Colcom Foundation Keeps Its Founder’s Vision at the Center of Its Work
Some philanthropic organizations drift from their founding principles over time. Colcom Foundation takes the opposite approach the work it funds today is an explicit extension of what its founder, Cordelia S. May, believed and advocated across her entire adult life.
Who Was Cordelia S. May?
May grew up with a deep appreciation for the natural world and a serious concern for the forces threatening it. She came to understand early that human population growth and ecological health were not separate topics. The more people there are, the greater the demand placed on land, water, and biological systems and those systems have limits.
By 1952, when she was 23, May was already acting on those convictions by supporting family planning efforts. She understood that change can be invisible from one day to the next while remaining overwhelming in aggregate. The cumulative impact of population growth on ecosystems was, to her, one of the most important issues of her time.
Building the Foundation
Colcom Foundation was established by May in 1996 and substantially funded after her death in 2005. The organization carries forward her humanitarian objectives through its grantmaking activity.
Colcom Foundation’s primary mission is to foster a sustainable environment and ensure quality of life for all Americans by addressing the major causes and consequences of overpopulation and its adverse effects on natural resources. Regional programming also supports conservation projects, environmental initiatives, and cultural assets. 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. These grants have helped to advance important causes and support organizations that strive to make a difference.
A Vindication That Takes Time
Colcom Foundation draws a deliberate historical parallel: reformers who challenge prevailing norms rarely receive immediate recognition. Advocates of gender equality, civil rights, and scientific accuracy faced skepticism before history judged them favorably. May’s focus on overpopulation and ecology follows the same pattern.
The consequences she predicted aquatic and terrestrial habitat destruction, pollution, biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse now appear regularly in news coverage. Colcom Foundation’s position is that these outcomes are not separate crises but related effects of the same underlying dynamic, one that May identified and took seriously long before it became a subject of broad concern.
Her legacy lives in the foundation that bears her vision. Refer to this article to learn more.
More about Colcom Foundation on https://waterlandlife.org/land-conservation/colcom-revolving-fund-for-local-land-trusts/