40 million more ways to tackle the climate crisis

How can we solve the world’s biggest problems? At Founders Pledge, we’ve spent the past decade trying to answer that question head on. From climate change to education to global risks, our research team has spent thousands of hours figuring out how philanthropists can most effectively address these challenges with their giving.

Our insights empower our vibrant community of over 2,000 members — visionary founders and entrepreneurs — who are committed to using their wealth as a force for good. Our work equips them with the knowledge and tools to direct their giving where it can do the most good possible and to date, they’ve donated just shy of $1.5 billion, of which roughly $300 million went to the most effective charities in the world.

Over our 10 year history, we’ve always believed in being open and curious about how to maximize impact. We are always adapting, always evolving, and always ready to test out new approaches. A few years back, for example, we realized there was an efficient, effective, and streamlined way to direct donations where they’re needed most, so we created Funds. Our Funds pool donations together from many individuals, from small donors to ultra-high net worth individuals, and deploy them strategically to impact-maximizing opportunities across health & development, climate and averting global risks. Donors can entrust their giving to our expert grantmakers, knowing that every dollar they contribute will be leveraged to do the most good possible, targeting solutions that matter most to them and actually work.

Building on a strong foundation

The Climate Fund found supporters early and has grown steadily since 2020. In its first year, it received nearly $5 million in contributions. The total almost tripled by its third year: $14 million from roughly 2,000 individual donors. It’s been motivating to see this network, filled with people who want to support climate impact through the Fund, expanding over time.

The mission has remained unchanged: to find and fund the highest-impact opportunities, focusing our resources where they can make the biggest difference and tackling climate change with the urgency and boldness it requires. From the outset, our approach (research-driven, bold, and laser-focused on impact) set us apart from other climate funders. We seek out the opportunities that are systematically neglected, analyze uncertainties and future scenarios, and think a lot of mitigating risks. It’s crucial to ask: what can we do today to create the best possible outcomes for the future? What solutions will be the most valuable even if everything else goes wrong? We’ve spoken in depth about navigating uncertainties, impact on the margin, and the portfolio of solutions.

Our strategy has continually updated as the risks, opportunities, and attention in the climate space shift — we’ve analyzed the implications of President Biden winning the 2020 U.S. election, the surge in climate action and philanthropy in 2021, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the passage of major U.S. climate policies, some of the political, technological, and economic risks in climate, and the 2024 U.S. elections, among other things.

Agile by design, we adapt to the evolving climate ecosystem and act quickly to make timely grants. We saw an opportunity in 2020 when President Biden entered the White House, and funded the Clean Air Task Force and Carbon180 to engage the incoming administration on U.S. climate policy; they advocated for innovation in neglected technologies and helped shape the Infrastructure (IIJA) and Inflation Reduction Acts (IRA), contributing to significant climate progress. After years of our promotion and grants from the Founders Pledge community catalyzed the growth of the Clean Air Task Force, a highly effective research and advocacy organization, we deployed $4 million to help them become a truly global organization. They expanded their operations across Asia and Africa, supporting work to avoid carbon lock-in in key emerging economies. To accelerate the development of clean technology, we helped Terra Praxis launch and establish their cutting-edge, effective solutions to repower coal plants with emissions-free advanced heat sources. These are just a few examples — read more about them.

A year of unprecedented growth

This generous gift has dramatically increased our capacity to do good, beyond the signal it sends to other donors and prospective grantees. With a pool of ready money, we’re able to be more responsive, fill funding gaps, meet time-sensitive windows, co-create grant opportunities, and provide the level of funding that organizations need to do their work. Our support can even amplify the impact of their future donations by improving organizational infrastructure and their ability to absorb more funding with high cost-effectiveness.

With more resources at our disposal, we’re able to make bigger, bolder grants. This is exciting and critically important because we don’t have time to waste — the sooner we can fill in the gaps and invest in underfunded solutions, the better.

Our total grant-making nearly doubled since receiving the $40 million contribution last year, from roughly $15 million at the end of 2023 to almost $29 million by the end of 2024. We’ve deployed this through 27 grants directly to 13 organizations and projects, and a network of more than 20 orgs through our re-granting partner.

