Santa Fe, NM — As New Mexico plans for a future in which water availability could decline by roughly 25% over the next 50 years, a new Pacific Institute report provides a comparative analysis of six water supply alternatives to inform future water planning and investment decisions.

The report, “An Assessment of Water Supply Alternatives in New Mexico,” examines the technical potential and costs of six major water supply alternatives. It comes as New Mexico faces significant challenges from drought and aridification, aging infrastructure, and increasingly extreme precipitation, which strain the state’s already overallocated rivers and aquifers. The report assesses water supply alternatives to inform time-sensitive strategic investment decisions to meet the long-term water needs of New Mexico farmers, cities and towns, industry, and the environment.

“The Thornburg Foundation recognizes the critical need to support evidence-based information to guide water policy decisions as the state tackles the growing imbalance between water supply and demand,” said Allan Oliver, President of the Thornburg Foundation. “The Pacific Institute’s report provides a deeper understanding of both the benefits and challenges associated with alternative water sources.”

The assessment evaluates agricultural conservation, municipal and industrial conservation, municipal and industrial wastewater reuse, urban stormwater capture, produced water recycling and reuse, and brackish groundwater desalination.

The assessment found that agricultural and municipal conservation offer some of the largest and often most cost-effective opportunities to extend existing water supplies. Agricultural conservation strategies could reduce water withdrawals by more than 600,000 acre-feet annually, a volume roughly equivalent to nearly twice the full storage capacity of Caballo Reservoir. Municipal and industrial conservation could reduce water use by 164,000 to 196,000 acre-feet annually, approximately equal to the full storage capacity of El Vado Reservoir.

“Just as New Mexico doesn’t face a single water challenge, there is no single solution,” said Michael Cohen, Senior Fellow at the Pacific Institute and an author of the report. “The findings point to significant opportunities to build on New Mexico’s progress in conservation while carefully evaluating which additional strategies make sense for individual communities and basins.”

Rather than promoting a single solution, the report provides a framework for comparing the potential, costs, and practical considerations associated with six water supply alternatives. Its findings can help identify and prioritize near-term investments while highlighting areas where additional investigation is needed to support informed decision-making.

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Media Contact:
Russell Hawkins
Thornburg Foundation
communications@thornburgfoundation.org
864.431.1341    

Founded in 1999, Thornburg Foundation is a family foundation based in Santa Fe that seeks to advance systems change that serves the public good. The Foundation uses an evidence-based strategic approach to make grants to nonprofits focused on K-12 Education, Water, Land, and Housing. For more information on Thornburg Foundation’s policy funding, visit thornburgfoundation.org.

Founded in 1987, the Pacific Institute is a global water think tank that combines evidence-based thought leadership with active outreach to influence local, national, and international efforts in developing sustainable water policies. From working with Fortune 500 companies to frontline communities, our mission is to create and advance solutions to the world’s most pressing water challenges. Since 2009, the Pacific Institute has also acted as co-secretariat for the CEO Water Mandate, a global commitment platform that mobilizes a critical mass of business leaders to address global water challenges through corporate water stewardship. For more information, visit pacinst.org.

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The Thornburg Foundation is proud to support the Arizona State University (ASU) Next Education Workforce Initiative. Team-based staffing sits as a core pillar of the Foundation’s K-12 education strategy. As a new study from the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) shows, team-based staffing improves working conditions, perceptions of the teaching profession, and ultimately, teacher retention. The effects even reach beyond teachers; middle school students served by educator teams performed significantly better in math. 

Within the broader educator ecosystem, teams serve a pivotal dual role: giving new teachers and teacher residents a dedicated space for mentorship, while giving veteran teachers the opportunity to act as instructional leaders and master teachers. In the coming years, the Thornburg Foundation hopes to help more schools explore and implement team-based staffing models, and to support the policy infrastructure that makes the models the new norm, redefining what it means to teach in New Mexico.

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SANTA FE, N.M. — August 17, 2026 — As the Frijoles Canyon Fire impacts communities in Northern New Mexico, the LANL Foundation and Thornburg Foundation are each contributing $10,000 to the Frijoles Fire 2026 Fund, a philanthropic fund established by the Santa Fe Community Foundation to help address the immediate and emerging needs of individuals and families affected by the fire.

