The History Behind Colcom Foundation’s Environmental Philosophy

To understand Colcom Foundation, it helps to start with the woman who created it. Cordelia S. May founded the organization in Pittsburgh in 1996, but her commitment to environmental stewardship predates that by more than four decades. By 1952, at just 23 years old, she was already giving to family planning causes out of concern for the natural world and the quality of life that ecological degradation would ultimately cost humanity.

Incremental Growth, Cumulative Harm

One of the ideas central to Mrs. May’s thinking was that population growth is deceptive in its pace. From day to day, the changes are too subtle to register. Over time, however, the cumulative force of that growth becomes a defining pressure on natural systems. The result, as Colcom Foundation’s About page outlines, includes aquatic and terrestrial habitat destruction, pollution, biodiversity loss, and ecosystem collapse consequences that mainstream discourse still rarely attributes to overpopulation.

Mrs. May spent her life trying to bring that connection into sharper focus. The foundation she created positions her as part of a lineage of reformers figures like those who advocated for gender equality and civil rights before public opinion caught up with them. The suggestion is that Mrs. May’s views on population and ecology, once ahead of their time, are now being validated by the environmental crises unfolding in real time.

Foundation Mission

Colcom Foundation was substantially funded following Mrs. May’s death in 2005. Its stated mission is to foster a sustainable environment that ensures quality of life for all Americans by confronting the causes and consequences of overpopulation and its effects on natural resources. At the regional level, Colcom Foundation also supports conservation work, environmental programs, 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.

Grantmaking at the foundation is explicitly designed to honor its founder’s humanitarian perspective, foresight, and long-term vision for a world in ecological balance. Read this article for more information.

Find more information about Colcom Foundation on https://www.guidestar.org/profile/31-1479839

To understand Colcom Foundation, it helps to start with the woman who created it. Cordelia S. May founded the organization in Pittsburgh in 1996, but her commitment to environmental stewardship predates that by more than four decades. By 1952, at just 23 years old, she was already giving to family planning causes out of concern…