An election-proof climate strategy

2024 was a year filled with uncertainty, we spent time re-assessing how to systematically mitigate climate risks. (This wasn’t new for us, we were highlighting the importance of managing risks back in our 2021 report on the changing landscape of climate philanthropy.) Elections presented some of the biggest unknowns last year, especially in the U.S., India and the European Union. The results affect the trajectory and pace of global climate progress for years to come, at a time when action is critical.

Back in 2023 we began thinking about how to prepare for the 2024 U.S. elections and recognized a significant gap: climate philanthropy as a whole wasn’t adequately preparing for all outcomes, including the possibility of a Republican trifecta. Based on our estimates, right-of-center climate action has received a fraction of the funding — roughly $30 million each year, compared to the $300 million to left-of-center action and $1.7 billion to “Big Green” organizations. This wide gap matters because long-term climate progress will depend on Republicans and require cooperation across parties.

In July, the new infusion of capital allowed us to make a $2.5 million grant to our re-granting partner DEPLOY/US, an organization accelerating bipartisan climate leadership in the U.S. As the election drew closer, our research and conversations showed that, despite a 50-50 split, the outcomes were still not being properly priced in. We granted an additional $5 million to DEPLOY/US to rapidly boost the capacity and impact of the ecosystem of organizations working right-of-center on climate and clean energy. They quickly re-granted to more than 20 nonprofit organizations in this ecosystem, who are well-positioned to engage voters and policymakers on climate and clean energy issues at the federal and state levels, and the funds helped mobilize critical constituencies in key states, produce research and resources that pave the way for bipartisan policy change, and level up their ability to engage the next administration and Congress on climate and energy policy.

This is a small sample of DEPLOY/US’ more than 20 partner grantees:

• American Conservation Coalition (ACC) is the U.S.’ largest grassroots organization mobilizing young conservatives toward environmental outcomes. Through grassroots action, policymaker education, and strategic media engagement, ACC activates their 60,000 members to encourage and support conservative policymakers to lead on policies that advance climate and environmental solutions.
• C3 Solutions is a conservative public policy shop that promotes free-market and pro-innovation policies related to energy and climate, particularly around permitting and regulatory reform, transmission, natural climate solutions, and DOE programs. C3 conducts policy research, testifies before US members of Congress, and educates Congressional and Administration staff.
• The Evangelical Environmental Network educates and mobilizes evangelicals “to care for God’s creation and secure a healthy environment and safe climate for all God’s children to thrive in.” With its youth engagement arm, Young Evangelicals for Climate Action, and faith and agriculture focus, EEN cultivates and activates for policy-maker education the high-impact constituencies of evangelicals, farmers, and youth on climate and environmental issues.

We invested in this network of organizations, through DEPLOY/US, because we believed their work would be effective no matter who won the election, and, more importantly given the need for bipartisan support, even more important after a Republican victory. After President Trump won the election, we deployed $1.2 million to DEPLOY/US to fund urgent work by these organizations: supporting the right-of-center ecosystem during the transition period and helping them prepare to work with the incoming Administration and Congress.

Adapting as the future unfolds

What does high-impact climate philanthropy look like in 2025?

It’s a challenging time for climate action. The elections showed that global backlash to climate policy is increasing. Though progress may feel out of reach, the situation is by no means hopeless. We continue to look for high-impact solutions that are adaptable and effective in a changing world, and robust in the face of an uncertain future.

Our latest review of the landscape will be published soon, but we shared some thoughts on strategies in our post-election reflections. We need to encourage more collaboration across political divides within governments, so that ambitious, sustained climate policies are easier to pass. We’re focused on expanding pro-climate and clean energy coalitions, and we’ll continue to invest in the ecosystem of climate orgs working right-of-center as long as the Ecoright remains underfunded relative to its importance. And there are opportunities to make progress at the federal level — an area of focus for the Clean Air Task Force, who provide advice and support to policymakers looking to take action.

Time will tell what happens on a global level, but we’re looking for wins that will be possible even if climate policy backslides. Organizations like Future Cleantech Architects and Carbon-Free Europe are helping shape Europe’s climate response to be more focused on enabling global decarbonization.

Our work to mitigate climate risks never ends, and we’ll be navigating new uncertainties as the world and the climate space continue to change.