The Santa Fe Community Foundation is administering the fund and coordinating philanthropic support with local nonprofit partners engaged in relief efforts. Resources will help support critical needs such as emergency food, shelter, evacuation assistance for displaced families, and other emerging needs as the situation evolves.

The $10,000 contributions from the LANL Foundation and Thornburg Foundation join seed gifts from the Santa Fe Community Foundation and its generous donor community, strengthening resources for the critical work ahead.

“As forest fires increasingly impact our Northern New Mexico communities, true partnership requires philanthropy to move with urgency, flexibility, and trust,” said Gwen Perea Warniment, President & CEO of the LANL Foundation. “Agility and collective response aren’t just an operational preference in a crisis—they are an obligation, bridging immediate needs with long-term recovery. LANL Foundation is honored to support this effort alongside all those who equally love Northern New Mexico.”

“Now is the time to support our neighbors in need and to get vital resources to local partners,” said Allan Oliver, President of the Thornburg Foundation. “We hope our contribution will help encourage others to donate to the Frijoles Fire Fund.”

“In moments like this, I’m reminded just how deeply people care for one another in northern New Mexico,” said Christopher Goett, MSW, President & CEO of the Santa Fe Community Foundation. “We’re incredibly grateful to the LANL Foundation, Thornburg Foundation, our nonprofit partners, and the many donors and community members who have stepped forward to help. It’s this kind of collective generosity that allows us to respond quickly and make sure support reaches those who need it most.”

The Frijoles Fire 2026 Fund is intended to provide flexible resources that can move quickly to local organizations responding to the crisis. As needs change from immediate emergency response to longer-term recovery, philanthropic support will help local partners adapt their efforts to meet the needs of affected communities.

The foundations encourage individuals, businesses, and other philanthropic partners to contribute to the Frijoles Fire Fund and help ensure that local organizations have the resources they need to respond.

To support the Frijoles Fire 2026 Fund, visit: https://www.santafecf.org/news-stories/frijoles-fire

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About the Santa Fe Community Foundation

Since 1981, the Santa Fe Community Foundation has been dedicated to inspiring philanthropic generosity, strengthening nonprofits, and fostering positive change to build a more vibrant, healthy, and resilient region. Each year, we are proud to fund and collaborate with hundreds of local nonprofits, connect thousands of generous donors to giving opportunities, and support causes that make northern New Mexico a more equitable place for all. Learn more at santafecf.org.

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The New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions handed out its first-ever “Future Ready Leader” Innovation Award this May. The award didn’t go to a single organization, but rather to the collective work of 21 philanthropic, corporate, and state partners collaborating to expand access to meaningful student experiences in northern New Mexico. The Thornburg Foundation is a proud supporter of the Northern New Mexico Pathways to Opportunity Strategy Table, which received recognition for the launch of the Northern New Mexico Youth Fund. The Youth Fund offers an exemplary model for what “meaningful student experiences” can look like when an idea moves off the page and directly into communities.  

Launched in 2025, the Youth Fund pools resources from 21 philanthropic, corporate, and state partners to build work-based learning and career training pathways for “opportunity youth”— young people ages 16-24 who are disconnected from both school and the workforce. The LANL Foundation serves as a backbone organization, running meetings, coordinating partners, and handling grant administration, allowing funders to focus on the design of the fund.  

One of the Youth Fund’s most innovative design principles is a collaborative decision-making model that centers youth voice. In 2025, a Regional Youth Advisory Council (RYAC) made up of engaged young people from northern New Mexico worked alongside Strategy Table members to distribute $1.85 million in grants to 19 community-based organizations, tribal communities, and school districts across the region — serving more than 800 young people by June 2026. Year 2 fundraising has already cleared $3.2 million. 

The Thornburg Foundation’s education strategy treats “meaningful student experiences” as one of two pillars in its theory of change, alongside the development of a thriving educator ecosystem. The Foundation has long supported career-connected learning experiences, including systems that foster strong, evidence-based career and technical education. A systematic review from the American Institutes of Research demonstrates students who participate in career and technical education, work-based learning, and internships during high school are far more likely to graduate, often ready to join the workforce or continue on to college. 

