TransForm
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"Up" is the number of experts who agree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in the
field. "Down" is the number of experts who disagree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in field.
Located: Oakland, CA
Founded: 1997
Mission: TransForm works to create world-class public transportation and walkable communities in the Bay Area and beyond. It builds diverse coalitions, influence policy, and develop innovative programs to improve the lives of all people and protect the environment.
Summary
Stories
Expert Reviews
Leadership
From the Nonprofit
Leadership
Stuart Cohen.
Stuart Cohen is co-founder and Executive Director of TransForm. By combining high-quality policy analysis with coalition building and strategic media efforts, TransForm has become a powerful and effective voice for world class transit and walkable communities in the Bay Area and beyond. TransForm's campaigns on transportation sales taxes and other funding measures have brought together diverse coalitions and helped raise…
See full bio.
Financial Data
| Read Annual Report | Overhead Ratio: n/a |
| Total Revenue: $3,632,711 |
From the Nonprofit
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Contact Info
| Website: | http://transformca.org | Address: | 436 14th Street, Suite 600 |
| E-Mail: | webmaster AT TransFormCA.org | Oakland, CA 94612, USA | |
| Phone: | 510-740-3150 | ||
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Story:
Read about a dedicated family who volunteered to cut back on car use for a week:
Amber Evans, a self-described soccer mom from Berkeley, had to get her son to a Concord soccer tournament at 8 a.m. Sunday. For many moms the most challenging part of the trip would be getting their child out of bed and in uniform in time. But Evans and her husband, Simon Troll, had a vastly more difficult challenge: They'd vowed not to drive their Toyota Prius.
Evans and her husband pledged to go carless from June 1 2010 to June 6 2010 as part of the Car Free Challenge sponsored by TransForm, an Oakland-based transit advocacy group. About 150 participants in the challenge set a low mileage goal for the week and tracked their progress online. This is the second year TransForm has challenged Bay Area residents in what they hope can be an annual - and eventually permanent - event. The duration of the campaign was shortened from a month in 2009 to a week this year to encourage participation and make the challenge more realistic, said Marta Lindsey, the communications and development director for TransForm.
The pledge is intended to help people realize both the importance of public transportation and the extent to which they depend on their cars, she said. "So many people are making those little trips on errands" with their car, Lindsey said. "They don't realize how they can add up."
(Learn more about other volunteers who participated in the Car Free Challenge at: http://www.transformca.org/newsarticle/volunteers-cut-back-car-use-week)
Expert Reviews of TransForm
Evidence of Impact Summary:
TransForm has advanced more sustainable land use and transportation policies in the Bay Area. They took on the Bay Area's transportation funding blueprint, and won millions of dollars for public transportation. They helped pass the $1 bridge toll increase to fund transit. They played an influential role in AB32 and SB375, and their GreenTRIP and Safe Routes to School programs has demonstrated quantified, impressive results.See expert comments.
Organization Strengths Summary:
Experts agree that TransForm has a truly outstanding Executive Director and equally impressive staff working for the organization. The organization is able to translate complicated policy issues into language that everyone can understand. They are great advocates and successful coalition builders.See expert comments.
Areas for Improvement Summary:
Some experts believe TransForm should stay focused on their main efforts while others believe they should be bolder and more ambitious in their work, expanding regionally and trying to impact state policy, as well as think more about social justice goals. In order to accomplish this, they will have to develop their staff more.See expert comments.
