Program on the Environment

Climate change is a daunting issue needing interdisciplinary solutions and collective efforts. Currently, only 2% of all philanthropic giving goes to fight climate change with over half of the funding going toward large capital mitigation efforts. While mitigation strategies are important and perfect for large funders, adaptation strategies focusing on the communities who are suffering from the effects of climate change now are of equal importance yet severely underfunded. The purpose of this study was to identify the role small funders play in climate philanthropy. To accomplish this research, I utilized the Foundation Center Directory to identify philanthropies who funded in the area of climate and to assess their grant sizes and projects. Once a list was made, I reached out to small funders for an interview followed by a literature review of philanthropic news and foundation websites. Findings show that funders who gave grants amounts of $25 thousand or less tend to fund in the areas of climate adaptation and climate justice. Small funders are uniquely positioned to advance adaptation strategies due to their ability to better address issues of equity; can assume more risk and create visibility for local projects by taking on community projects that may not be highly visible or have all the metrics and methods required by large funders to obtain grants; offer flexibility to change with the community time and place; works directly with the community which builds expertise in their needs; empower voices and leaders from local communities; and provide support in addition to funding.