Giving Rye: Meet The Rye Sustainability Foundation
Giving Rye is a feature series highlighting non-profits and community groups in and around the City of Rye. Today meet Donna Providenti of The Rye Sustainability Foundation.
Your Name: Donna Providenti
Organization: The Rye Sustainability Foundation
Your role: Director
MyRye.com: Tell us your organization’s mission.
Providenti: The Rye Sustainability Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting sustainability in our community through education, actionable initiatives, and strategic partnerships. As a complement to the municipal Rye Sustainability Committee, we aim to empower residents with the tools and knowledge to adopt sustainable practices in their homes, yards, and daily lives. Our mission is to make Rye a model for sustainable living, inspiring other communities while driving meaningful change locally.
What programming or work in Rye is the organization best known for?
Providenti: Although the Committee is well-known as a liaison with the city, the Foundation is still relatively new to the community. In 2024, we achieved non-profit status and will continue supporting programs like the Playland Parkway invasive removals (Spring/Fall), our annual Green Screen event at RCDS (January 23rd) and Compost Giveback Day (April). This year, however, we are excited to focus on three signature initiatives:
- Pollinator Pathway Healthy Yards: Promotes pollinator-friendly habitats by encouraging native plants and healthy yard practices.
- 250 Acorns to Oaks: A community-wide effort to collect acorns from Rye’s oldest oak trees, nurture seedlings, and plant 250 oaks in Rye to commemorate our nation’s 250th anniversary.
- Rye100: A local chapter of CURE100 (Communities United to Reduce Emissions by 100%), providing a roadmap for individuals to decarbonize their lives.
Looking forward to 2025, what will be your top initiatives?
Providenti: In 2025, our focus will be on enhancing and integrating our communication channels (website, social media, and newsletter), hosting community education events centered on our key areas of focus, and building partnerships with other local organizations dedicated to similar efforts.
- Rebranding and Enhancing Our Website: We plan to revamp our website, ryesustainability.com, to make it the go-to resource for residents seeking actionable information on sustainable living. For example, Rye100, our local chapter of CURE100 (Communities United to Reduce Emissions by 100%), has tools to help residents measure and manage their carbon footprints, it will be all conveniently accessible in one place.
- Community Education Events: We will create a robust calendar of educational events. These events will offer residents opportunities to engage directly with experts and vendors, equipping them with knowledge and tools to take meaningful action.
- Acorns to Oaks Project: We will work to identify both public and private sites in Rye for planting 250 oak trees as part of our Acorns to Oaks initiative, celebrating the nation’s 250th anniversary while strengthening our local ecosystem.
Tell us about the population you serve and how they can get involved with your programming and services.
Providenti: We aim to serve all residents of the City of Rye and be a resource for anyone looking to take climate action. The easiest way to learn what we are up to is to subscribe to our newsletter on the home page of our website and follow us on social media. As we build out the Foundation we are looking for volunteers to get involved and organizations to partner with. We want to create as big a tent as possible.
Are you a 501(c)(3) non-profit with tax exempt status?
Providenti: Yes. We just received our status this year and are now taking donations to help fund our programs.
Looking back across 2024, what were your organization’s top achievements?
Providenti: Our efforts this year were focused on creating the Foundation, selecting our top three initiatives and getting them started. Some highlights include:
- We set up a chapter of Cure100, which gives Rye100 access to all the resources of Cure 100 and a partner who is at the forefront of home decarbonization.
- We relaunched and rebranded the previous Rye Healthy Yard program with a new logo and new pledge, it will be rolled out to the community in the spring of 2025.
- We collected and began growing the acorns for the 250 Acorn to Oak project.
How can local residents support your organization?
Providenti: Financing will be a key to success: it takes money to make community programs work. However, we have not completely determined our financing models (membership, donation drives and grants will likely be a part of it). In addition to funding, we need people with certain skills and a passion for sustainability to join the team.
What local Rye residents and area businesses have been the longest, steadiest supporters of your organization?
Providenti: The Jay Heritage Center and the Rye Nature Center have been great supporters and collaborators of our work to date. We look forward to partnering with many more organizations and local residents as we grow the foundation.
Tell us about you:
How long have you been in your current role?
Providenti: I have been part of the Rye Sustainability Committee since 2020 and helped get the Foundation started in 2024.
Is the role full time or part time? Paid or volunteer?
Providenti: Part-time volunteer
How would your friends and family describe you in one word?
Providenti: Chatty
Where did you grow up?
Providenti: I grew up on the south shore of Long Island, along the Great South Bay, directly across from Fire Island. Many of my fondest memories revolve around that body of water and the fun we had during the summers.
What is your favorite unimportant thing about you?
Providenti: I’m happiest walking in the woods and didn’t go on my first hike until I was about 30.
If the next five years is a chapter in your life, what is this chapter about?
Providenti: Preparing my children to launch into the world while enjoying these high school years. I want to make many more memories while they are still under my roof.
What would you do if you were not afraid?
Providenti: Jump out of an airplane or bungee jump, I get nauseous just writing it down.
Where do you live in Rye and how many years have you lived in the City?
Providenti: I have lived in Hix Park since 2016.
Thanks Donna!
Learn more:
Providenti bio: Donna Providenti is a member of the Rye Sustainability Committee, and has served as vice chair since 2020 leading the committee’s efforts in NYSERDA’s Clean Energy Communities program. She ran several community campaigns which resulted in the city receiving grant funds from the program. The city used the funds to buy electric lawn equipment and install EV charging facilities for the municipal fleet. She works in sports marketing and came to the sustainability committee from her work at Milton school leading their environmental committee. She has two children in the Rye City Schools and is often spotted at the Rye Town park with her dog Skye.
