The Climate Change Solutions Program is guided by our vision of a just, regenerative, democratic energy future that sustains the well-being of people and the planet.
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Goal
The existing energy system is built on an extractive, exploitative fossil fuel economy that is causing climate change while also externalizing its impact on the environment, economic well-being, public health, and democratic engagement. Averting the worst impacts of the climate crisis and transforming our energy economy requires changing policies, practices, and institutions at every level, which in turn requires empowering leadership from frontline communities to partner across issues and movements.
The program focuses on building the power of communities who are disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis, fossil fuel pollution, and the inequities in our current energy system—primarily communities of color and low-wealth white communities. We believe that communities on the frontlines of the crisis should be leading the way in the transition to a new, clean energy economy that is not dependent on extractive industry.
strategy
We bring a place-based approach to our grantmaking, with a geographic focus on priority states in the Southeast. The Southeast as a region has been underinvested in and historically marginalized, which has led to incorrect assumptions about a perceived lack of social change infrastructure and false narratives about what is politically possible. The Southeast is also on the frontlines of the climate crisis, with communities experiencing the inequitable impacts of heat waves, high electricity bills, hurricanes, sea level rise, and fossil fuel industries. We believe that transformation in this region is possible and has the potential to reframe climate and energy politics nationally.
Since launching the program in 2018, our initial focus has been on building the capacity of the climate justice ecosystem in Virginia. We support organizations that pursue a range of strategies including organizing, advocacy, network and alliance building, and communications to transform the energy system into one that is grounded in economic, environmental, and racial justice. We are also exploring opportunities in additional states in the region and plan to expand the geographic reach of our funding in 2020.
In addition, we support national and regional anchor organizations, networks, and intermediaries whose work supports place-based work in the Southeast and strengthens the broader climate justice movement. Finally, we make a limited number of grants to advance climate and energy equity in our home state of New York.
Funding Guidance
At this time the program is making grants by invitation only.
