Strategic Partnerships
The conservation and environmental movement is stronger and more powerful when we work together to advance common goals. That’s why we build partnerships into the very fabric of our work – shaping policies, implementing new policies, and amplifying voices across South Carolina to protect the air, land, and water we love.
CVSC supports our partners through facilitating consensus building processes, policy and polling research, grassroots mobilization efforts, issue campaign strategy support, technical assistance, and collaborative fundraising.
CVSC’s Partnerships Department is a fast-paced, effective team with a genuine and bold spirit. We are continuously innovating new ways to build trust, cultivate new allies, secure resources, increase our ability to help our allied partners grow, and deliver results. If you have similar values, we may be a good match.
Connect with Xavier, Katie, or Moses for more information on CVSC’s partnerships or to connect.
CVSC co-created Partnership Principles and Expectations with a broad and diverse group of partners across many sectors. With these Principles and Expectations, we have a tool that guides and informs our individual partnerships and coalition building efforts, allowing us to increase trust and prevent and resolve conflicts. Read more about our partnerships principles and expectations. Partnership Principles and Expectations 2022
Our Principles and Expectations are based on exhibiting and encouraging the following values:
- Value 1: Mutuality
- Value 2: Inclusivity
- Value 3: Trust
- Value 4: Collaboration
- Value 5: Accountability
- Value 6: Active Learning
- Value 7: Self Transformation
- Value 8: Appreciation
CVSC staff support the South Carolina Conservation Coalition and also serves on its steering committee. The Conservation Coalition is made up of over thirty-five conservation-minded organizations across the state who create a legislative Common Agenda every Year to coordinate shared advocacy goals. The Coalition has issue-focused committees, holds an annual retreat for all members for professional development and strategizing on issue campaigns, shares opportunities to educate lawmakers, and meets in Columbia annually during the legislative session for a Lobby Day & Oyster Roast. Our partnerships team is always looking for opportunities to grow and engage the Coalition. You can find out more about the Conservation Coalition here.
Through our Recruitment and Training Program, we work to identify and educate stakeholders of Boards and Commissions about service requirements, encourage attendance at public meetings, engage in the selection and voting processes, and advocate governance rules that favor greater accessibility and democracy in decision-making. The SC Palmetto Leadership Academy is a component of the program that focuses on recruiting, training, and growing winning leadership that has a strong foundation in protecting the state’s natural resources.
CVSC is a member of the South Carolina Energy Justice Coalition, a dynamic coalition of over 50 organizations across the four regions of SC working to support communities dealing with high energy burdens and other inequities in the SC energy system after the COVID-19 pandemic. Energy burdens were exacerbated during the pandemic as low-wealth communities were forced to spend more time and resources in the household, while working less hours. We are guided by facilitated dialogue (quarterly), our grassroots base, and Environmental Justice values as we advocate a just and clean energy future for all South Carolinians. (We can include a link to the residential energy survey when that is finalized.)
We empower grassroots efforts through:
- community organizing
- support, advice, and education
- student organizing
- network-building
- research
- policies and technologies (e.g. weatherization)
- limited legal and technical assistance
- community-based surveying
Our Impact
CVSC 2020-2024 strategic plan prioritizes passage of clean energy, land protection, and water quality policies, conservation; building a conservation majority in the General Assembly; strengthening the conservation movement in South Carolina; and ensuring all of our efforts are rooted in racial justice and equity.