Harvey Toub’s Story

As a now-retired engineer, this was his profession. As a committed philanthropist, this remains his passion. “My interest is renewable energy. I don’t care if it’s in a remote village in India or in downtown Atlanta, I want it to happen and I want to be involved in making it happen.”
Toub supports energy-related programs across the country and around the world. And, whether sharing local connections or finding connections in far-off places, The Community Foundation is part of his ‘portfolio approach’ to charitable giving.

Toub had already been a donor for almost 10 years when The Community Foundation contacted him to introduce a new initiative called Grants for Green. Recognizing this as an excellent opportunity to bring his international expertise to bear on projects closer to home, Toub contacted his philanthropic advisor at The Community Foundation and she helped make the arrangements.

Last spring, Harvey Toub volunteered his time and expertise to help evaluate nonprofits interested in participating in the inaugural Grants for Green initiative. “We went as a group and talked with these people about what they were going to do and how money would ultimately be saved. The idea is that money could be shifted away from energy consumption and could then be used for the mission of the group.”

“We visited all kinds of different places: large organizations like Woodruff Arts Center, and small groups like the Georgia Citizen’s Coalition on Hunger, which is raising vegetables (at Umoja Organic Garden). They all had good ideas, and I was glad to get the sense from The Community Foundation that many groups were expected to get grant money.”

“This is important work and I’m excited to see it happening. Most of the organizations we visited had already gotten studies done by Southface, and were looking to implement the suggestions so they could start getting the payback from smarter energy usage.”

Toub is pleased that The Community Foundation is supporting renewable-energy efforts and is glad to be connected to that work. “There’s a lot of movement in this field. Solar energy companies have made great progress. Overseas, I’m involved in things like micro-hydro projects that are improving villagers’ lives, so I’m happy to see Grants for Green backing energy projects in the Atlanta region. Since it’s something I know about, I can contribute knowledge as well as funds.”

“I’ve been retired for almost 10 years and I’ve started looking for things of this nature, but it takes time to find the right people. You have many things you want to do in retirement, and if the opportunity came along for me to do more with Grants for Green, I’d be glad to help.”