Napa Green: Funding Nonprofit Social Ventures in Crisis

Napa Green, a regional vineyard and winery sustainability certification program, is in its first year transitioning out from under the umbrella of its parent company, the Napa Valley Vintners (NVV). Napa Green was fully funded by the NVV as a way to help their members achieve compliance with the local, statewide, and national environmental regulations. However, the NVV sought to create a program that would one day be its own independent nonprofit. At the beginning of 2020, the NVV began stepping down their funding to Napa Green with the hopes that the organization could be fully funded on its own by 2022. Anna Brittain, the executive director of Napa Green, began seeking out funding sources to get the organization to financial independence as soon as possible. With the Coronavirus pandemic having serious impacts on the U.S. economy, forcing many businesses to close or rethink the way they operate, Napa Green was forced to completely rework its business plan to secure funding, as well as find a way to continue fulfilling the organization’s mission with limited resources.