Expert Comments: Evidence of Impact
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Impact |
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Transform has steered the regional metropolitan planning organization to direct more money for transit than roads, and more specifically, less carbon heavy transportation than more carbon and other resource intense activities. Our metropolitan planning organization sets an example for the state and the federal governments, which could potentially create ripple effects. | ||
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Transform has impacted policies in the Bay Area to increase funding for transit and to reprioritize transportation funding to walking, cycling, and transit projects. | ||
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Transportation is one of the most important and difficult sectors regarding climate change. TransForm focuses on the key levers of change. For example it funds decision makers at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission as well as those at the state level. They produce credible studies to make their case, and they organize and exert political power. They form strategic alliances to further their goals. They also inspire, educate, align, and mobilize allies. | ||
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TransForm advocates good policies on transportation and land use and has strong contacts in the legislature. | ||
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Since the late 1990s TransForm has used the skills of cutting edge research, policy advocacy, and coalition building to significantly reshape the priorities and perspectives of regional agencies, in particular the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Plans and programs from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission now reflect goals of sustainability and social equity much more than they did a decade ago because of TransForm's efforts. TranForm can bring this track record of success from the transportation sector to impacting climate emissions. | ||
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TransForm is by far the most knowledgeable, respected, and effective group in California working on local and statewide smart growth issues. As the state struggles to implement AB32, the global warming solutions act, TransForm is at the negotiating table to help establish local targets for emissions reductions. TransForm works with diverse communities to ensure that residents, especially low income families, get fair access to transportation. | ||
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TransForm is an expert on the connection between land use, transportation and climate change. They have produced reports quantifying the economic benefits of improved transportation and land use planning, tying their efforts to issues people care most about right now. They are the watchdog of the metropolitan transportation commission, and have secured 70M in transit funding from boondoggle Oakland airport connector. | ||
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TransForm's car-free challenge is a great social marketing tool they do every June to raise money and change behavior. Their GreenTRIP program endorses and improves potential developments. Their Bus Rapid Transit in San Jose/Santa Clara County is a grassroots campaign to educate the public on the benefits of the Bus Rapid Transit. | ||
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TransForm has been working on the land use aspects of AB32 and SB375. | ||
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TransForm has made an impact by bringing a much needed focus to the issue of transportation and land use, and the roles that transportation and land use play in climate change. | ||
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TransForm has successfully shifted Bay Area transportation policy towards more climate-friendly choices, both at the regional level with the Regional Transportation Plan and at the county level through transportation sales tax measure campaigns. | ||
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TransForm is well connected into Bay Area policymakers and has been a strong and effective advocacy voice in favor of progressive local and state level transportation and land use policy decisions. | ||
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TransForm has strong collaboration and participation in their network. | ||
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TransForm is effective at advocating for transit and land use planning. They played an influential role in AB32 and SB375. | ||
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TransForm is active in supporting transportation investments that promote alternatives to driving. Transportation (primarily personal cars & pickups/SUVs) accounts for over 40% of greenhouse gas in the SF Bay Area, so that clearly should be our focus. | ||
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Transform has the ability to influence transportation policy in the region. | ||
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Transform's focus on land use changes as a way to reduce greenhouse gas has been forward-thinking, including their creation of a new tool to create a certification program for trip reduction in new development. Their Safe Routes to School program has demonstrated quantified, impressive results. | ||
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TransForm worked in communities to get specific plans approved for transit oriented development. They also have an impact on higher level policy work. In addition, their new program Green Trip holds tremendous promise for building a base of support with infill builders. | ||
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TransForm has been the most effective NGO in the Bay Area pushing to advance more sustainable land use and transportation planning and investment. They have single-handedly re-directed the debate at the regional level, forcing transportation funding agencies to re-focus on transit provision, transit oriented development, provision of transit to transit-dependent populations, and advancing the dialogue on climate mitigation through land use and transportation investment strategies. | ||
Expert Comments: Organization Strengths
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Exceptional Leadership and Staff |
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The Executive Director is a great speaker and sits on state boards. The staff is rich in skills and quite passionate and there's not much turnover so the institutional memory is deep. | ||
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Their core strengths are leadership, expertise in policy making, ability to quickly mobilize and engage many organizations in advocacy, and community organizing to influence policy making at the local level. | ||
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I am very impressed with all the TransForm staff I've met. They seem professional, upbeat, responsive, smart, energetic, and dedicated. I trust Stuart Cohen's unswerving "eye on the prize." As long as I've known him, he finds the right path and moves his organization and other followers along this path. | ||
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Stuart Cohen is a visionary leader with years of experience. | ||
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The senior leadership at TransForm has been very consistent. The Executive Director and Deputy Executive Director have been with the organization for more than a decade. This senior leadership team has significant issue expertise and also brings a great deal of experience about policy campaigns. TransForm is also good at translating complicated policy and planning information into information that can be understood by numerous constituencies. | ||
