by Emma Alligood | Dec 9, 2025 | Uncategorized
Introduction
The Georgia Water Coalition (GWC) is seeking proposals from qualified Financial Sustainability Consultants to help expand and strengthen the Coalition’s fundraising program. The consultant will support GWC’s long-term financial sustainability by identifying new funding opportunities, developing funder relationships, preparing letters of inquiry (LOIs) and grant proposals, and exploring options for establishing a future endowment or reserve fund.
Background
The Georgia Water Coalition is an alliance of more than 260 organizations committed to protecting and ensuring clean water for Georgia’s people, wildlife, and environment. Founded in 2002, GWC unites environmental, civic, and community groups across the state to advocate for responsible water management, conservation, and equitable policy.
GWC has historically relied on foundation grants, member support, and partner contributions. As the Coalition looks to its next chapter, it aims to diversify funding sources, cultivate new philanthropic partnerships, and lay the groundwork for a sustainable funding model that supports long-term advocacy and programmatic work.
Scope of Work
The consultant will work closely with GWC’s Director of Operations and Fundraising Committee members to:
- Fundraising Strategy & Revenue Generation
- Develop a plan to secure a minimum of $80,000 in new revenue during the contract period.
- Develop a long-term strategy to diversify GWC’s funding stream.
- Identify and research potential foundation, corporate, and major donor prospects aligned with GWC’s mission. All prospects must be new to GWC and are not currently being solicited by or giving to our fiscal agent or members of the Leadership Team.
- Provide monthly updates to the GWC Leadership Team including details on pending proposals, secured funding, as well as any upcoming deadlines.
- Proposal & LOI Development
- Prepare and submit a minimum of 10 letters of inquiry (LOIs), concept notes, and brief proposals on behalf of GWC.
- Assist with preparation and submission of full proposals based on invitations or identified opportunities.
- Create a timeline for GWC Leadership with a new grant reports schedule.
- Donor Engagement
- Make strategic introductions or facilitate connections with relevant program officers, donors, or philanthropic networks.
- Advise on stewardship and cultivation approaches for new and existing funders.
- Endowment/Reserve Fund Exploration
- Assess feasibility and best practices for establishing an endowment or reserve fund to support GWC’s long-term financial health.
- Provide recommendations on structure, policies, and potential seed funders or mechanisms.
Deliverables
The consultant shall provide the following deliverables by the end of the contract period:
- Fundraising Outcomes
- A minimum of $80,000 in new revenue, secured or with contracts pending, generated through foundations, corporations, or other major donors.
- Submission of Letters of Inquiries (LOIs) to a minimum of 10 new funders.
- Submission of full grant proposals to new funders, based on invitations from LOIs or other opportunities.
- Development of a 3-year founding strategy to diversify GWCs funding streams.
- Endowment/Reserve Fund Exploration
- Comprehensive report on feasibility for endowment/reserve fundraising including recommendations on target donors, timeline, and fundraising approach.
- Final Report Presentation
- Comprehensive presentation to Leadership Team summarizing outcomes and status of the above deliverables.
Consultant Qualifications
- Minimum of 5 years of experience in nonprofit fundraising or philanthropic advising.
- Demonstrated success securing grants or major gifts from foundations and/or individual donors.
- Knowledge of foundations and funders outside of Georgia.
- Strong writing skills, particularly in crafting concise and persuasive LOIs and proposals.
- Experience working with environmental or conservation organizations preferred.
- Familiarity with coalition-based or networked organizations is a plus.
- Understanding of Georgia’s environmental landscape and regional philanthropic community.
Proposal Requirements
Interested consultants should submit:
- Cover Letter summarizing qualifications and interest in working with the GWC.
- Proposed Approach and Work Plan, including how you would address each element of the scope of work.
- Timeline for deliverables over a 12-month engagement period.
- Budget and Fee Structure (hourly or project-based).
- Qualifications and Experience (resume or firm background).
- References from at least two clients for whom you have provided similar services.