The Youth Fund is a strong model for regional collaboration, capable of connecting a community’s needs to the programs that deliver meaningful learning experiences for its students. Several elements contribute to its success: 

• Relevant learning experiences. Work-based learning and career training connect a young person’s effort to something real: a job, a credential, or a next step. 

• Youth voice as decision-making authority. The RYAC’s role in grant selection is a stronger version of “student voice” than most strategies attempt. Rather than a perfunctory survey asking youth what they want, the RYAC has real authority in the grantmaking process. 

• Capacity-building for grantees. Youth Fund grants come with technical assistance from United Way of Northern New Mexico, such as training in data collection, analysis, and storytelling to help synthesize grantees’ impact and build funder confidence that the investment is working. 

• Rural and tribal reach. The Youth Fund’s footprint extends meaningful-experience work into geographies that are hardest to serve, including rural and tribal communities that are often underfunded. 

• A funding model built for scale. Twenty-one partners pooling capital, with Year 2 fundraising already outpacing Year 1, points toward the kind of coordinated regional funding ecosystem that turns a single grant into a sustained pathway. 

The Thornburg Foundation’s support for the Northern New Mexico Youth Fund runs parallel to other efforts fostering meaningful student experiences. A recent grant to CommunityShare will help connect New Mexico schools with skilled community educators to co-design project-based learning experiences that reflect the communities in which students reside. Another grant to the Santa Fe School for the Arts and Sciences will begin to build public schools’ capacity to offer “expeditionary learning,” an instructional model centered on delivering core content standards through deep, semester-long explorations of topics relevant to students. 

The Youth Fund’s future looks bright as it enters Year 2 of its three-year pilot. For the Strategy Table, the work continues as members grow the pooled investment fund and continue outreach to new philanthropic and corporate funders. In time, the Thornburg Foundation is confident that the lessons learned from this pilot will help drive deeper systems change, becoming a permanent fixture of New Mexico’s support for meaningful student experiences statewide. 

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The Thornburg Foundation has released its inaugural 2025 Impact Report, “Systems Change in Action,” a look at how the Foundation and its grantee partners worked to advance durable solutions across New Mexico over the past year.

2025 was unlike any year in the Foundation’s 25-year history. As federal funding shifts created uncertainty for nonprofits across the state, the Foundation responded by deploying the largest grantmaking effort in its history, issuing 187 grants totaling more than $7.1 million, with record investments in water, education, and agriculture.

The report also tells a longer story. Systems change does not happen overnight, and over 25 years the Foundation has built deep, lasting partnerships that turn policy analysis and advocacy into real legislative wins for New Mexico.

Highlights from the report include:

• More than $300 million in public investment secured for water infrastructure and conservation
• A tenfold increase in Career and Technical Education funding, from $5 million to $50 million over five years
• 64,905 acres of land improved through conservation projects across 93 percent of New Mexico counties
• 69 percent of grantmaking directed to organizations the Foundation has partnered with for three or more years

The report also takes an honest look at what remains unfinished. Between 2017 and 2024, rents in New Mexico rose 60 percent and homelessness climbed 87 percent, more than twice the national average. Public funding for the state’s nonprofit sector remains as critical as ever.

The Foundation credits the partners, advocates, and leaders across New Mexico who made this work possible, and looks toward 2026 as a year to build on it, with plans to deepen its investments in water, land and agriculture, K-12 education, and a new statewide housing initiative.

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SANTA FE – The Thornburg Foundation has announced that Lynn Trujillo will serve as its new Water Policy Officer, leading the Foundation’s Water Initiative at a pivotal moment for New Mexico. With snowpack at record lows, shrinking reservoirs, curtailed agricultural water deliveries, and catastrophic wildfire growing more acute each year, the need for experienced, effective water policy leadership has never been greater.

