Climate Change Fund
Climate giving aimed at the neglected, high-leverage parts of the problem rather than the familiar ones.
Over ten billion dollars a year in philanthropy goes to climate change, and a great deal of it lands in the same few places. That concentration leaves whole areas underfunded, which is precisely where an additional dollar is worth most. This fund exists to send Canadian giving to those areas.
How the fund is directed
Allocations follow the advice of Founders Pledge's climate research team, which publishes its analysis and looks for solutions that are effective and neglected rather than merely popular. In practice that has meant three kinds of bet: accelerating innovation in technologies nobody else is funding, growing the most effective climate organizations while they are still small, and supporting policy work that shifts what governments consider possible.
What the fund has backed
Past allocations give a sense of the range: research into ultradeep geothermal energy at a Canadian institute, a project advising China's government on repowering coal plants with advanced nuclear reactors, and the work of organizations including TerraPraxis and Clean Air Task Force. None of these are what a donor would find by searching for climate charities, which is the point.
Giving to the fund from Canada
Gifts come with an official Canadian donation receipt, and are pooled and regranted on a quarterly cycle so that allocations follow the current research rather than the calendar. Our tax credit calculator will estimate the credits on your gift, and our climate giving guide covers the other options open to Canadians.
How this fund is granted
This fund works the way the Global Health Fund does. Gifts are pooled and held rather than granted immediately, and they are directed once Founders Pledge's climate research team identifies an opportunity worth funding.
Climate giving suits that pattern especially well. The opportunities this fund looks for are neglected and often early stage, such as a research project or a policy program that has just become fundable, and they do not appear on a quarterly schedule. Holding the balance until one does is what lets a Canadian gift land somewhere that mainstream climate philanthropy has not already crowded. Past allocations are described above, and you can follow where a gift has reached on Where Is My Donation?
Support Climate Change Fund with a tax-receipted gift in Canada.
Donate TodayMore in Climate Change
Stay up to date on effective aid
Subscribe to the Rethink Charity newsletter. Want to read it first? Check out the archives.
We will never spam you, and you can unsubscribe at any time.