When Cordelia S. May created Colcom Foundation in 1996, she was formalizing a commitment she had held for more than four decades. Her concerns about population growth and its consequences for the natural world had informed her charitable giving since 1952, when she was just 23 years old. The foundation she built reflects that history in both its mission and its approach to grantmaking.
A Reformer Ahead of Her Time
Colcom Foundation’s About page situates Cordelia S. May within a tradition of reformers who understood things their contemporaries did not. The site draws a parallel between Mrs. May and advocates for gender equality and civil rights figures who were treated as outliers in their era but were ultimately vindicated by history. Her early warnings about overpopulation and ecological strain, the foundation suggests, deserve the same kind of retrospective recognition.
Mrs. May recognized that incremental population growth is hard to perceive from one day to the next. The daily changes are too small to notice. But compounded across years and generations, the cumulative force of that growth becomes difficult to manage. Habitat destruction, biodiversity loss, pollution, and ecosystem collapse are among the consequences she anticipated well before these issues entered mainstream environmental debate.
Carrying Forward That Vision
Colcom Foundation was substantially funded following Mrs. May’s death in 2005, and continues to operate with grantmaking that, by its own description, honors the humanitarian objectives, the foresight, dignity, and compassion of its benefactor. Through their grants, they have supported many organizations, such as the Center for Biological Diversity, which works towards protecting endangered species, and the Sierra Club Foundation, which advocates for clean energy and climate solutions.
The foundation’s primary mission is fostering a sustainable environment to ensure quality of life for all Americans by confronting the root causes and consequences of overpopulation and its effects on natural resources. Regionally, it also supports conservation work, environmental projects, and cultural assets. That combination of national scope and local investment reflects the layered nature of Mrs. May’s original vision a philanthropy built to endure. Refer to this article for related information.
Find more information about Colcom Foundation on http://conservativetransparency.org/donor/colcom-foundation/