Summary
Organization name
Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake
other names
IPC
Budget Size
Over $1M
Causes
Environment, Faith Based/Religion
Address
PO Box 6791Annapolis, MD 21401
Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake (IPC) is deeply committed to empowering faith communities in Lancaster County to protect and restore local waterways. Our work spans the Chiques, Conestoga, Pequea, and Octoraro watersheds, impacting congregations and communities alike.
Since our founding, IPC has welcomed 16 Lancaster County congregations to sign our Partner Congregation Pledge, solidifying their commitment to environmental stewardship. These congregations have joined a growing movement to care for the Chesapeake Bay and its connecting waterways. Click here to discover who they are and learn how your community can join this vital effort.
The Chesapeake Bay watershed is immense, stretching 69,000 square miles across six states and supporting over 18 million people. With over 800 congregations in Lancaster County alone, the potential for collective action is inspiring. Imagine if each of these communities united to restore and protect clean water for all.
At IPC, our mission is twofold: raising awareness about the powerful role that faith communities play in environmental restoration and providing practical support for congregations to implement impactful projects. We collaborate with local partners to help plan, fund, and install rain gardens, native plantings, tree plantings, and other conservation practices that strengthen both ecosystems and communities.
Since 2013, more than 300 congregations have partnered with IPC, planting over 20,000 trees and reducing stormwater pollution across 2.5 million square feet of impervious surfaces. Congregations, often owning large tracts of land with expansive roofs and parking lots, are uniquely positioned to lead urban stormwater management efforts. By empowering these congregations, IPC accelerates educational and restorative efforts, advancing regional water quality and ecological health.
IPC's role in Lancaster’s commitment to Creation care is clear:
With your support, IPC can continue empowering congregations in Lancaster County to lead the charge for water justice. Your contribution will help us support congregations and provide essential resources, enabling faith communities to take meaningful action toward cleaner, healthier waterways. Join us today and be part of this transformative movement.
Who We Are
Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake’s mission is to ignite the power of faith communities in the Chesapeake Bay region to honor all of Creation by working together to protect and restore our shared watershed. We lead two major programs: One Water Partnership program and Green Leaders Training. Green Leaders Training helps congregations build green teams to spearhead restoration and educational programming at their congregations, thereby building up their institutional capacity to be change-makers. The One Water Partnership program then connects these teams together in regional hubs to accelerate water quality improvements through coordinated and resourced efforts. Congregations of all faiths are welcome to participate in our programming for free. Our network of 300+ congregations has planted over 15,000 trees and treated 2.5+ M square feet of impervious hard surfaces like large church parking lots and roofs to reduce stormwater pollution. Clean water is necessary for all communities for recreation, ecological balance, and economic stability. Pennsylvania suffers from degraded rivers and streams resulting from excess nutrients from stormwater pollution. The Chesapeake Bay Program found that in order to achieve water quality goals, ~25% of the nutrient reductions will need to come from reducing stormwater runoff, such as what rolls off big roofs and parking lots during a storm and pollutes our waterways. Congregations own thousands of acres of land with big roofs and parking lots. Our work raising awareness and helping congregations reduce their stormwater pollution is critical to restoring balance to the ecosystem. No other organization is working in this space with the faith community with such focus on water quality issues.
Mission
IPC’s mission is to inspire and equip people of faith to honor, protect, and restore our shared watershed.
Media gallery
Organization Data
Annapolis, MD 21401