Timeline
- Issue Date: Dec. 9, 2025
- Proposals Accepted on Rolling Basis
- Anticipated Start Date: January 2026
- Project Duration: 12 months
Evaluation Criteria
Proposals will be evaluated based on:
- Relevant fundraising and philanthropic experience.
- Demonstrated understanding of GWC’s mission and work.
- Quality and feasibility of the proposed approach.
- Cost-effectiveness and clarity of budget.
- References and previous results.
Submission Instructions
Please submit your proposal as a single PDF to:
Emma Alligood, GWC Director of Operations
Email: emma@gwf.org
Subject line: “RFP – Financial Sustainability Consultant Proposal”
Questions may be directed to Emma Alligood at emma@gwf.org.
A copy of the RFP as a PDF can be downloaded here.
by Emma Alligood | Dec 2, 2025 | Issues, Uncategorized
As part of our efforts to promote legislation to protect the Okefenokee Swamp, the Georgia Water Coalition is planning a social media campaign that we’ll launch during the 2026 Legislative Session.
The campaign is called “40 Days For The Okefenokee” or, in hashtag terms, #40days4oke. Here’s the premise: Every day that the legislature is in session (40 days total), we want to send a letter to the governor and other legislative leaders asking them to pass legislation to protect the swamp. We are recruiting volunteers to write these letters, and more than that, to record themselves reading their letters out loud so we can post the videos on social media.
The caption under each video will say something like “We encourage Gov. Kemp and his allies in the legislature to take action to protect the Okefenokee, so we’re sending him a letter every day. This is day X of #40days4oke.”
If you’re interested in participating, here are some guidelines.
GUIDELINES:
- Write out what you want to say first! Why is protecting the Okefenokee is important to you and why are you getting involved in this fight? It could be because you want to protect the endangered and threatened species that call the Swamp home, because you’re worried about climate change and want to preserve one of the most impactful carbon sinks in Georgia, because you’ve spent time at the Swamp and want to make sure future generations get to experience it. Speak from the heart!
- If you want any help at all in writing your message, let us know! We can give you statistics and sources, and we’re also happy to help you brainstorm ideas! At some point, please say your name and where you are from (we don’t need an address, just something like “I’m John, and I live in Blue Ridge, Georgia.”). Your letter should be 150-300 words, otherwise your video will be too long. The video should be about 1-3 minutes.
- Please: No profanity or name calling. It’s ok to take “a tone” in your letter, as my mother would say, but we want to be civil. And remember, you’ll be recording yourself reading your letter. If you’d be uncomfortable saying it to the governor’s face, probably best to leave it out.
- No need to reference the campaign or the 40 days for Okefenokee stuff. Just introduce yourself and talk about why the Okefenokee is important. But you should start your letter (and your video) with “Dear Governor Kemp” then proceed with your letter.
- Once your letter is written, if you want, you can send it our way and we’ll give you some feedback before you record yourself. We can help make sure all our facts are correct and the message is clear. We’ll also use the text of your letter to caption the video and include it in the post itself.
- Find a quiet and well-lit spot. Natural light works great, so try standing near a window or filming outside. Avoid noisy backgrounds so your voice comes through clearly.
- When recording yourself, hold your phone in vertical/portrait mode. This format works better for social media. Make sure your camera is as steady as possible. Hold it yourself at arm’s length if you have a steady hand, prop it up on a table or something similar, or ask someone to hold it for you.
- Once the video is done, send it to Emma Alligood at Georgia Wildlife Federation at emma@gwf.org or if the video file is too big, you can text it to her at (706) 474-5730 and we’ll do the rest! We’ll get the post ready to go and let you know what day your letter/video will be posted.
GWC’S PLATFORM TO PROTECT THE OKEFENOKEE SWAMP:
Here are some options that the Georgia Water Coalition views as progress in protecting the Okefenokee Swamp and Trail Ridge. Take these into account when creating the script for your video.
- Pass HB 561 – The Okefenokee Protection Act
This bill would prohibit surface mining on Trail Ridge, the eastern rim of the Okefenokee Swamp. Experts say that Trail Ridge plays a critical role in the flow of water out of the swamp, and small changes there can have outsized impacts.
