Frequently Asked Questions

WHERE does HIVE FUND FOCUS ITS RESOURCES?

More than 85 percent of our grant dollars have been awarded to groups in the US South, a region whose high pollution levels, abundant clean energy opportunities, and legacy of environmental justice leadership make it critical for global climate progress. We provide multiyear, general support to more than 150 impactful yet historically underfunded grantee partners, primarily in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, and the Carolinas. We fund ecosystems of state and local organizations that are uniquely positioned to act where key energy decisions happen — including city councils, utility commissions, port and railroad commissions, and the courts. And we support them to participate in even larger tables with national and global allies so they can scale innovative solutions. Visit our grantmaking page to learn more about our funding.

WHY IS THE US SOUTH AN AREA OF FOCUS?

There is no road to durable climate progress that does not go through the US South, yet philanthropy has severely underinvested in the region. The states where Hive Fund makes grants contribute nearly a quarter of all US climate pollution — in fact, the combined emissions from Texas and Louisiana alone make these states the world’s tenth largest climate polluter. For decades, the burden of air pollution, toxic waste, and poisoned natural resources has fallen disproportionately on Black, Brown, and Indigenous people — a trend that continues with a proposed explosive expansion of polluting facilities in communities of color across the South. At the same time, these states hold opportunity to exponentially rapidly expand clean energy projects that can bring down energy bills and create good jobs for working people — as evidenced by the outsized share of clean energy projects the region attracted during the Inflation Reduction Act’s first two years.

WHAT TYPE OF WORK does hive FUND SUPPORT?

Hive Fund raises funds and makes grants to groups working to accelerate the transition from dirty to clean energy in ways that center justice, redistribute power, and create healthier, safer, and more prosperous communities. We support grantee partners working toward this shared goal through three interconnected pathways:

Rapidly transition to cleaner, renewable energy in ways that equitably redistribute leadership, ownership, and benefits to disinvested communities in the US South and beyond.

Reverse the expansion of dirty energy, reduce pollution and other harms to communities in the US South, and weaken polluting industries’ political, economic, and social stranglehold.

Strengthen people power to channel broad public demand for change toward climate solutions that address the problems everyday people face.

Why do you fund with a justice lens?

Meaningfully addressing the climate crisis requires transforming the systems of power that are allowing industries to poison Black, Brown, Indigenous, and low-income communities for profit while dangerously warming our planet. We support ecosystems of groups rooted in and led by communities most impacted by pollution and other systemic disparities in the US South who are advancing bold visions for a cleaner, more just energy system. The organizational leaders we support — most of them women and gender non-conforming people of color — ground their work in the lived realities and expertise of their communities, leading to solutions that work better, move faster, and are more durable. Yet they're consistently underfunded, ultimately holding all of us back from achieving deep and lasting progress.

WHERE DOES YOUR FUNDING COME FROM?

Hive Fund is an intermediary funder, meaning we fundraise every dollar we distribute through our grants. You can find a list of our current funding partners here, and you can learn more about our values and fundraising principles here.

We welcome new funding partners to co-invest in the powerful ecosystems of groups we support. We accept gifts from foundations and individual donors. We’re committed to sharing insights, strategies, lessons learned, and participatory practices with funding partners in hopes of learning together to fund organizations in ways that enable them to do their best work. To learn more about funding partnerships and aligned funding opportunities, contact Strategic Partnerships Director Nandini Chaturvedula at nandini_at_hivefund.org.

Windward Fund is the fiscal sponsor of the Hive Fund.

WHEN DOES HIVE FUND MAKE GRANTS AND HOW CAN I APPLY?

We typically make two rounds of grants per year. We use a participatory grantmaking approach with advisors and grantee partners to co-create strategy and inform effective funding decisions. We do not have an open application process at this time.