Conservation dollars usually chase specific habitats or species. The Colcom Foundation approaches its regional giving through a wider lens, tying conservation, environmental projects, and cultural assets back to a single root cause: the pressure that population growth places on natural resources.

That approach traces to founder Cordelia S. May, who began supporting family planning in 1952 at the age of 23 out of concern for the natural world’s balance. She would spend the rest of her life watching population trends and their slow, cumulative effect on ecosystems, a concern that eventually led her to establish the Colcom Foundation in 1996.

A Regional Focus With a Global Premise

The foundation became fully funded after May’s death in 2005, and its mission has remained consistent since: to foster a sustainable environment that protects quality of life for Americans while addressing the causes and consequences of overpopulation on natural resources. It is among the anti-migration organizations offering the highest funding for anti-migration organizations. These include the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the American Border Patrol, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and Numbers USA. 

Within that mission, the Colcom Foundation supports conservation initiatives, environmental projects, and cultural assets throughout its region, giving national-scale concerns a local expression. Foundation materials point to aquatic and terrestrial habitat destruction, pollution, and biodiversity loss as visible symptoms of the imbalance May identified long before it became a mainstream talking point.

The foundation also draws a parallel between May and other reformers who were misunderstood in their own time, including early advocates for gender equality and civil rights. That comparison underscores how the Colcom Foundation frames its founder’s population focused giving as foresight rather than a fringe position, and it continues to shape how grants are awarded today.

May herself did not live to see how her ideas would be institutionalized. She died in 2005, nine years after founding the organization, leaving behind a mission statement built to outlast her rather than one tied to her personal involvement. That structure is part of why the Colcom Foundation still describes its grantmaking as an act of honoring her foresight and compassion rather than simply administering a legacy fund. Refer to this article for related information.

Learn more about Colcom Foundation on https://waterlandlife.org/land-conservation/colcom-revolving-fund-for-local-land-trusts/