts are provided in the RFP).
Funding Futures Pilot
Spring 2026 Update from the Funding Futures Program
The Understory (PCA) launched the Funding Futures pilot because we noticed that healthy civic conversations in the Hudson Valley needed bolstering. Funding Futures provides funding and a framework for six communities to come together and voice ideas for their shared future.
It's been a challenging and fascinating process! Six Funding Futures Fellows reached out to every pocket of their communities through phone calls, email newsletters, postcards, tabling at events, meetings with organizations, leaders, and townsfolk. This winter, their process culminated in direct democracy events where neighbors got on the mic and shared ideas for how to improve their communities. Currently, those ideas are being shared community-wide through balloting efforts. We will report back on the results! In the meantime, we invite you to browse these photo essays documenting some of the Funding Futures events. Have a look at the power of neighbors connecting through direct democracy.
Click on the thumbnail images to view the photo essays.
Rochester
Claverack/Philmont
Milbrook/Washington
Highlands
Woodbury
About Funding Futures:
The Understory, formerly Partners for Climate Action (PCA), has worked in the Hudson Valley for seven years. We see towns building consensus on their environmental priorities through community conversations. Some have even put financial mechanisms in place to fund those priorities. Through firsthand observation and listening to partners, we’ve noted elements of success, which we’re excited to help you adopt. Your town is unique, but there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. We’ll guide you through nonpartisan ways to dig in with your community and figure out how to preserve and protect the natural resources on which you rely. We see this as the basis for strong communities and a healthy environment in the Hudson Valley.
Do you share these concerns?
Our society has lost muscle memory for how to come together, listen, and envision a shared future. National politics divide our country. At the same time, we all notice changes: 80 degree days in November, extreme storms and flooding, forests with no new growth, our favorite skating and ice fishing ponds that now rarely freeze. In too many of our communities, we’ve inadvertently degraded the environment through ordinary, cumulative actions, and a lack of dialogue about what really matters.
We can determine our future. How do we get started?
We can start by reconnecting—to each other and the places where we live. If we could set our differences aside, we could focus on what we have in common: our love for the beautiful Hudson Valley and our desire for a healthy, thriving future.
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And it needs to happen "upstream" of conflict, rather than reacting in a confrontation. The Understory has observed towns in the Hudson Valley make real progress when they start with what’s unique about their place and build community around an intention to preserve it.
We see so much potential in the towns of the Hudson Valley, each with its own promise. But we’ve observed something missing: our society has lost the ability to have civil community conversations. We’ve lost spaces where we get together and talk, where everyone feels included. This program will lead you through a process to engage with your community in a nonpartisan way. Only with this foundational buy-in and deep community work can we expect to build lasting efforts and ways of doing things.
We can’t guarantee everything will be fixed or healed by the end of the program, but at the very least, your community will have grown a deeper understanding of its identity, your connection to the land where you live, and how you envision a healthy future.
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We see a lot of great planning work that never gets to the implementation stage because of a lack of funding. The Understory is offering this support to connect communities’ shared desires to financing vehicles that can make them a reality.
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It would be a heavy lift for a Town Board to run a process like this on their own, and it can be challenging to reach beyond the regulars who attend Town Board meetings.
Some of the greatest resources in rural towns are the natural assets—streams, forests, fields, aquifers. Combined, these make a place unique, tie back to its history, and provide quality of life.
A Town Board could find tremendous value in a listening campaign that reveals insights and generates volunteerism. Therefore, we hope that this pilot program meets a need and compels local governments to submit Letters of Support and encourage applications from their committees (Climate Smart Task Forces, Conservation Advisory Councils, Community Engagement Committee, etc) or local organizations.
Funding Futures Pilot Fellows
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Chris Wilson
WASHINGTON/MILLBROOK
Millbrook ListensChristopher Wilson is an educator, grant writer, and strategic planner, with over 10 years of government and non-profit experience, specializing in grant administration, donor retention strategies, and community engagement.
As a native of the Hudson Valley, he obtained his M.S. in Parks and Public Land Management from Indiana University (2019) and worked for organizations such as NYS Parks and Recreation, Hudson River Housing, Inc., Outward Bound Schools, NYNJ Trail Conference, and Peace Corps Armenia. Chris lives with his wife and two young children in Dover Plains where they explore local trails and eateries, frequent story time at the Millbrook Library, and sing through the Disney Princess Playlist at least once a day.
