Connecting Climate Solutions and Racial Justice
As movements for racial justice continue to gain momentum, many funders have reached out to the Hive Fund for help deepening their understanding of the connections between effective climate solutions and racial justice, and for advice on how to shift their philanthropic practices and grant-dollars to achieve those intertwined outcomes. In response to a request from the Climate Leadership Initiative and the Global Philanthropy Forum, we recently led a funder learning session on these questions. We teamed up with our partner re-granting intermediaries, the Climate and Clean Energy Equity Fund and the CLIMA Fund (Climate Leaders in Movement Action) to offer some concrete recommendations.
The impetus for change
Addressing the climate crisis at a scale and in the time needed (cutting emissions at least in half by 2030 and to negative by mid-century) requires transforming the systems of power governing who pollutes, who profits, and whose lives are valued. Many black, brown, and indigenous communities and leaders have been fighting fossil industries for years and are skilled, sophisticated, and visionary campaigners for systemic justice. Yet these groups receive only tiny share of philanthropic climate funding.
Rally against Georgia Power rate hikes organized by Hive Fund grantee partner Georgia Conservations Voters Education Fund
We in philanthropy put up many self-imposed barriers that make it difficult to fund work led by and serving people of color, women, and marginalized communities. Many white program officers, directors, presidents and board members don’t see or trust Black, brown and indigenous people and women as strategic partners and problem solvers. We sometimes don’t know how to make the case to our boards or presidents for funding groups working on many issues areas. We tack equity on as an afterthought instead of embedding it as a core value. We don’t want to risk making ourselves pariahs for being a squeaky wheel advocating for change inside our organizations.
If there were ever a moment for risking big changes, it’s now. We have the uprisings at our back and 2030 bearing down on us in the very near future. Let’s lean in to being uncomfortable as we interrupt and overcome status quo inertia to center equity and unlock new possibilities.
strategies for Centering Equity in Climate Philanthropy
Recognize the power and expertise of Black, Indigenous and people of color and those in the Global South. Unconscious bias within ourselves and within the field of philanthropy often shapes who we think of as experts and who we trust as strategic problem-solvers.
Fund civic power-building to better connect people affected by pollution and injustice with their government, and shape government priorities over time. To enact the policies that deliver emission reductions at scale, we need government action.
Fund year-round organizing and civic engagement work led by and serving Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities.
Fund multi-issue groups that “multi-solve” many problems affecting their communities at once.
Use all types of funding legally available, including tax-deductible (501 c 3) funds for organizations providing a public benefit, and non-tax-deductible funds for electoral campaigning.
Fund people of color and women-led grantee organizations like you want them to win. This includes substantial multi-year funding and investments in general operating support with no “overhead” limits. Expect non-linear progress and adaptive strategies that capitalize on wins and rethink setbacks in real-time, made possible with flexible funding.
Redefine scale and think about “big bets” in new ways. Fund “bottom-up” work as the foundation for scale.
Support broad ecosystems of smaller groups rooted in place and using a diversity of tactics.
Support infrastructure that helps these groups connect and coordinate by forming coalitions and networks across sectors, silos, and regions, and from local to global.
Support local and regional climate campaigns that center equity to gain broad support, build public traction, and provide a strong foundation for national policies. While funding in the climate movement remains concentrated among large national groups, local, place-based, and grassroots organizations, often led by Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color often build more momentum from the ground up. Increased support for groups working at local and regional levels is essential to building the civic power needed to transition to a clean and equitable economy.
Have patience for non-linear progress as organizations consolidate wins and expand power as people see the fruits of their efforts in tangible improvements in their lives and communities. Rely on these wins to set the course for progress at the federal level.
Make equity a core value and guiding principle for your philanthropy.
Discuss how you can achieve equity in your climate philanthropy with board, staff, and grantees. Be open to revising your metrics, theories of change, and grantmaking practices.
Lean into feeling uncomfortable as you learn and grow.
Use the power you have to overcome the inertia of the status quo.
Fund equity-centered re-granting intermediaries.
Endowed foundations or individual donors often make grants to intermediary funds that, in turn, re-grant those funds to grantee organizations working toward common goals. Intermediary funds (sometimes called re-granters, public foundations, or non-endowed foundations) are staffed and structured to offer a range of specialized services that can augment endowed foundation or donor grant-making capacity, including:
Specialized Expertise: Deep geographic, cultural, tactical, or issue-specific knowledge, connections, and relationships that inform funding decisions;
Collective Funding Impact: Facilitating collaboration among funders, pooled funding resources, tracking collective impact of many grantees working together;
Connective Tissue for Grantees: Making connections across groups and leaders, funding coalition and network facilitation and coordination;
Support Services for Grantees: Hosting grantee convenings, funding capacity-strengthening resources;
Legal Legwork: Navigating the legal guidelines and requirements for making grants internationally, and/or to non-public charities or groups and movements that are non-traditionally structured;
GrantMaking Capacity: Ability to make many grants to grassroots or community-based organizations in ways that large funders with small program or administrative staffs find challenging.
What we’re reading
Winning the Green New Deal is an inspiring, informative, page-turning new collection of essays from brilliant youth, racial justice, and climate justice movement leaders, edited by Hive Fund Design Team member Varshini Prakash and Guido Girgenti. We especially love the chapter on a Green New Deal for the Gulf South by Colete Pinchon Battle.
Ms Foundation for Women’s landmark study on Philanthropic Giving for Women and Girls of Color is a mandate for philanthropy to give more and better to gender and racial justice movements.
Shamar Bibbins at the Kresge Foundation writes about the vital importance of trust in allowing philanthropy to meet the moment.
Aimee Witteman, Midwest Climate and Energy Program Director at the McKnight Foundation offered powerful insights and parting words on why we need to center racial equity in the climate movement.