The Natural Resilience Fund (NRF) was created to provide funding for climate resilience projects in New York, especially in New York City. The founder, Eric Kaufman, was inspired to create the NRF after studying climate resilience and realizing the significant need for funding to adapt to climate change effects. The NRF seeks to raise funds through tax credits for individuals and groups contributing to approved resilience projects. It aims to fill funding gaps identified by government plans and fund up to 10% of eligible project costs through private sector grants. The NRF estimates it could raise $71 million annually with a 1.5% participation rate from New York taxpayers, or $1 billion annually with contributions from 100,000 taxpayers. Funds would

1. The Natural Resilience Fund
(NRF)
© TM
A TIMELY FUNDING MECHANISM FOR
CLIMATE RESILIENCE EFFORTS

2. The Problem
 Due to climate change, we in our area
(as well as most of the world) are
recognizing that there is a significant
need for climate resilience to adapt to
future changes in our environment.

3. A little about the Founder – Eric Kaufman
 As a co-founder of the New York Wheel (the 630 foot Staten
Island Observation Wheel that is in development www.plazacap.com). I became interested in climate
resilience because our project is partially located in a flood
zone on Staten Island. After spending the last 12 months
studying climate resilience and brainstorming with top
experts in this field, it became evident to me that we need an
entity such as the Natural Resilience Fund, Inc. (NRF) to
figure out how to deal with the effects of climate change.
 I have an MBA from the Wharton School and have been in
commercial real estate for the past 31 years. In fact, I am
taking an enormous pay cut to start this Fund because I
believe so strongly in the need for a not-for-profit like the
NRF.

4. Mission Statement
 The Natural Resilience Fund will establish a financing
mechanism that engages the public, leverages existing
resources and completes Public recovery, rehabilitation and
resilience projects in New York with an emphasis on New
York City. The platform can easily be expanded to other
States.
 The financing mechanism seeks to offer tax credits on the
federal, state and local levels as a way of generating
contributions from private individuals, not-for-profits and
corporations who are most directly affected.

6. What Is Climate Resilience?
 Resilience is the ability of an ecosystem to respond to
disturbances such as fires, flooding, heat waves, droughts,
and other events, by resisting damage via rapid recovery.

8. Imagine
 A way to handle the effects of climate change in a positive
and harmonious union.
 A nexus to bridge the wonderful platforms that have been
suggested by our state and city governments.
 A platform to help our environment today and ensure a
healthy sustainable future for our children.

9. Why?
 Federal, state and local programs have identified recovery,
rehabilitation and resilience projects that cost in the tens of
billions of dollars but remain unfunded.
 Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC alone is estimated at $20
billion with a funding gap of $4.5 billion.

10. The Investment Tax Credit
 Tax credits are typically used to encourage investment by
the private sector especially in underinvested areas or in
ways
that
form
important
policy
perspective
considerations.
 The immediate supply of money by the private sector
through tax credits will promote jobs, improve
infrastructure and help to create a stronger economy by
offsetting the reduced tax income of city, state and federal
governments.

11. What Is New In Our Platform?
 Our program is widely available to all taxpayers, not only
developers and large companies. The concept is to have people
who are affected by Climate Change events like Superstorm
Sandy participate directly in solutions and gain tax benefits as
well.
 The NRF intends to fill funding gaps for approved government
climate resilience projects and not for commercial ventures. The
projects will be funded as grants and will not bear interest or
require repayment. It is anticipated that The NRF would fund up
to 10% of a Public Project’s total cost.

12. How much Money Can the NRF Raise?
 Assuming approximately 9.5 million tax payers in New
York with a 1.5% participation rate at an average of $500
per taxpayer, the annual dollar amount of The NRF would
be:
$71.25 million per year
 If 100,000 tax payers in New York invested $10,000 per
taxpayer in The NRF, the annual dollar amount would be:
$1 BILLION PER YEAR!

13. What would the money be used for?
•
Uses that increase the resiliency of infrastructure,
commercial and residential buildings, invest in
design and construction of natural methods that
mitigate disaster throughout New York State.
The Bloomberg Climate Resiliency Plan for New York City
http://www.nyc.gov/html/sirr/html/report/report.shtml.

14. A potential NRF allocation
 NOTICE May 1, 2013 -- Funding dropped for USGS monitoring
network in the five boroughs of New York City.
 Data collection from 197 groundwater stations, 10 surface-water stations, 1
meteorological station, and 131 water-quality stations in the five boroughs
of New York and extreme western Nassau County was suspended May 1,
2013 due to elimination of the program by a funding partner. Historic data
from these stations will continue to be available on the USGS National
Water Information System: Web Interface. A complete list of stations to be
discontinued is available at: real-time water data page or map.
For more information or to help support these sites please contact Ron
Busciolano (rjbuscio@usgs.gov) or Stephen Terracciano
(saterrac@usgs.gov) at the USGS New York Water Science Center, Coram
Program Office at 631-736-0783.
 Estimated requirement: $3 million per year.

15. Next Steps…
 Establish a seed fund of $300,000 to effectuate City, State
and Federal level strategy.
 Host a panel determining fund allocation for the proposed
expert projects. Identify, secure and build a paid technical
staff with philanthropic, engineering, climate experts &
public Advisory Board.
 Please sign our Petition:
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/the-natural-resilience

16. To Make a Contribution
MAKE YOUR CHECK OR MONEY ORDER PAYABLE TO:
THE NATURAL RESILIENCE FUND, INC.
375 S. END AVENUE – APT. 26S
NEW YORK, NY 10280
CONTACT:
ERIC KAUFMAN
EKAUFMAN@NATURALRESILIENCEFUND.ORG
THE NATURAL RESILIENCE FUND IS A PENDING
501(C)(3) CORPORATION ORGANIZED UNDER THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF NEWYORK
YOU CAN ALSO DONATE BY CREDIT CARD BY VISITING OUR
WEBSITE AT:
WWW.NATURALRESILIENCEFUND.ORG