May 21, 1998 | Read Time: 4 minutes
Like other foundations created by the heirs of Levi Strauss, the Richard & Rhoda Goldman Fund spends most of its money on charities in the San Francisco Bay area.
But unlike the philanthropy of other heirs of Mr. Strauss, the Goldman Fund’s best-known effort, the Goldman Environmental Prize, goes to people from around the world.
“I would say we were influenced by an earlier commitment to philanthropy,” says Richard Goldman, president of the foundation he created with his late wife, Rhoda, a Strauss heir. “But we always did it on our own.”
Until now, the Goldman Fund — which saw its assets swell in March from about $180-million to $330-million as a result of payments from a stock-buyback agreement with Levi Strauss & Company — has operated the prize as a project of the foundation. But starting this year the program was separately incorporated and given a $36-million endowment by the family to cover its expenses in perpetuity.
Each year, Goldman Prizes are awarded to six environmental activists, one from each of the inhabited continents of the world. Over the years, the Goldman Fund has distributed $3.7-million to 57 prize winners. This year, the value of the prize was increased from $75,000 to $100,000, a sum that is given to each recipient with no strings attached.
The fund receives nominations from 91 environmental experts around the world and from representatives of 21 environmental organizations in different parts of the globe. Nominees are studied carefully before they are taken to the selection committee, which is made up of Goldman family members and several environmental experts.
This year’s prizes were announced last month in San Francisco. The winner from North America, Kory Johnson, is the youngest person ever to win a Goldman award. Ms. Johnson, a 19-year-old freshman at Arizona State University, was recognized for her battles with state-government officials and business leaders who were attempting to erect a toxic-waste incinerator near her home.
Ms. Johnson began her life as an environmental activist at age 9, after the death of her 16-year-old sister. Family members believe that the girl died because Kory’s mother drank contaminated well water when she was pregnant. Rather than allowing herself to be overcome by grief, Kory Johnson fought back, organizing other children to protest industrial pollution and founding a grassroots environmental group, Children for a Safe Environment.
Speaking at a presentation ceremony in Washington, Ms. Johnson decried corporations and governments for choosing to locate environmentally hazardous facilities where society’s poorest people live.
“Why are all the dirty, polluting industries placed in poor, minority neighborhoods and on Native American lands?” she asked.
Since the first prizes were awarded, in 1990, the program has gained widespread international attention for its winners, grassroots organizers who have often taken bold positions in opposition to government and corporate policies. Press clippings about Goldman recipients fill a thick binder to overflowing, and the award has generated numerous radio and television broadcasts.
One of the purposes of the prize is to highlight the plight of anonymous people suffering from horrific pollution in remote corners of the world, says Duane Silverstein, executive director of the Goldman Fund. To that end, few Goldman Prize winners were well-known before they were chosen.
“To give a prize to the already famous doesn’t accomplish very much, since the most important goal is to draw international attention to the problems,” says Mr. Silverstein.
There are exceptions, however. Perhaps the most famous Goldman Prize winner was also the most tragic: the Nigerian author and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. Even the attention from the Goldman Prize, and the vocal support of environmental and human-rights activists around the world, could not protect Mr. Saro-Wiwa, who was executed by authorities in his country on murder charges that were widely believed to have been trumped up.
Foundation officials and others hope that one of last year’s prize winners, Alexander Nikitin, will benefit from the additional attention generated by the award.
Mr. Nikitin, a former naval captain in the Soviet Northern Fleet, published a report on the potential environmental catastrophe lurking under the Barents Sea, where the Russian navy keeps dozens of nuclear submarines.
For helping to bring the attention of the world to that situation, Mr. Nikitin was charged with treason and spent 10 months behind bars. Although he was released from prison prior to receiving the Goldman Prize, largely as a result of international pressure, treason charges are still pending. Environmental activists believe that with recognition generated by the prize and other publicity, Mr. Nikitin is likely to escape further incarceration.
Mr. Silverstein thinks he knows why the Goldman Prize has succeeded in generating worldwide press attention, while many other prizes have gone unnoticed.
“Most prizes make the mistake of being too self-promoting,” says Mr. Silverstein. Conversely, he says, “at the Goldman Fund, we have tried to promote the winners, not ourselves.”
