Want to feel inspired? Look no further than Ari Nessel, founder and president of The Pollination Project. Ari and his team are on a compassionate mission. They give away $1,000 a day to change-makers around the world. We sat down with Ari to find out more about his amazing foundation.
Can you tell us a little bit about what The Pollination Project is and what motivated you to start it?
The Pollination Project is a new grant-making organization that gives $1,000 seed grants every day of the year to highly motivated, individual change-makers who have a practical vision for how to make positive social change in the world. Our focus is on projects that forward compassion in the world, but we accept applications from a wide variety of people across almost every issue area you can think of–environment, justice, art and culture, human rights, movement building, animal protection, and more.
As an entrepreneur myself, I am inspired by the entrepreneurial spirit that so many activists demonstrate. I wanted to match their hard work, creativity, and commitment with a little capital. We know $1,000 isn’t a huge amount of money–and that is by design. We wanted to offer an amount that was just enough to get a seed project to start growing roots. Often our funding is used for groups to do activities that will help them build a sustainable support base. You will see we like to fund expenses like promotion, fundraising, social media, logo design, and filing for their nonprofit status.
The Pollination Project is still so young but has accomplished so much so quickly. What are some of the accomplishments you are most proud of so far?
The feedback we’ve been getting from applicants and others is that this is an idea whose time has come. We seem to have tapped into something that is much bigger than my team and I originally envisioned. In our planning stage last summer and fall, we had hoped to launch our daily grant-making on July 1st, 2013. Because of the excitement and demand for our grants, we ended up starting six months early on January 1st. Already we are on pace to receive over 2,000 applications in our first year. This just tells me that there are many people out there who have passion, vision, and commitment to changing the world. I feel inspired every time I get to read their applications on how they wish to be the change they want to see in the world.
The other accomplishment is seeing how much value we create for grantees beyond the $1,000. The money is just one piece. We’ve been able to get some great media attention for individual grantees. We’ve supported grantees with technical questions like applying or 501(c)(3) status, or fundraising strategies. But as important, our grant award is a validation of a person and a project, and in many cases, the grantee has taken the announcement of our grant and used it to leverage media attention, additional fundraising support, and important new partnerships. We are proud that each grant has become so much more valuable than $1,000.
You have been vegan and a supporter of Mercy For Animals for a long time. Why is vegetarianism and farmed animal advocacy so important to you?
Years ago, I was blessed to be the beneficiary of the work of another animal rights activist named Jewels (whose name I only found out many years later). As a result of his efforts, I had an insight about how the choices I made could lead to great suffering of others or instead to healing and connection. Since then, I have sought to water the seed of compassion within me. Veganism is a manifestation of that seed. Three times each and every day I have an opportunity to exercise kindness and make choices that have integrity with my values. I may be against war or capital punishment or guns, but how often can I take some sort of action that aligns my life with these morals? And more importantly, what other actions could I personally take, or encourage others to take, that would reduce as much killing and suffering as eliminating meat from one’s diet?
One of my favorite quotes comes from holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize winner Isaac Bashevis Singer. He said, “To be a vegetarian is to disagree, to disagree with the course of things today. Starvation, world hunger, cruelty, waste, wars: we must make a statement about these things. Vegetarianism is my statement. And I think it is a good one.” Amen!
You have participated in a lot of veg activism over the years. Can you share some highlights?
The most recurring highlight for me is when I find out secondhand or years later about someone I influenced to adopt a plant-based diet. It’s remarkable how many people I have influenced to make such a change and had no idea at the time. Sometimes when that happens, I run the numbers in my head about how many animals were spared egregious suffering as a result of my influence on that person. These opportunities encourage me to continue to be a voice for animals, and they validate my intention to not waste my privileges and precious time toward superfluous goals.
What are some of The Pollination Project grants related to vegan advocacy or promoting compassion for farmed animals that have been given out?
Even though we just started our daily grant-making operations three months ago, we have funded many projects in the area of animal protection, animal rights, and vegan advocacy. Several of these have come out of the MFA network directly. These include:
- An animal rights oral history project spearheaded by Carolyn Mullin and the National Museum of Animals and Society;
- Adam Sugalski and Carrie LeBlanc’s CircusProtest.com project that educates Ringling Brothers audience members about the cruelty of the circus; and
- Jodie Wiederker’s Center for Ethical Science, an advocacy group working to educate the public about invasive animal research and testing.
You can also go to our website and search on the word “vegan” or “animal” to find a much larger list of grants we’ve made in this area.
What advice do you have for animal lovers who want to do more to help, and how can they apply for a Pollination Project grant?
It is easy to apply for a grant from The Pollination Project. Click on “Apply” from our website, and you will see the links to funding guidelines and the qualifying questionnaire that helps you figure out if you fit our guidelines. It takes two weeks before our board reviews an application, but we try to make a decision quickly. In most cases, applicants will have a yes or no answer within three to four weeks of applying.
We definitely have a special place in our heart for anything that has a vegan or animal rights bend to it. In fact, I would love for a much higher percentage of our grants to be focused on such efforts. It is my hope that we can encourage many more animal rights advocates to figure out what special opportunities they have for outreach in the world and that they will apply for a grant.
Animal rights is not a philosophy, it’s a way of life. To me, “compassion” is a verb!
