WHO WE ARE
The Casa Socio-Environmental Fund is an organization that promotes environmental conservation and sustainability, democracy, respect for socio-environmental rights and social justice through financial support to civil society initiatives and by strengthening their capacities in South America. We have pioneered the debate on socio-environmental philanthropy in Brazil since 2005. Our mission is to generate positive impact on very diverse territories, investing in the lives of those who care for them, and establishing connections between communities and organizations.
To this end, we developed a powerful support network for small civil society initiatives — a network that mobilizes funds, provides support and strengthens capacities, thus ensuring increasing autonomy for groups spread all over South America. We believe change begins by listening, and we listen to the real protagonists of every cause we embrace: those whose lives are directly affected by any change in their territories.
We don’t believe in ready-made formulas and single solutions
By supporting mobilizations and other movements in rural or urban areas, the Casa Fund strengths organizations and helps in creating the conditions for relevant socio-environmental projects to move forward, respecting the diversity of biomes and populations in South America.
We are partners of philanthropic organizations that want to support grassroots communities but find it hard to reach those groups directly. We are experienced in making sure that philanthropic funds will reach the community groups. For this, we have developed a supporting and monitoring methodology that takes into account the dynamics of the territories.
MANIFEST
We are optimistic. We are excited by people and their relationships, by the environment and all its extension. We realize that the point where these two dimensions meet is extremely complex and generates a lot of challenges, sometimes frightening challenges, but we will not let this paralyze us. We think that difficult situations should be faced carefully, in a serious manner. However, we cannot do without lightness of mind and hope. In difficult situations, people want to be comforted, accepted, and we will embrace whoever is in need.
We display a hopeful smile, feet firmly on the ground, and a hands-on approach. We will never stop while there is something to be done. We have respect and empathy, we are bridge and link – we are home, we are Casa.
What guides us
Listening: our ears are always attentive and our doors open to receive people. For us, this is always the first step in any transformation. Listening to the demands of groups in need of support, understanding what can be done, and then helping them. Listening to feedbacks, understanding what has worked out and what has not, adjusting to the circumstances, and always improving. Whenever possible, we also seek to collect this type of feedback within our own team, where there is no power hierarchy, only different opinions and a great common goal.
Respect: there is no listening to people without respect. We assume everyone has a valuable viewpoint and an in-depth understanding of his/her own reality. We respect differences among cultures, regions, and biomes in order to maximize the impact of our support. We valorize and stimulate the protagonist place of each individual in the socio-environmental transformational process, as we believe that true change comes from the rank and file.
Trust: we trust the working capacity of each individual and each small group we support. We understand Casa Fund as a transitional space, not as a centralizing unit. We are a safe haven, we comfort the pain and uncertainties, ensuring the means to solutions, maximizing actions and opening pathways, but we are not the ones to carry out the projects.
Union: The sentence “union is strength” may sound like a cliché, but it is a motto for us. We aggregate and mobilize. The more people share our dreams of transformation, the greater will be our collective power.
Connection and collaboration: we exist to establish connections and promote collaboration. This does not mean we have to be always present or directly involved in all actions. For us, promoting joint work between two or more transformational agents is already super powerful! This way we manage to multiply our actions and actually have a significant impact on the world.
