Record-breaking heat is making it harder to imagine a future of lounging on the beach, let alone relaxing with some beach reads, but that has not stopped the publication of the usual flood of summer reading lists. So I decided to pull together my own — in this case, a list of recently released climate philanthropy reports that just might help save some of those beaches.
Philanthropy aside for a moment, there’s been no shortage of climate-related reading material overall lately. So before I get to the new funding-focused climate reports, let’s take a quick spin through some of the other recent publications on the global emergency.
Somewhere, surely, someone is stacking up all the great studies that show recognizing Indigenous land is better for forests, animals, the climate and, well, all of us. The collection is not quite as tall as Elon Musk’s pile of money, but it must be getting close. One newer addition is the Rights and Resources Initiative’s survey, “Who Owns the World’s Land?,” which argues that merely implementing existing laws could expand community-owned or -controlled land by an area twice the size of Peru.
Such work can be quite dangerous. Defenders of the environment, land and Indigenous people’s rights to their land were the most targeted group of human rights activists worldwide, according to another recent report by Front Line Defenders. Seems like a good place to put some funding.
For those of us more concerned with generating energy, the good news is that solar, wind and batteries are on track for exponential growth, and will account for one-third of global electricity generation by 2030, a new study from RMI argues. The bad news? Of the 50 sectors, technologies, infrastructures and other components of the energy system that are necessary for clean energy transitions, only three are “on track” to reach net zero emissions by 2050, according to a July report from the energy group IEA.
If all this, and particularly the heat, makes you wonder how the heck we can cool things down, ClimateWorks Foundation published some ideas earlier this year. Its “Achieving Global Climate Goals by 2050: Pathways to a 1.5° C Future” offers one vision of what that might look like.
But if you want philanthropy-specific reading, and if you’ve always wanted to learn more about participatory grantmaking, you’re in the right place. Here are three publications that will not (immediately) stop the water from rising, but might just leave you a little better equipped to do so.
Want to do participatory (climate) philanthropy?
Between 2020 and 2022, the Fund for Shared Insight brought together more than a dozen members of U.S. communities impacted by climate change for an experiment in participatory grantmaking. With a budget of $2 million, the group chose 35 grantees across Alaska and Hawai’i and the Southeastern United States. And now, based on that experiment, they’ve published a guide on how to do it yourself.
The result is the new Participatory Philanthropy Toolkit, which offers tips on how to structure and approach such a project on classic topics like administrative burdens and 501(c)(3) status, as well as specific suggestions around funder readiness, such as: “It is a challenge for many organizations to discuss power dynamics explicitly.” It also gets into the nuts and bolts, with sample checklists, project outlines, and even Google Docs templates.
There are candid reflections throughout, including on tensions between participatory and trust-based philanthropy, and the challenge of building relationships across dozens of grantees and a large participatory group, let alone the logistical headaches of arranging meetings. Wish you could see it in action? The 51-page report dedicates its final section to the step-by-step process of the fund’s climate initiative.
Climate justice activists take the mic
Want to hear directly from climate justice leaders? The summer 2023 issue of Responsive Philanthropy, the online journal of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, offers an incredible lineup of activists from inside and outside philanthropy.
Its five articles include pieces by Jacqueline Patterson, founder and executive director of the Chisholm Legacy Project, and Marion Gee, co-executive director of the Climate Justice Alliance. There’s also folks on the grantmaking side, including a Q&A with Farhad Ebrahimi, founder and chair of the Chorus Foundation, and an article by the four leaders of the CLIMA Fund.
These and other voices offer their perspectives on how to fund with communities, how to organize philanthropy and, in sum, how to support a just transition for all.
Lessons from a veteran regrantor focused on the planet’s front lines
I would not typically feature an annual report in such a roundup. Yet with major new U.S. climate philanthropists (Bezos, Scott, Sequoia, Scott again, etc.) sending massive checks abroad, it’s worth paying close attention to groups that have been working overseas for years — and who are getting some of that cash. In that sense, Global Greengrants Fund 2022 Annual Report is worth your time.
The participatory grantmaking intermediary had a landmark 2022. It gave out more grants than ever before, with 1,239 awards across 105 countries totalling $15.8 million. It also announced a MacKenzie Scott grant — the biggest in the fund’s history — in November, so even bigger things are likely ahead.
It looks like that will include an even bigger circle of advisors, which already consisted of 27 boards made up of more than 215 activists. Notable new beginnings in 2022 include a new partnership with the regional networks of Oilwatch International to fight fossil fuel expansion and new grantmaking in the Middle East and North Africa. Major reviews of its youth- and women-centered grantmaking also produced insights to guide their future choices. In sum, this looks like an organization that’s still growing, and given all the need around the world, there’s room for plenty more.
How to fund Indigenous peoples
Some of the very best resources keep it simple. This six-page resource, “Funding Trend Analysis on Indigenous Peoples Philanthropy,” offers 20 recommendations based around the five Rs of Indigenous philanthropy: respect, relationships, responsibility, reciprocity and redistribution. The suggestions span themes like addressing systemic barriers and overcoming “colonial legacies and mindsets.” The document may have been published by International Funders for Indigenous Peoples in April, but these are timeless tips. For the many climate funders looking to back Indigenous communities for the first time, it seems like an excellent place to start.
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