As the Water Policy Officer, Trujillo will direct and refine the Foundation’s Water Initiative, guiding its four core strategies: advocating for improvements in New Mexico water governance; building resilient water systems in key river basins and aquifers; promoting community water equity; and advancing science and data systems to support water planning and management. She will manage the Water Initiative’s annual grantmaking portfolio of $1.2 million, identifying strategic grant opportunities and partnering with nonprofit organizations to advance climate-resilient water policy across the state.

“Lynn brings exactly the combination of legal expertise, tribal relations, and policy experience that this moment requires,” said Allan Oliver, President of the Thornburg Foundation. “Her deep roots in New Mexico and her work at the tribal, state and federal level of water policy make her the ideal person to lead this initiative.”

Warming, aridification, drought, and extreme weather and fire events are reshaping New Mexico’s water future. The Foundation’s Water Initiative is responding with a comprehensive package of policy improvements, from water conservation programs and right-sized funding to pilot projects and climate-resilient agricultural systems. The Initiative’s second phase (2026–2030) will focus on implementing key programs and projects such as regional water planning, Active Water Resources Management, the Strategic Water Reserve, Indian water rights settlements, state water infrastructure programs, and the Rio Grande Basin Study. Statewide coalitions including the Water Ambassadors, the Groundwater Alliance, and the Water Policy Forum will anchor education and advocacy campaigns through 2027 and beyond.

Trujillo’s background maps directly onto these priorities. As Senior Counselor to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, she oversaw Indian Water Rights Settlements, positioning her to advance the Initiative’s work on tribal water rights agreements and rural and Tribal water planning. As Cabinet Secretary of the New Mexico Indian Affairs Department, she facilitated collaboration among the Governor’s office, state agencies, and 23 Indian tribes, nations, and pueblos, which is precisely the cross-agency partnership required to move governance reform forward. Most recently, she supported the Office of the State Engineer and Interstate Stream Commission in furthering implementation of the 50-Year Water Plan, with a focus on water workforce and water education, giving her firsthand knowledge of the institutions at the center of the Foundation’s second-phase work.

Trujillo shared about her recent appointment, “It’s an honor to join the Thornburg Foundation to further the impactful and respected work of the Foundation’s water initiative to advance strategic change that serves our communities and people. I thank Patrick McCarthy for his leadership and years of dedication to establish and advance the water initiative.”

Trujillo earned her Juris Doctor from the University of New Mexico School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts from Dartmouth College. An enrolled member of Sandia Pueblo and part Acoma and Taos pueblos, she brings deep personal and professional ties to the communities the Water Initiative is designed to serve.

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Founded in 1999, Thornburg Foundation is a family foundation based in Santa Fe that seeks to advance systems change that serves the public good. The Foundation uses an evidence-based strategic approach to make grants to nonprofits focused on K–12 Education, Water, Land and Agriculture, Pursuing Public Funds, Housing, and Homelessness. For more information on Thornburg Foundation’s water initiative, visit thornburgfoundation.org

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SANTA FE – Today the Thornburg Foundation announced the expansion of its grantmaking

portfolio with the hiring of Natalie Florence as its first Housing Policy Officer. Florence will lead a

new, statewide Housing Initiative aimed at increasing affordable housing stock to reduce rents

and homelessness across New Mexico.

Florence will design and direct the Foundation’s Housing Initiative, focusing on evidence-based

strategies to advance deeply affordable housing development and reduce regulatory barriers.

Her work will bridge public policy, philanthropy, and infrastructure to advance equitable

community development and housing stability.

“Natalie’s unique blend of academic insight, practical experience in housing policy, and

dedication to equitable community development makes her the perfect architect for this crucial

new initiative,” said Allan Oliver, President of the Thornburg Foundation. “Her expertise will be

invaluable as we work to translate bold housing reforms from other states into effective, lasting

solutions for New Mexico.”

The Housing Initiative is a strategic expansion to meet New Mexico’s urgent need for affordable

housing. Over the next five years, through an annual grantmaking portfolio of $1 million dollars,

the initiative seeks to support streamlined development, increase housing supply, and

strengthen homelessness prevention and housing stability systems.

