Today, the Ray C. Anderson Foundation launched the Live Oak Initiative, a new philanthropic effort designed to mobilize investment, strengthen collaboration, and accelerate equitable climate solutions and community resilience across the Southeastern United States. The Foundation has also named Alexandria H. McBride as the initiative’s founding executive director.
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Live Oak will work alongside regional and national philanthropic organizations to facilitate new, collaborative funding models to support Southern-led, community-driven organizations as they build healthier communities, stronger local economies, and lasting opportunities for generations to come.
“The Southeast does not lack leadership or solutions. What’s missing is the sustained, flexible investment needed to bring promising solutions to scale,” said Jay Lanier, trustee of the Ray C. Anderson Foundation and co-chair of the Live Oak Initiative. “Live Oak aims to help close that gap by connecting funders, mobilizing resources, and strengthening the work already underway.”
Over the past 14 years, the Ray C. Anderson Foundation has built a strong track record of cultivating meaningful partnerships with grantees and advancing climate solutions across the South. Building on that experience as a trusted partner and recognized leader in Southern philanthropy, Live Oak will help funders identify investment opportunities, connect people and institutions, and strengthen coordination across the Southeast in support of locally-driven priorities. These efforts will help build healthier, more livable communities while expanding equitable access to the economic opportunities of a more sustainable and resilient Southern economy.
“No region is more vulnerable to the climate crisis than the Southeast, and there’s also no region that’s in a better place to respond,” said Dena Chadwick, president and CEO of Philanthropy Southeast. “Philanthropic leaders and their partners in the South understand the power of connection – not only to each other, but also to their communities – and are ready to work together to address this generational challenge.”
An Atlanta native, incoming Executive Director Alexandria H. McBride brings nearly two decades of experience advancing climate solutions, directing investment, and building partnerships across philanthropy, government, nonprofits, and the private sector. She has built new initiatives from the ground up and has brought funders and community leaders together to align philanthropic and public resources with locally driven priorities.
“Alexandria’s experience in high level philanthropic strategy coupled with her career-long focus on the intersection of environmental policy, social justice, and philanthropy, along with her strong commitment to building authentic partnerships, are exactly what we need as we launch Live Oak,” said McCall Filipovich Langford, trustee at the Ray C. Anderson Foundation and co-chair of the Live Oak Initiative. “Coming back home to Atlanta and bringing her knowledge and expertise with her is a boon to our region.”
Prior to joining Live Oak, McBride served as strategy director and senior program officer at Waverley Street Foundation, where she shaped the foundation’s early strategy and led a $90 million national portfolio with deep grantee relationships across the Southeast. As Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Oakland, California, McBride secured $28 million in state and philanthropic funding for affordable housing and climate resilience projects.
“I believe the South can show the country what a more just, resilient, and prosperous future looks like, with historically underinvested communities helping lead the way. At a time when our democracy, economy, and environment are all being tested, the work we do here can inspire change far beyond the region,” said McBride. “Live Oak’s role is to help philanthropy invest boldly and respond to the priorities of the region, while strengthening the institutions and supporting the leaders driving this work.”
The third generation of Ray C. Anderson’s family has collaborated to ensure the legacy of climate action lives on as the next evolution of the Foundation’s work. Under McBride’s leadership, Live Oak will embody the character, integrity, and success of the Foundation, and it will be guided by the Foundation’s values of innovation, impact, and positive disruption.
“The effects of climate change are increasingly part of our everyday reality, from extreme heat and flooding to more hurricanes and drought. These exacerbated challenges are already affecting Southeastern communities and are deeply connected to our health, livelihoods and the natural systems we depend on,” said Vasser Seydel, president of The Oxygen Project, director of the Turner Foundation, Inc. board, and advisory board member of the Live Oak Initiative. “I’m excited to see my third-generation peers at the Ray C. Anderson Foundation create Live Oak as a shared resource to help make connections and catalyze greater investment in a more resilient South.”
Live Oak will be incubated within the Ray C. Anderson Foundation, with plans for it to stand alone as a nonprofit organization within a few years. To learn more, visit raycandersonfoundation.org/liveoak.
About the Live Oak Initiative
The Live Oak Initiative is a new philanthropic effort dedicated to accelerating investment in equitable climate solutions and community resilience across the Southeastern United States. As a catalyst for climate philanthropy, Live Oak will mobilize resources, foster collaboration among funders and Southern leaders and institutions, and strengthen partnerships to advance healthier, more resilient, and prosperous communities. Currently incubated within the Ray C. Anderson Foundation, Live Oak builds on the Foundation’s legacy of environmental leadership, innovation, and collaboration. Live Oak plans to become an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, advancing bold approaches to philanthropic investment and collaboration for years to come.
About the Ray C. Anderson Foundation
The Ray C. Anderson Foundation is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that seeks to promote a sustainable society by supporting and funding educational and project-based initiatives that advance knowledge and innovation in sustainability. In 2025, the Foundation announced its planned sunset by the end of 2030. To learn more, visit raycandersonfoundation.org.
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