Climate and Clean Energy Equity Fund
/OVERVIEW: The Climate and Clean Energy Equity Fund supports community-based organizations in multiple states across the U.S. that are engaged in the “multiracial community-driven movement to forge and implement climate equity policy solutions.”
IP TAKE: The Climate and Clean Energy Equity Fund grew rapidly after its founding in 2016, becoming an important presence among climate justice funders. In 2019, IP reporter Tate Williams characterized the Equity Fund as among a handful of leading organizations supporting a “type of climate action—building power on the ground, led by underrepresented communities with the most on the line—that has been historically underfunded by climate philanthropy.” In 2020, the Equity Fund was one of the three climate justice-focused funds to receive $43 million from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, enabling the Fund to further expand its U.S. focus areas to 13 states (and counting). The fund’s grantees tend to be state-based community organizations pursuing local climate justice initiatives or state-level policy changes through nonpartisan organizing efforts.
The Equity Fund is an intermediary that can be viewed as a pass-through funder, providing larger donors an effective means for supporting smaller, community-based groups. The fund’s past supporters include major foundations such as the Hewlett Foundation and major donors, most significantly Jeff Bezos. While the Fund is approachable, with a contact page on its website, it does not accept unsolicited proposals or requests for funding. Neither does it provide information about how its grantees are selected. A list of grantees can be found within the Fund’s most recent annual report, but grant amounts aren’t included. The Fund typically offers multi-year, flexible support to grantees. Networking with the Equity Fund’s current grantees might be the best bet for grant seekers hoping to make inroads here.
PROFILE: Established in 2016, the Climate and Clean Energy Equity Fund (CCEEF) is a fiscally sponsored project of the New Venture Fund. Its mission is to “stop climate change and create an equitable clean energy future through a strategic multi-state initiative” by investing in leadership in diverse communities, engaging voters through civic engagement campaigns, and supporting climate and clean energy policy solutions. CCEEF currently partners with organizations in 13 states, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Grantmaking focuses on climate change, the environment, racial equity and indigenous rights. Additionally, CCEEF offers a Policy Accelerator that provides coaching, research and technical assistance on climate and clean energy-related issues, as well as a Communications Accelerator to help grantee partners develop communications strategies.
Grants for Climate Change and Clean Energy
CCEEF’s grantmaking supports “some of the most powerful community-based civic engagement, grassroots organizing, powerbuilding, and voter turnout programs for climate and clean energy solutions in the country.” It works to invest in diverse communities composed of BIPOC and other groups most impacted by climate change. It seeks to engage voters in these communities and enact climate policy solutions “that reflect the priorities of communities and advance racial, economic, and environmental justice.” Grantseekers can visit the funding page for each state to get a better sense of the types of organizations the Equity Fund supports.
In addition to grantmaking, the fund’s grantees have access to its Policy Accelerator, which “provides policy coaching, rapid-response policy research, and technical assistance on climate and clean energy policy campaigns.”
Its Communications Accelerator facilitates grantee partners’ development of “strategic communications capacity and strategies to combat fossil fuel disinformation and accelerate the pace and scale of change.”
Previous grantees here include We Make the Future, Hip-Hop Caucus, ReFrame, and Advance Democracy.
Important Grant Details:
In a recent year, CCEEF awarded $23 million to 140 grantees. The organization’s total grantmaking budget varies from year to year.
CCEEF’s grantmaking is currently limited to the 13 states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
The fund does not accept unsolicited requests for funding; however, it does invite those “interested in partnership opportunities” to contact it at partnership@theequityfund.org.
Additionally, its fiscal sponsor, the New Venture Fund, announces funding opportunities on its website.
Grantseekers may reach out through the foundation’s Contact page or send an email to partnership@theequityfund.org for further inquiries.
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