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They have strong leadership, a compelling vision for a sustainable transportation future, and exceptional coalition building skills. | ||
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They have strong leadership and impressive growth. | ||
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They have a large staff and policy experts. | ||
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I think the mission and the staff of this organization is strong. | ||
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They have very strong executive leadership and extremely capable senior staff. | ||
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They have strong staff with a high level grasp of transportation and land use issues, experience with and knowledge of local policy makers and agencies, and coalition building. | ||
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This is an impressive organization - on the technical and political side, they are systems thinkers, and they're savvy. As a former ICLEI staff member, ED Stuart Cohen ensures that TransForm keeps its eye on reducing GHG emissions. | ||
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They have strong leadership from the Executive Director down through the program managers. They focus on developing metrics to gauge progress and results. Their visionary leadership keeps other organizations and agencies pushing the envelop. | ||
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They have a talented Executive Director in Stuart Cohen. They have a depth of staffing (and they are trying to increase staffing in key ways). They have creative programming such as GreenTrip that could eventually help sustain the organization financially through certification programs. | ||
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Stuart Cohen, their Executive Director is a demigod. He has a great staff. Transform has widespread support among/collaboration with Bay Area environmental organizations, including EJ organizations. | ||
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They are a well-run, competent organization with visionary leadership. This group is excellent at making local change happen and is often my go-to reference for land use issues. | ||
Proven Track Record |
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This group is tremendous in their single-minded focus to promote smart growth & reform destructive transportation policies. They are the true David (v. Goliath, the MPOs). | ||
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TransForm has over 20 years of deep experience in figuring out how to develop a regional transit system that allows people to get out of their cars, one of the trickiest pieces of the climate change puzzle. They do excellent alliance building work to drive their expert policy recommendations forward. | ||
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Commitment: Transform has been active in transportation and land use planning and decision making in the Bay Area for 10+ years. They have a proven track record and high levels of knowledge. | ||
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They have smart staff. They have a great blend of activism and knowing how to get high level policy makers to listen. | ||
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TransFormCA is the sort of organization that can help to advance the technical knowledge of the field around what are the most effective local policies and where are the numbers we need to be able to defend new policy proposals and get them adopted (e.g., a regional gas tax). TransFormCA should be pushed to do more of this. | ||
Successful Coalition Builder |
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TransForm is a leader in the field. They have many strengths: they work as a coalition to pull together diverse groups, health, social justice, and labor, they are excellent strategic thinkers, and they are extremely hard working. | ||
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They have a great, holistic vision and are a model coalition. | ||
Expert Comments: Areas for Improvement
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Think about Social Justice Goals and Grassroots Work More |
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The organization needs to put social justice goals more squarely in its agenda and communications. Then it will not only garner more members, but be more clear that it's goals aren't only about the air, but also about people. | ||
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It'd be great to have a better idea of how they can support grassroots efforts that accomplish their mission. | ||
Focus on HR and Develop Staff More |
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TransForm has focused on programmatic growth and their operations and oversight capacities are probably not as developed as they should be for an organization of their size. The role of external spokesperson lies with the leadership and their seems to be a lack of "back bench" leadership at the staff level. | ||
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They too need more staffing to pull off their ambitious agenda. | ||
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TransForm like Greenbelt Alliance has a great template for change on the ground including their new GreenTrip system. However, it takes qualified staff to be out in California's communities to assist them in community based planning to make change on the ground. Staffing takes resources. While GreenTrip is a potentially promising funding mechanism in the future, we need Transform's field folks now. | ||
Develop Regional Presence More and Impact State |
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They could grow their presence and sophistication of advocacy in Sacramento. | ||
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This organization could grow by being more politically savvy and by taking a larger role in state legislation and state policy around transit and transit funding specifically. I think they have good organizing skills that could be translated into more political power. I think they should stay focused on transportation issues and advocacy, and be careful not to become too policy-wonkish. | ||
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They could use more staff to engage in local and state policy issues - their expansion to Sacramento is helpful in this regard. | ||
Stay Focused |
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They may try to bite off more than they can chew. They should focus on a few key initiatives. | ||
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It is important for them to stay consistent across a large region. | ||
Be Bolder |
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I'd like to see TransForm be even bolder and more ambitious in their work. Let's go after that regional climate change fee (aka gas tax)! | ||
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They should keep up their advocacy work, and take even stronger positions! I'm concerned TransForm may be becoming too much of an inside player, and not taking the strong advocacy stances we need to see. Tell it like it is. | ||
Leadership
Stuart Cohen
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Co-Founder and Executive Director
From the Nonprofit
The nonprofit has not added any comments yet. If you are a representative of this nonprofit and would like to leave a comment, please email us at
feedback@myphilanthropedia.org
with your request.