DendriFund: Environment, Economics & Social Equity

When the independent, nonprofit organization DendriFund was founded about 10 years ago, its purpose was to honor the long-term sustainability aspirations of its founding stakeholders: the Brown family and Brown-Forman, one of the largest American- owned companies in the spirits and wine business and the only spirits company in the world that makes its own barrels. Today, DendriFund’s mission is to inspire joint action to improve the natural, social, and economic environment for future generations with programs focused on wood, water, and grain — the natural ingredients needed to make bourbon whiskey. As Brown-Forman is the manufacturer of Jack Daniel’s and other spirits with distilling processes that rely on white oak, it’s not surprising that DendriFund was a founding partner in the White Oak Initiative.

“This was exactly the kind of effort we were looking to help build. Our approach is very community-centered and dependent on engagement with community members, environmental stakeholders, and industry all working together at the same table.”
— Barbara Hurt

“This was exactly the kind of effort we were looking to help build,” says DendriFund Executive Director Barbara Hurt. She explains, “Our approach is very community-centered and dependent on engagement with community members, environmental stakeholders, and industry all working together at the same table. In this case the effort requires support from business, nonprofits, academia, landowners, government organizations, and more. Given the multiple benefits of white oak, it isn’t surprising that all these groups with seemingly differing agendas are able to find common ground.”

The white oak story is a compelling one, Hurt says, and not just for the bourbon industry. “It’s this incredible species,” she notes, “that when you manage for its health, you manage for the whole forest.”

Partly based on a wide variety of stakeholder support, Hurt is optimistic for the Initiative’s success. She says, “When you have this many and varied stakeholders committed, you get a ripple effect that’s much greater than what you could have accomplished alone.”