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RE-AMP is an engaged and active network of nonprofits and foundations working on climate change and energy policy in an eight-state region in the upper Midwest. This ambitious project is aimed at transforming the upper Midwest energy sector into a model of clean, efficient and safe energy use, while reducing global warming pollution economy-wide 80% by 2030.
Member organizations form the backbone of RE-AMP. The network of member organizations elects a steering committee, which guides the policy formation, fundraising, and evaluation of the system as a whole. Member organizations can get involved by participating in one of five working groups that provide a platform for networking, strategy development, and fundraising for the group as a whole.
RE-AMP member organizations agree:
(1) to the RE-AMP goal of Midwest leadership in 21st century clean, innovative, modern, efficient energy and an eighty percent reduction in electricity sector global warming pollution by 2030, and
(2) to adhere to RE-AMP ground rules, below.
Nonprofit organizations are expected to:
- Share information;
- Work toward coordinated priorities;
- Coordinate messaging and frames;
- Set goals and indicators and share progress;
- Disclose the focus of requests, funders and amount for projects which receive funding; and
- Participate in working group and network wide collaboration through periodic meetings.
Funders participating in RE-AMP are expected to:
- Share relevant funding priorities by posting in the RE-AMP Commons;
- Encourage grant applicants to demonstrate how their efforts relate to RE-AMP indicators and ground rules;
- Require prompt disclosure of grant decisions to the RE-AMP online Commons; and
- Encourage grant recipients to report against indicators and participate in working group meetings.
Why join RE-AMP?
Members of RE-AMP work together to leverage their expertise, strategies and resources to create impacts that are “greater than the sum of their parts.” By participating in RE-AMP groups better understand what they can do in the context of what other organizations in the region are doing, thus better positioning themselves to succeed. Connecting with colleagues across the region gives each RE-AMP member access to a wealth of information and intelligence about events, policies, legal cases, data, political alignments, shared strategies, fundraising and more that would otherwise be challenging and time consuming if not impossible to gather on one’s own. RE-AMP also offers direct support to organizations by providing networking tools, media resources, and support staff for the network. By working together, we all work smarter and faster.
Who can join RE-AMP?
Incorporated nonprofit groups or foundations who have work (or an active aspiration to work) in the following areas:
- increasing energy efficiency or
- new clean electricity;
- stopping new dirty coal plants or cleaning up existing coal plants; or
- global warming solutions; or
- transportation
within the RE-AMP states (Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin) are eligible to join the RE-AMP network.
How to join.
Does your organization meet the above eligibility guidelines? Please join us! Membership is free. Simply complete the membership application. Contact Elizabeth Wheeler at 608 251 7020 x 21 or coordinator@reamp.org with questions or for more information.
RE-AMP’S STRUCTURE: WORKING GROUPS, STEERING COMMITTEE, AND SHARED RESOURCES
Working Groups
There are six working groups in RE-AMP. A working group is a bunch of advocates that get together to network, learn, fundraise, and share strategies on one of the critical goals of RE-AMP. Working groups generally meet monthly or bi-monthly by phone, and in person at least once per year. The active working groups in RE-AMP include:
Energy Efficiency: Anne McKibbin (Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance), Working Group Leader
- Reduce electric demand by at least one percent per year in the region (beginning in 2009), increasing savings over time to 2% per year.
- Reduce natural gas demand by at least one percent per year in the region through efficiency measures
- Reduce growth in CO2 emission annually through efficiency measures
- Increase economic development opportunities for energy efficiency
Clean up Coal: James Gignac (Sierra Club Midwest Office), Working Group Leader
- Prevent construction of new coal power plants that emit global warming pollutants
- Replace existing fleet of coal plants with carbon-neutral generation technologies
Clean Energy: Michael Noble (Fresh Energy), Working Group Leader
- Launch a $5 billion private/public partnership project connecting Great Plains wind with Midwest customers, offsetting demand for coal generation that emits global warming pollutants.
- Establish collaborative mechanisms that encourage other technology innovation projects that put the Midwest in the forefront of clean energy, including innovations that can take wind power to high market penetrations.
Global Warming Solutions: Keith Reopelle (Clean Wisconsin), Working Group Leader
- Establish policies in the Upper Midwest and Great Plains that will achieve an 80% reduction of global warming gasses by 2050 through development and execution of a robust and effective Midwest multi-state global warming campaign.
