MacKenzie Scott Gave Big to International Climate Justice Regrantors. Who Else Is Out There?

When MacKenzie Scott announced tens of millions in grants to international climate regrantors last month, it broke new ground both for her and the field.

While the novelist and billionaire’s prior climate awards went to relatively traditional grantees, the new round included unprecedented sums to groups whose efforts to support grassroots action have traditionally received little philanthropic support. The wide-ranging list runs from Boston to Brazil, with a focus on funds working on the front lines with women and Indigenous communities.

But there are many more climate organizations out there still hoping for a transformative check.

With major new donor pledges showing up as regularly as climate-fueled catastrophes over this past year-plus, there’s more climate money than ever out there looking for worthy recipients. Below is a list of groups that might well show up on a future slate of Scott climate grantees, or those of donors who follow in her footsteps. Some have long been waiting for this opportunity.

“We expected this to happen,” said Lindley Mease, director of the multi-partner CLIMA Fund. “In some ways, CLIMA was created in anticipation of this philanthropic moment, because it was inevitable that there would be a wake-up call among many of those that have been accumulating wealth — which can be moved in such great quantities — that their business proposition was threatened.”

The collection below is by no means comprehensive and it is heavily influenced by our past coverage. There is an ever-growing list of green intermediaries in the U.S. and abroad. But like Scott’s recipients, these eight groups are international in reach and largely focus on supporting front-line movements or their leaders. This collection also centers on U.S.-based groups, given that many American foundations and donors are either not set up or inclined to do international grantmaking.

It’s a small world, with many of these groups interconnected via fiscal sponsorships, common funders or other ties, both with others on this list and with Scott’s grantees. While some already have major backers, they aren’t quite getting the kind of massive awards Scott has made routine in her giving. But all could put such funding to use.

CLIMA Fund

This U.S.-based collaborative is laser-focused on funding grassroots climate groups. Its backers tend to be more progressive, such as Solidaire Network and Libra Foundation. But ClimateWorks Foundation, the field’s major regrantor, is also among them. Money flows from CLIMA to its four founding organizations, so in that sense, Scott is an indirect backer. The 52-year-old made grants to two of its organizers, Grassroots International and Urgent Action Fund, although the latter's most recent award from Scott was for the group’s Ukraine fund. (Its other two organizers are featured below.)

Thousand Currents

The fiscal sponsor of CLIMA and one of its organizing partners, this San Francisco-based group has moved money to communities in the Global South for about four decades. Formerly called IDEX, it has awarded somewhere north of $25 million since its founding. One of its core priorities is climate justice — ensuring communities have clean air to breathe, are safe from climate-worsened disasters and have what they need to grow food sustainably, among other goals. It works with both individual donors and foundations, but the latter have historically accounted for three-quarters of its revenue.

Global Greengrants Fund

Another one of CLIMA’s organizers, this fund has made over $100 million in grants across more than 160 countries since it was founded in 1993. Like all of the CLIMA partners, its work centers on grassroots movements and leaders, particularly women, youth and Indigenous peoples. One of its projects is the Environmental Defenders Collaborative, a roughly dozen-member pooled fund that works to support those facing intimidation and threats on the front lines. Global Greengrants also has a Scott connection, as its partners include recent grantees such as Prospera and the Samdhana Institute.

Agroecology Fund

Focused on food systems, small farmers and climate change, this pooled fund has given out more than $10 million since its launch in 2012. It has a diverse list of 30-plus supporters hailing from the U.S., Europe and Asia. They range from some of the largest players in the field (David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Open Society Foundations) to smaller family foundations (Dunn Family Charitable Foundation, Casey and Family Foundation). It is also closely tied to some of the other groups listed here. Global Greengrants administers the Agroecology Fund and several others are backers. It was even one of the inaugural grantees of Daughters for Earth, a new fund covered below.

Community Land Rights and Conservation Initiative (CLARIFI)

Launched in January of 2022, this new Washington, D.C.-based fund seeks to put money in the hands of conservation efforts led by Indigenous communities. It is assembling a guidance committee to call the shots, with representatives of Native communities from around the globe, as well as key donors. There’s already some serious financial firepower on its side. One of its two partners is the Wyss Foundation-backed Campaign for Nature, while the other is the Rights and Resources Initiative, a global regrantor that has received multimillion-dollar checks from both Scott and the Bezos Earth Fund. Given historic funding disparities and desperate need for this support, it has set ambitious goals: It aimed to raise $1 billion by last year’s U.N. climate summit.

Daughters for Earth

Unveiled at SXSW just a couple of weeks before Scott announced her latest climate grants, this new climate fund has a star-studded set of backers. Members of its all-woman advisory board include the first female president of Ireland, a Nobel Prize laureate, the head of Mercy Corps, tribal leaders and several prominent female scientists. The goal is to support women who are facing the devastation of climate change firsthand. The fund has participatory grantmaking aspirations: It plans to put together a grantmaking committee of activists, philanthropists and environmental experts to guide future rounds of grants.

Climate Breakthrough Project

This group has some key differences from others on this list. It’s not technically a regrantor and its focus is on individuals, not grassroots movements. But there is at least one big similarity: It is well-positioned to funnel a lot more funding to innovative leaders, who range from front-line activists to policy wonks. Launched by Packard and partners in 2015, the Climate Breakthrough Project gives out an annual environmental award that organizers say is the largest of its kind. Last year’s winners took home $3 million over three years. New climate funders who are interested in backing dynamic individuals, or are more comfortable supporting a group whose board is made up of staff from the field’s biggest philanthropies, may end up giving big to this outfit.

American Jewish World Service

Founded in 1985, this nonprofit works in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. One of its four priorities is land, water and climate justice. While a nonprofit, it does a lot of its work through regranting. Through more than 130 grantee partners, it supports efforts to recognize Indigenous lands, ensure access to clean water and achieve similar people-centered goals. It also has links to some of the other groups listed here — for instance, it’s a supporter of the Agroecology Fund. As my colleague Simone Ellin has reported, Jewish funders are increasingly prioritizing climate change in their giving. That could mean bigger checks are on the way for this group’s climate work.

Who did I miss? Let me know for the next list.

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