Regeneration Project

While still active, the Regeneration Project organized showings of the former U.S. Vice President Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth film in 4,000 churches. ³ The organization also supported the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and other left-of-center racial and environmental advocacy initiatives. ⁴

Activities

The Regeneration Project was organized to spread global warming awareness and activism through a network of churches and faith communities across the United States, while calling for weather-dependent energy adoption. ⁵

Interfaith Power and Light Campaign

The Regeneration Project created the Interfaith Power and Light campaign in 1998 with support from Episcopal Power and Light and Grace Cathedral, a coalition of left-of-center Episcopal churches aggregated to invest in alternate energy sources. ⁵ Through this network of churches, the Regeneration Project and Interfaith Power and Light organized showings of Al Gore’s global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth in 4,000 churches. ³

The Regeneration Project folded in 2025 and transferred its remaining funds and mission to Interfaith Power and Light. However, the national coalition of Interfaith Power and Light also closed in 2025 following the Trump administration’s decision to cut federal funding for certain environmentalist groups. This left the California Interfaith Power and Light chapter as the central organizational hub for the Regeneration Project’s activism, overseeing 40 Interfaith Power and Light state affiliates. ^{6  7  2}

According to a 2022 annual report, both the Regeneration Project and Interfaith Power and Light were at that time members of the U.S. Climate Action Network (US-CAN), a left-of-center environmental advocacy group. ⁸

Black Lives Matter (BLM) Activism

Following the police-involved death of George Floyd, several of the state chapters of Interfaith Power and Light expressed their support for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, arguing that environmentalism and racial issues are related. In June 2020, executive director of New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light and Franciscan Sister Joan Brown argued that Christian teachings on doctrine and the phrase “I can’t breathe” force Christians to increase their concern for the environment. ⁴

Also in June 2020, executive director of Alabama Interfaith Power and Light Michael Malcom argued that Black people allegedly face disproportionate discrimination from both police violence and pollution. ⁹

Leadership

Sally Bingham was the founder of the Regeneration Project. ¹⁰ As of 2026, she was an Episcopal priest and canon for the environment in the Episcopal Diocese of California. She was also the founder and president emeritus of Interfaith Power and Light. ¹¹

Bingham served on President Barack Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and was a member of the Forum on Children and Nature. She also sat on the board of directors of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the Environmental Working Group (EWG), and the U.S. Climate Action Network (US-CAN), and the national advisory board for the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). ¹²

Susan Hendershot was the former executive director of the Regeneration Project’s Iowa chapter of the Interfaith Power and Light campaign. She was also the former president of the Regeneration Project’s national Interfaith Power and Light campaign. As of 2026, she was serving as the director of Climate Community Engagement at the Center for Community Self-Help. ^{13  14 15}

Susan Stephenson was formerly an executive director of the Regeneration Project. ¹⁶

Financials

The Regeneration Project folded in 2025. That year, it reported $156,923 in total income, $156,923 in total expenses, and $0 in total assets. It issued all $156,923 of its revenue in grants to the Interfaith Power and Light campaign, the new 501(c)(3) home for the group’s activism. ^{1  2}

In 2013, the Regeneration Project’s Interfaith Power and Light campaign received sizable grants from Surdna Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), and the Pacific Gas and Electric Company. ¹⁷

In 2025, the national organization of the Interfaith Power and Light campaign also disbanded, citing concerns over the Trump administration’s federal funding cuts. ⁶ As of 2026, the California chapter of the Interfaith Power and Light campaign remained the central nonprofit organization through which the defunct Regeneration Project and national Interfaith Power and Light campaign operated. ² In 2024, California Interfaith Power and Light reported $385,949 in total revenue, $242,532 in total expenses, and $163,319 in total assets. ¹⁸