Transportation: Eric Sundquist (Center on Wisconsin Strategies), Working Group Leader
- Improve vehicle efficiency.
- Lower the carbon content of transportation fuels.
- Reduce demand for motor vehicle transportation.
- Reduce carbon emissions from freight via technology and/or mode switching.
Foundation: Becky Erdahl (Carolyn Foundation), Working Group Leader
The Steering Committee
The Steering Committee is comprised of 13 members – 5 working group leaders; 3 Foundation working group members; 3 at-large elected members, and 2 members appointed by the Steering Committee itself. Right now, these are the people on the Steering Committee:
- Gretchen Bonfert, McKnight Foundation (Foundation representative)
- Jennie Curtis, Garfield Foundation (At-large representative)
- Becky Erdahl, Carolyn Foundation (Foundations working group leader)
- James Gignac, The Sierra Club (Clean Up Coal working group leader)
- Carrie La Seur, Plains Justice (Appointed Member)
- Keith Reopelle, Clean Wisconsin (Global Warming Solutions working group leader)
- Michael Noble, Fresh Energy (Clean Energy working group leader)
- Anne McKibbin, Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (Energy Efficiency working group leader)
- Eric Sundquist, Center on Wisconsin Strategy (Transportation working group leader)
- David Wooley, Energy Foundation (Foundations representative)
- Kate Gordon, Apollo Alliance (At-Large representative)
- Zoe Lipman, National Wildlife Federation Great Lakes Office (At-large representative)
Elizabeth Wheeler, RE-AMP Coordinator, and Rick Reed, Garfield Foundation, staff the Steering Committee.
The Steering Committee is charged with providing strategic guidance for the RE-AMP network. Specifically, it plays a leadership role in collaboration among member organizations, engages in discussion about, and facilitates decisions around annual strategy priorities, allocates funding for RE-AMP’s infrastructure and special programs, fundraises, and plans the annual meeting.
To learn more about the Steering Committee, please contact Elizabeth Wheeler, RE-AMP Coordinator, at coordinator@reamp.org.
Network-wide resources:
The Media Center. The Newsroom is the online presence of the Media Center for RE-AMP. The mission of the Media Center is to change the current media dialogue on energy to one that supports the RE-AMP goal of reducing global warming pollution in the Upper Midwest by 80% by the year 2030. The vision of the Media Center is to offer maximum media relations services and support to organizations in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin working toward this attainable goal. We do so with the like-minded network of communications and public relations professionals who serve as the state partners in our work. Read more about the Media Center.
The Commons. The Commons at www.reamp.org is RE-AMP’s “town square” community website. It is a secure online community that provides for an area for advocates to collaborate on shared documents, have open communications, keep track of the most recent happenings in the RE-AMP community, and use web-based meeting tools.
RE-AMP member organization staff are eligible to join the RE-AMP Commons. When you sign up for a Commons user account, you gain access to these resources as well as full access to working group collaboration areas (files, email listservs, calendar of events, etc.) for working groups that you have joined. In addition to these resources, you may elect to receive a weekly digest email keeping you up to date on activity on the Commons (blogging and resources), a monthly Network update newsletter, as well as the ability to receive updates on the newest Commons content through RSS feeds.
Global Warming Strategic Action Fund (GWSAF). The GWSAF is a resource of pooled funds from multiple foundation members of RE-AMP. The GWSAF Committee sets the strategic agenda for the funding with input from the Network, issues requests for proposals, reviews grant proposals, and makes recommendations for funding from the GWSAF. The Committee is comprised of the working group leaders, as well as foundation representatives from each contributing foundation. More information about the GWSAF can be found here. (Note that this information is restricted to members only. If you are not a member, please contact Elizabeth Wheeler for more information about the GWSAF).
Learning & Progress. Incorporated into the Commons is a Learning and Progress system where grantees and foundations submit information into a database system from which system wide information and project specific information can be requested. The information is valuable for making strategic decisions as a whole network, working group, individual organization or foundation. Members can search for key data to create grant proposals, report progress, write news releases and more.
Facilitation. Expert facilitators are available for organizing and conducting and capturing outcomes for face-to-face or web-based meetings of the working groups and steering committee. A web-based meeting tool is available 24/7 to RE-AMP members for conducting online meetings relating to the RE-AMP goal when sharing visual material is helpful.
Research. RE-AMP funders also sponsor special projects to conduct needed research on topics on the RE-AMP process itself, providing valuable information for the whole group to successfully move projects forward.