- Pass HB 644 – “Bad Actor” legislation
This bill makes it easier for the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to deny permits to applicants who have a history of violating environmental laws or regulations, including violations in other states.
- Use state budget surplus or GOSA funds to purchase land near the Okefenokee for permanent conservation
The “Georgia Outdoors Stewardship Act,” or GOSA, uses tax revenue from the sale of outdoor equipment to fund the protection and conservation of land in our state. In 2025, more than $24 million in grants were given to conservation projects through the GOSA fund.
Thanks for your help with this campaign!
by Dana Skelton | Sep 23, 2024 | Uncategorized
Article by Gordon Rogers
Groundwater issues are perhaps the most misunderstood, certainly the least addressed in the
popular press, yet arguably some of the most important water issues in Georgia. This is partly
because we ‘can’t see it’ until it pops up as a spring, but also partly because groundwater
resources in Georgia are highly varied, VERY complex, and therefore difficult to understand in
many settings. Paradoxically, groundwater aquifers in Georgia are among the more abundant
water resources anywhere. Again, anywhere. Access to them is not difficult and their
productivity has encouraged large and long-lived industrial, agricultural, municipal, and private
residential usage. Groundwater in this state could be characterized as ‘the fountain of the
Georgia economy’.
This short summary is not intended to be a tutorial on ‘how groundwater works’ in Georgia
despite their great importance. That would take many, many pages; or even to be a list of what
all of those resources are . . . where they are located, their volume or yield, their quality, or their
economic importance. Suffice it to say that there are many dozen aspects to a full summary; a
task for another time.
What we wish to do is to give you a short summary of the types of groundwater issues facing
Georgians right now, including some that are mired in controversy, but others that currently see
bright prospects for restoration of sometimes decades of damage. Let’s get started with our
‘list’, which falls into two different broad categories.
Misplaced or too permissive groundwater withdrawals threaten or have already
damaged existing resources:
- proposed withdrawals for mining along Trail Ridge on the east side of the
Okefenokee threaten longterm healthy water levels in the swamp.
- Proposed withdrawals associated with massive new industrial, commercial, and
residential development west of Savannah threaten existing private drinking
wells, water supply for crops, and other existing uses in a band of counties from
Hilton Head SC to Liberty County GA
- A longstanding problem of saltwater intrusion to the Floridan Aquifer in the
vicinity of both Savannah and Brunswick is caused by massive overpumping by
industry, primarily the paper industry and those plants that are ancillary to same.
From Savannah to Jesup to Brunswick and southward into Florida overpumping
has caused both Georgia and Florida regulators to establish regulatory bulwarks
that have supported those industries (and the associated jobs) but are now
limiting other types of economic growth and private property rights.
Improvements in water-use efficiency in the industrial sector, and several plant
closures over the decades, have eased the problem, but challenges remain
including the ones directly related to the situation described in the previous bullet.
- Existing agricultural groundwater withdrawals alongside surface water
withdrawals in Southwest Georgia have damaged surface water flows during
droughts and during the dry portions of wet years. See below for exciting news
on broadscale remedies underway on this issue.
Contaminated groundwater at pollution sites statewide threaten or have already
damaged drinking water, property values, public resources, and health:
- Highly mobile ‘forever chemicals’, PFAS, are impacting groundwater inclusive of
private residential wells in NW GA as a direct result of spreading contaminated
biosolids that are created when industries sent poorly-treated wastewater to local
municipal plants that do not have the technology in place to remove these
dangerous chemicals. A small avalanche of legal actions is looming, suits to
address private property concerns, health issues, and the continued
environmental impact.Underground flows from the Hercules/Pinova site in Brunswick flow under U.S.17, under and through private property, and into the salt marsh.
- Long-term contamination of groundwater by caustic and mercury at the LCP site
in Brunswick have, literally, dissolved sediments under the defunct manufacturing
plant and are eating down the drinking water supply for the area.
