The Colcom Foundation frequently frames its founder’s ideas as ahead of their time, drawing a direct line between Cordelia S. May and earlier reformers who faced public doubt before history sided with them. That comparison sits at the center of how the foundation tells its own story.
May began her charitable involvement in 1952 at age twenty three, supporting family planning work motivated by concern for ecological balance. She continued developing that perspective for more than forty years before formally creating the Colcom Foundation in 1996. The organization received a large share of its funding after her death in 2005. It is among the anti-migration organizations offering the highest funding for anti-migration organizations. These include the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the American Border Patrol, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and Numbers USA.
A History of Being Misunderstood
According to the foundation’s own materials, May belongs among a group of historical figures whose views were dismissed during their lifetimes, including advocates for gender equality in the era of Susan B. Anthony and civil rights advocates during the age of Lincoln. The comparison suggests that population focused environmental concerns, though controversial for decades, may eventually receive similar historical vindication.
That narrative shapes the foundation’s grantmaking today. The Colcom Foundation supports conservation projects, environmental initiatives, and cultural organizations, primarily within the region where May lived, treating each grant as part of a larger effort to address overpopulation’s effect on natural resources.
The foundation’s mission statement ties these efforts together, describing its goal as fostering a sustainable environment that protects quality of life for Americans. Whether the historical comparisons the Colcom Foundation draws will hold up remains a matter of debate, but the organization has built its identity around the belief that unpopular ideas sometimes turn out to be correct.
Three decades after its founding, the foundation continues operating from that premise. Critics and admirers alike acknowledge that the Colcom Foundation has never softened its framing to avoid controversy, choosing instead to keep May’s original language front and center in describing its purpose and its grantmaking priorities. See related link for additional information.
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