Blog

With this blog TCI will continue to speak with our own voice about the true environmental and human costs of corporate actions.


On a two-week visit to Thailand with our program director to visit several True Costs Initiative grantee partners, including the Community Resource Centre Foundation, I learned that real community lawyering looks nothing like “traditional” lawyering, and it is precisely that…

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by Loretta Taylor, Nittaya Saenbut, and Peggy Chu   On January 18, 2023, True Costs Initiative (TCI) and Draper Richards Kaplan (DRK) Foundation joined forces to host Strengthening Organization Fundraising Capacity: A Fireside Conversation with Emily Edwards. The sense of…

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One day, I nodded absentmindedly at a comment my four-year old made. She looked at me and said: ‘Mama, you aren’t listening to me with your listening ears!’ I was simultaneously taken aback and humbled. This was undoubtedly something she heard…

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Words are like cozy sweaters. You’ve had them so long that you don’t remember who gifted them to you, but you keep them anyway. But what happens when they no longer fit?  When they feel itchy on the skin and suffocating at…

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I walked away from the corporate world after a decade of practicing law at a multinational business, and I never looked back. I dove into the philanthropic space with curiosity, passion, and a thirst to learn all I could in…

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The ocean is our global commons, our birthright, our collective heritage, and our heirloom. This concept is enshrined under international law – the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). However, laws and concepts resonate much less with…

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Some early mornings during this tumultuous pandemic when there was no calm or accessible refuge for my family and I, we found ourselves at the ocean.  Our awe of the ocean was accompanied by a deep appreciation of our obligation…

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  “If I’m gonna tell a real story, I’m gonna start with my name.” – Kendrick Lamar The human rights version of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act” (FCPA) is being proposed by a range of global advocates, including grassroots organizations…

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I froze.  Speechless.  Unable, unwilling to breathe. It’s been almost a year since I’ve hugged anyone outside my household, specifically my husband.  Hugging – the way Americans and many cultures do – isn’t big where I come from: the Isan…

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In summer of 2020, the Response and Vision Fund, seeded by True Costs Initiative and nine other funders, first launched with the goal of building and shifting power to workers and frontline communities; holding corporate, financial, and government actors accountable;…

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Throughout my career in sustainable development and now philanthropy, I’ve always wrestled with the concept of “capacity building.”  It’s common to see the term described and practiced as a means to bring change – be it long-term, short-term or at…

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What Bob Marley’s “One Love” Can Teach Us About the Climate Catastrophe in The Bahamas My eyes filled with tears several times as I watched the media coverage about Hurricane Dorian’s devastation of The Bahamas.  This story is becoming much…

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