- Other sites all over the Brunswick peninsula received wastes from numerous
industrial interests and are leaching pollutants underground onto/into their
neighbors’ properties.
- Similarly, sites in nearly every medium to large city in Georgia are hosts to such
dangerous trespasses.
- Poorly-managed ‘sprayfileds’ also knows as ‘land application systems’ at many
municipalities and private industries in Georgia are either poorly designed, poorly
placed, overused, poorly managed (such as using during rain storms), or all four.
Polluted groundwater and even at times polluted surface water leave these sites
onto private land and into public waters. Further, certain industries that use
sprayfields such as concentrated animal feeding operations have very permissive
oversight under Georgia law in terms of monitoring and performance
- Saline contamination of groundwater in the Savannah and Brunswick areas are
the result of overpumping. See bullet in the previous section.
Georgia does have a fairly robust groundwater withdrawal permitting system. The basic
framework of how, where, and how much water can be withdrawn under the law and EPD Rules
is sound. However, the actual approaches to permitting by the State need improvement. In
recent years, primarily as a product of pressures from interstate lawsuits and threats of lawsuits,
but also as scientific knowledge has increased, much better modeling of withdrawal impacts is
available. As one result the regulatory agency (EPD) has worked more closely with not only
applicants, but also other affected parties and the academic community. Dangerous issues still
abound, but progress is also being made. Most notably, the damage to surface flows in the
lower Flint River due to over-permitting is being directly addressed by a robust set of alternative
management options available to farmers on a voluntary basis, incentivized by investments
funded through the Governor’s office and the federal government due to some very good work
by Governor Kemp’s and Congressman Sanford Bishop’s staff people. Projected improvements
of drought and other dry-weather flows from Radium Springs, and in Kinchafoonee, Muckalee,
and Ichawaynochaway Creeks (tributaries to the Flint) are substantial, ecologically and
economically meaningful. Perhaps this work can be a model for restoration and conservation
work all over Georgia. Meanwhile, GAEPD needs to continue to improve its permitting
approach so that damage does not occur in the first place.
Protection from pollution of groundwater is much, much more problematic in Georgia.
Essentially, we have NO protection in a regulatory form from pollution of groundwater similar to
the Clean Water Act or the Georgia Water Quality Act for surface waters. It is only AFTER
pollution has already occurred that Georgians can seek remedies via trespass claims and/or
federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Such procedures are costly to private
citizens and frequently do not, indeed CANNOT, achieve total cleanup.
An interesting and poorly understood phenomenon in certain geographic zones is a potential
direct link between aquifer use and recharge rates, and water quality. In areas where aquifers
such as the Floridan are very close to the surface, and the water is serially used during dry
periods then rapidly recharged as rains return, rock and sediment formations that have been
bathed in water only for decades are rhythmically exposed to the air and therefore oxygen,
liberating naturally-occuring rock- and sediment-bound contaminants such as but not limited to
arsenic. This poorly-understood phenomenon may have already been a negative influence on
public health in certain regions. Much more work is needed.
In summary, approaches to use-based permitting of Georgia’s underground water resources
needs continuous improvement, and the laws protecting Georgians from contamination of
groundwater need wholesale review and recasting. The Georgia Water Coalition is tracking both
individual issues and overall policy closely, with an eye towards legislative and regulatory
opportunities.
For more information contact Gordon Rogers at Flint Riverkeeper. (912.223.6761 cell).
He is not a subject-matter expert on all of the above but can get you to the
right person.
by Dana Skelton | Sep 2, 2020 | Uncategorized
A group of private investors, Brantley County Development Partners, LLC is trying to build a solid waste handling facility near the Satilla River in Brantley County. The proposed 463-acre site is covered in wetlands, and the surrounding areas are prone to flooding. The proposed site backs up to a residential neighborhood and sits between two elementary schools.
The proposed project risks contaminating groundwater, as the groundwater table is only one foot below the ground surface in some places. Other risks include surface water contamination from runoff from the site and increased flooding of surrounding properties. There has been extraordinary opposition to this proposed landfill from local residents and Satilla River enthusiasts from around the state.
