CSF history
Since its grassroots beginning in 2004, CSF has provided oversight and funding for student-driven sustainability work on campus. From its beginnings as a grantmaking entity to support the implementation of the Climate Action Plan to its current form of as a leader of comprehensive justice-centered sustainability programming, our history has demonstrated the vital role of centering students in climate solutions and our power when we problem solve together.
CSF vision & mission evolution
Read about how our mission and vision have evolved since our inception and the goals that informed each statement.
Our vision (2024 version)
A united front of leaders across disciplines and generations to secure a just and sustainable future — rooted in collective action, climate resilience, and radical change.
Goal: Simplify our vision to align with the ultimate goal and genesis of the Campus Sustainability Fund, which has always been to foster collective action among students across campus (from different disciplines, backgrounds, lived experiences, ages, and career paths) to fight for a more sustainable future. A future that recognizes we must radically change the extractive way we think about our solutions and relationship to Earth – now – if we hope to build a future that can sustain us all. One that celebrates multiple ways of knowing, grounded in regenerative economy, formed around reciprocal relationships (with eachother, Mother Earth, generations passed and those yet to come), and committed to justice for those most affected and silenced in the climate movement.
At its core, the CSF provides opportunities for UW students to engage in the proposal, planning, and implementation of sustainability-oriented projects from conceptual design to project management through completion. Through this process, the CSF envisions its role as a catalyst for dialogue and proposed solutions to environmental justice concerns, threats to longevity, and other societal problems that have a disproportionately negative impact on communities of color, and on Black and Indigenous peoples.
Goal: More explicitly align with efforts of environmental justice and social sustainability.
At its core, the CSF provides opportunities for UW students to engage in the proposal, planning, and implementation of sustainability-oriented projects from conceptual design to project management through completion.
Goal: Use inclusive language that appeals to diverse communities and academic disciplines on campus. Links to the CSF’s goal to make a broader impact in sustainability, beyond grantmaking.
When the CSF was founded in 2010, it did not have a vision statement. This was introduced in 2019.
A vision statement describes the long-term, aspirational goals of an organization. It outlines what the organization ultimately wants to achieve or the impact it hopes to make in the future. A vision is often broad, inspirational, and forward-looking, painting a picture of the ideal state the organization strives to create.
Where we want to go; the ideal future we aim to create.
Our mission (2024 version)
The Campus Sustainability Fund at UW Seattle believes campus is a living lab. We offer experiences to equip students with skills as connectors across silos, project leaders of climate solutions, narrative-changers that champion “justice-centered sustainability,” and decision-makers to lead the youth sustainability movement vital for our collective future.
Goal: To bring forward other aspects beyond grantmaking that contribute to campus being a living laboratory for real-world solutions. The new mission statement highlights the skills and roles students gain through interacting with the CSF as connectors, project leaders, narrative-changer, and decision makers. The shift from “campus-wide social equity” to “justice-centered sustainability” aims to position the work CSF does on UW’s campus with the broader movement for climate and environmental justice – this highlights our role in fostering passion and experience among youth during their time at UW.
To foster an environmentally and socially engaged university culture and create a sustainable campus by funding multidisciplinary, student initiated and led projects. Guided by student oversight through each phase of the grantmaking and project management process, our work aims to increase campus-wide social equity, community resilience, and climate action.
Goal: To connect with sentiments of anti-racism, anti-colonialism, reclamation of land, indigenous sovereignty, and justice for BIPOC communities. Environmental and social sustainability are called out separately, expanding the scope of the CSF beyond traditional environmental projects that aim to reduce “impact” – the University of Washington is seen in deep relationship with its surrounding environment that can create benefit, not an entity that needs to be limited to minimize burden. “Campus equity” was switched out for campus-wide social equity, “resilience” for community resilience, and “stewardship” for climate action. The integration of climate action nods to the CSF’s role in creating changemakers for a more sustainable future – it is not enough to steward the land, direct action must be taken to create the just and sustainable future desired.
The Campus Sustainability Fund (CSF) is working to create a sustainable campus and foster an intentional and involved university culture by funding student-led multidisciplinary projects that drive campus equity, resilience, and stewardship.
Goal: The mission evolves to use inclusive language that appeals to diverse communities and academic disciplines on campus. Concepts of equity, resilience, and stewardship of funds (and the University of Washington) are introduced.
CSF’s mission is to create a sustainable campus and foster an environmentally conscious culture by funding student-led projects that reduce the University of Washington's impact on the environment.
Goal: Attract student-led projects that reduce environmental impacts on campus. Shifts the framing of the University of Washington from something contributing to “environmental impact” to an entity that directly impacts the environment.
The mission of the Campus Sustainability Fund is to create a sustainable campus and foster an environmentally conscious University culture by funding student-led projects that lessen the University of Washington’s environmental impact.
Goal: Attract environmentally conscious student-led projects and engage the student body.
A mission statement defines the organization's purpose and the actions it takes to achieve its vision. It focuses on the present, detailing what the organization does, who it serves, and how it operates. A mission is more specific and action-oriented, guiding day-to-day activities and decision-making.
What we do; how we work to achieve the vision.
*Please note that the CSF did not have a vision statement until 2019, so some elements of a vision may be reflected in the earlier versions of the CSF mission.