Natalie Florence brings a multidisciplinary background to the role. Prior to joining Thornburg,

she worked at Abt Global, where she researched, monitored, and evaluated federal, state, and

foundation-funded housing programs. She has extensive experience collaborating with public

housing authorities, state and local governments, nonprofit providers, and philanthropic partners

to strengthen program design and system alignment.

“I’m thrilled to bring my research and experience working with diverse stakeholders to the

Thornburg Foundation to help partner with and lift up our communities. To solve complicated

housing problems, we must remain humble and grounded in evidence, but also, relentlessly

optimistic,” says Florence.

Florence holds a PhD in Science and Technology Studies from Arizona State University, a

Master of Architecture from Lawrence Technological University, and a Bachelor of Science in

Architecture and Environmental Design from the University of Colorado.

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SANTA FE – Today, the Thornburg Foundation announced Elisa Montoya will lead the

Foundation’s Pursuing Public Funds initiative, which aims to increase the effectiveness of New

Mexico’s nonprofit sector by securing and stabilizing essential public resources. Montoya will

also serve as general counsel for the Foundation.

Montoya will direct and refine the initiative’s strategy which includes providing support to keep

key grantees viable through funding shifts, increase nonprofit capacity to sustain essential work,

and fund strategic advocacy to improve the public funding environment for non-profits. Montoya

will manage the initiative’s annual grantmaking portfolio of $1 million and identify new

opportunities to strengthen New Mexico’s nonprofits in a dynamic funding landscape.

“Elisa’s exceptional leadership in both the public and private sectors, combined with her deep

roots in New Mexico, makes her an ideal person to lead this critical initiative,” said Allan Oliver,

President of the Thornburg Foundation. “Her experience navigating complex systems—from

local to state to federal government—will be invaluable as we work to protect and expand the

public resources our communities rely on.”

In 2024, the Foundation launched the Pursuing Federal Funds Initiative to help New Mexico

nonprofits and tribal governments overcome barriers like grant writing and matching funds so

they could successfully secure new federal dollars and maximize the return on philanthropic

investments. In 2025, the Foundation provided rapid-response grants to help nonprofits

navigate these shifts, trained over 150 nonprofit leaders to adapt their funding models, and

hired contractors to provide monthly updates on the impacts of federal cuts across the state.

Elisa Montoya brings more than 25 years of executive experience across the public and private

sectors. Most recently, she served as the Community Development Director for the City of

Santa Fe, where she co-led the effort to raise the city’s minimum wage to $17.50 per hour and

secured project approvals for the development of affordable homes in Santa Fe. Before joining

the city, she spent over seven years at Meow Wolf, playing a critical role in creating more than

1,000 jobs and helping launch four experiential entertainment businesses across multiple

states.

Montoya has also served at the highest levels of government, advancing social justice policy,

civic engagement, and public service. She served as professional staff to U.S. Senators Harry

Reid (NV) and Ken Salazar (CO), and Congressman Xavier Becerra (CA). She also worked as

a policy associate at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP in Washington, DC.

Elisa remarked, “I’m honored to join the Thornburg Foundation team to help align strategy and

policy at a moment when nonprofit stability and public funding are essential to New Mexico’s

communities.

”Montoya is a graduate of Stanford University, the University of Southern California Law Center,

and the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. She is also a graduate of St.

Michael’s High School in Santa Fe, where her family has lived for generations.

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Read the Article & Report

A new report from the New Mexico Groundwater Alliance issues a stark warning about the state’s most critical, yet misunderstood, water source. With groundwater supplying nearly 80% of drinking water and over half of the state’s total water, its invisible decline poses an existential threat. The report calls for treating aquifers as essential infrastructure and closing dangerous data gaps in monitoring, especially in rural communities.

Patrick McCarthy, a senior water policy officer for the Thornburg Foundation and alliance member, emphasizes the unique severity of the current crisis. “The water scarcity, water stress that we’re facing now … it’s not your grandfather’s drought,” McCarthy states. He points to higher temperatures and a growing imbalance between use and replenishment, making New Mexico particularly vulnerable. His message is clear: proactive, collaborative, and well-funded strategies are urgently needed to secure the state’s water future.

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