The Brantley County Development Partners, LLC applied for a solid waste handling permit in 2016. In December 2019, the Environmental Protect Division (EPD) released Draft Site Limitations for public review and comment. The draft was inconsistent with local limitations set forth in Brantley County’s Solid Waste Management Plan, and EPD and the applicant failed to accurately account for private drinking water wells that surround the proposed site.
Satilla Riverkeeper and a local grassroots group, “Don’t Trash Brantley,” helped empower local citizens to voice their concerns and provide additional information to EPD. Over 9,500 public comments were submitted to EPD on the Draft Site Limitations. Despite all of this, EPD finalized the site limitations without adequately addressing the public’s concerns in a Site Suitability Notice on May 28, 2020.
This year, Senator William Ligon (White Oak) introduced a bill that would prevent any new landfills within 3 miles of blackwater rivers entirely within the coastal plain of Georgia. Residents from Brantley County and concerned voices from across the state spoke up loudly and passionately in support of this bill. Thousands of emails and phone calls reached representatives, and it seemed the only opposition to the bill was from the investors endeavoring to build the landfill in Brantley County. The bill passed the Senate, but got stuck in the Rules Committee in the final day of the legislative session in July.
The fight is not over yet, and there is still opportunity to prevent this poorly sited proposal, and Satilla Riverkeeper is continuing to address the issue from every possible angle.
Additional information and opportunities to take action: https://www.satillariverkeeper.org/brantley-landfill.html
by Dana Skelton | Jun 5, 2020 | Uncategorized
SAVE THE SWAMP – GWC works to protect the Okefenokee Swamp from mining.
In recent months, concerned citizens have given the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers close to 60,000 reasons to deny Twin Pines Minerals, LLC (Twin Pines) rights to dig for titanium on portions of a 12,000-acre site near the Okefenokee Swamp and adjacent to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. That’s the number of letters that the Corps has received during two public comment periods, and many of these were marshalled by GWC members.
This is not the first time citizens have fought proposals to mine near the Swamp. In the 1990s, DuPont moved to mine for titanium in the area, but public outcry forced the company to abandon its plans.
GWC members are asking the Corps to deny the permit or at the very least require additional studies to determine the true cost of the mine on the swamp and the economy of the region, a process that results in a comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement.
Twin Pines has scaled back its original application for a wetlands permit and is now seeking permission to conduct a “demonstration project” phase of mining that would initially impact 898 acres. The size still matters, because of its location on Trail Ridge which serves as a geological dam impounding the swamp.
If mining takes place on the full 12,000-acre site, we could see activity within 400 feet of the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge. And the swamp wetlands extend beyond the Refuge onto the ridge itself. With the average depth of the water in the swamp being only two feet, there’s not much room for error.
Drawing down water levels could impact the 120 miles of canoe trails in the swamp and the more than 600,000 visitors that visit the swamp annually.
In addition to local advocates speaking out against the proposed mine, the Corps must also consider input from federal agencies. Those agencies have thus far not viewed the proposal favorably. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has told the Corps that mining could “have a substantial and unacceptable impact” on the Okefenokee Swamp; the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service warned that damage to the Swamp “may be permanent.”
by Dana Skelton | Jun 5, 2020 | Uncategorized
“The Georgia Water Coalition is a group of over 250 organizations, businesses, and community groups who have come together around the mission to protect and care for Georgia’s surface water and groundwater resources. Our coalition strives to be inclusive and diverse, and our members believe that all Georgians have a right to safe recreation and use of Georgia’s waters.
We will only support measures that make Georgia a more just and equitable state. We understand that racism is a complex issue that is deeply embedded in our society’s institutions. This bias influences public resources, such as community processes, priority setting, and resource allocation. We are committed to working long term to ensure that every Georgian has access to clean water and a seat at the decision making table.
The recent murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor are only the latest examples of the persistent injustices that Black Americans face. We firmly condemn racism and hate. We, as a coalition and as a society, must do better. We cannot successfully protect our water resources for all Georgians without also addressing systemic racism.”
