About
Laser-focused on environmental health & justice
Connecting Funders for Impact
The Health and Environmental Funders Network is the place funders go to connect, collaborate, and learn about environmental health and justice issues facing frontline communities and how they can take collective action to make a greater impact in their giving.
Focused on Environmental Health and Justice
HEFN is the only funders network focused exclusively on environmental health and justice and their intersection with other critical issues facing frontline communities today.
Creating a Healthier Future
HEFN is for any funder who cares about creating a healthier future for all. Whether funders are focused on climate, the built environment, environmental justice, food justice, democracy, or any other issue area – all are welcome and all hold a connection to environmental health.
Mobilizing funders to create a healthier future for all
We take our cues from communities and collaborate to find solutions
Environmental Health & Justice
Environmental health and justice are at the core of everything we do. We and our funder members work to embed these issues in key decisions in grantmaking, policy, research, and more to improve health outcomes, especially for the most vulnerable.
Racial, Gender & Social Equity
We believe racial, gender, and social equity are critical to ensuring equal protection from environmental health hazards and equal representation in decision-making that impacts where people live, learn, work, pray, and play.
Shifting Power
We work to shift power and resources to communities affected most by environmental harm, investing in the leadership of women, young people, low-income people, and people of color, and including their direct participation in grantmaking strategies.
Community-led Solutions
We understand that the best and most appropriate solutions to health and environmental injustices come from those with first-hand experience and a personal stake in the health and future of their communities.
Collaboration
We believe information-sharing, collaboration, and gaining contributions and insights from many perspectives are essential to improving philanthropy’s cumulative contributions toward resolving critical social problems.
Interconnectivity
We recognize the profound connections between the well-being of people, communities, wildlife, ecosystems, and the planet, and the many issues that intersect with environmental health and justice, such as climate change, food security, immigration, and more.