Portrait by Richard Beaven
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LisaMarie Hintze
WOODBURY
Voices of WoodburyAfter touring North America with Cirque du Soliel for 4 years I settled in Woodbury, NY where I have been a resident for 30 years and raised my daughter. I became the Chairperson for Woodbury’s Climate Smart Task Force, starting for the town in 2021 and then the village in 2022. Under my leadership, the Taskforce has successfully earned the designation of a NYSERDA 2-Star Certified Clean Energy Community and Bronze status as a Climate Smart Community. I was recently awarded the Chris Eachus Extraordinary Women’s Award and the NYS Planning Board Levine Community Service Award. I love photography, traveling and staying active, so I also volunteer at the Coordinator for Wreath’s Across America at Cemetery of the Highlands, where 826 wreaths are laid to honor local veterans.
Portrait by Richard Beaven
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Olga Anderson
HIGHLANDS
Highlands: Together We DecideOlga Kuchar Anderson is currently Chair of the Town of Highlands Citizens Environmental Advisory Committee which she founded in 2019. The Committee focuses its work primarily on New York State’s Clean Energy and Climate Smart Community initiatives on behalf of the municipality. Olga is manager of the Community Garden at Holy Innocents in Highland Falls, a member of the Friends of the Highland Falls Library, and sits on the Board of Directors at Sustainable Hudson Valley. She is a recent recipient of the Evelyn Drew Memorial Democratic Service Award for her environmental work.
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Anya Bonanno
CLAVERACK/PHILMONT
Stewarding Claverack and Philmont's Environment (SCAPE)Anya Bonanno works at the Philmont Public Library and is excited to help her community identify shared environmental priorities through the Funding Futures program. She moved to Philmont in 2021 and lives there with her daughter and husband, who grew up in northern Dutchess County. She holds a PhD in Environmental Anthropology and recently completed a research fellowship with the U.S. Forest Service through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education.
Portrait by Richard Beaven
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Heather Eckardt
ROCHESTER
Rooted in RochesterHeather Eckardt has been a resident of Kerhonkson since 2011 and brings a thoughtful, values-driven approach to environmental and community concerns. Her professional experience includes roles at the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley, Ulster Community College Foundation, Scenic Hudson, and Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, where she supported mission-aligned initiatives and fostered community engagement. She holds a degree in Agricultural Science from Oregon State University and has pursued graduate studies in sustainability, environmental leadership and communication, deepening her commitment to a more sustainable and connected world.
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Kate Butler
CHATHAM
Chatham VoicesKate Butler is an avid nature lover and horse back rider who grew up in Chatham NY. Kate received a BA in Historic Preservation and a BA in Art History from the College of Charleston in SC and spent most of her young adult life working as a visuals artist. She currently serves on the Town of Chatham’s Climate Smart Committee and Conservation Advisory Council.
Portrait by Richard Beaven
Meet the Team
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Paige Ruane
Co-founder of PCA, co-director of Funding Futures. Prior PCA programs include Local Champions and Building Decarbonation Grants. Paige has a background as a therapist and currently serves on Austerlitz’s Climate Smart Communities Task Force.
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Vanessa Bertozzi
Co-director of Funding Futures. Prior PCA programs include Local Champions and Building Decarbonation Grants. Vanessa is also in her third term as Trustee on the Village Board of Rhinebeck, where she implements climate action on the local level.
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Jason Angell
Co-founder and Co-director of the Ecological Citizen's Project, serves on the Town Board of Philipstown. Jason is partnering with PCA on Funding Futures to provide coaching modeled on the Ecological Citizen’s Project’s Community Congress. Jason and Jocelyn also own and operate Longhaul Farm.
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Jocelyn Apicello
Co-founder and Co-director of the Ecological Citizen's Project, professor of public health and on the boards of Cold Spring’s farmers’ market and the local public school district. Jocelyn is partnering with PCA on Funding Futures to provide coaching modeled on the Ecological Citizen’s Project’s Community Congress. Jocelyn and Jason also own and operate Longhaul Farm.
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Joel Glanzberg
Joel is a founding partner of Regenesis Group. Joel will host nature-based kick offs for each of the six communities. Joel is an expert tracker and has decades of experience leading groups and working with Native Americans to deepen human connection to the natural world. His passion is using these experiences to inform how people think about living systems.