The Founding of the Partnership: 1990-1993

• Dr. Roberta Hestenes, President, Eastern College and Chair, World Vision International
• Dr. Ismar Schorsch, Chancellor, Jewish Theological Seminary of America
• Rabbi David Saperstein, Director and Counsel, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
• Rabbi Alexander Schindler, President, Union of American Hebrew Congregations
• The Most Reverend Edmond L. Browning, Presiding Bishop, Episcopal Church of America
• The Reverend Dr. Herbert W. Chilstrom, Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
• Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, General Secretary, National Baptist Convention
• Reverend Tyrone S. Pitts, Secretary General, Progressive National Baptist Convention
• Reverend Dr. Milton Efthimou , Ecumenical Officer, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North & South America
• The Very Reverend James Parks Morton, Dean, Cathedral of St. John the Divine

In October 1993, the National Religious Partnership for the Environment formally began its activities as an association of:

• The U.S. Catholic Conference,
• The National Council of Churches of Christ (with the active participation of its mainline protestant, Orthodox and historic African-American communions),
• The Coalition on Environment and Jewish Life (spanning all four branches and rabbinical associations); and
• The Evangelical Environmental Network (an affiliation of Christian agencies, congregations and educational institutions).

The Partnership placed staff in the national offices of these faith groups, appointed a secretariat to coordinate its program, established an Office of Science Counsel, and declared its mission:

We Seek to weave the mission of care for God's creation across all areas of organized religion, and to do so in such a way as to contribute scope of vision, moral perspective, breadth of constituency, and endurance of struggle for all efforts to protect the natural world and human well-being within it.