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Rachel Gelman

February 17, 2026

Rachel Gelman is a community organizer and philanthropist who works to build and resource social movements that fight for a world where all beings can thrive and live in alignment with one another and the planet. She is the founder of the Willow Fund and serves on the board of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund. She was a founding member of Climate Cousins, a project that grants money to organizations worldwide working to stop climate change. She has worked for various social justice nonprofits, including Jewish Youth for Community Action, Showing Up for Racial Justice, and Resource Generation. She received a BA from Wesleyan University. She lives in Berkeley, California, with her partner and kids.

Recent Posts

The Green Transition Cannot Be Built on Poisoned Rivers 


June 15, 2026 – By Pianporn (Pai) Deetes

The following piece is a guest post by Pianporn Deetes, Executive Director of Rivers and Rights.  For six days, I walked alongside monks, Indigenous communities, women, youth, artists, and river defenders along the Kok River, a tributary of the Mekong in northern Thailand near the borders of Myanmar and Laos. We carried out this Peace Walk because people…

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How Women Past and Present Drive the Environmental Movement


June 9, 2026

This year, for the first time ever, all six recipients of the Goldman Environmental Prize are women. The 2026 Goldman Prize winners—Iroro Tanshi (Nigeria), Borim Kim (South Korea), Sarah Finch (United Kingdom), Theonila Roka Matbob (Papua New Guinea), Alannah Acaq Hurley (United States), and Yuvelis Morales Blanco (Colombia)—represent a powerful group of environmental leaders. Their…

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A Q&A with Sarah Finch on Reshaping Climate Policy in the UK


May 19, 2026

When asked what it’s like to have a major climate ruling named after her, Sarah Finch responded, “It’s really cool!” A writer and editor from southeastern England, Sarah is now a well-known name in environmental circles thanks to the “Finch ruling,” a 2024 decision by the UK Supreme Court that requires environmental assessments to consider the downstream impacts that fossil fuels will have on the global climate, in addition to local…

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