Getting the Funding Model Right

Good, Bad, Bezos and Beyond is a case study about the impact of billionaire climate philanthropy on grassroots organizations and the power of organizing to shift capital and resources to community-led solutions for EJ and CJ. It shares recommendations for how philanthropy must not just fund, but embody a Just Transition and how partners across the ecosystem can align to move more money to grassroots organizations.

We believe it is a story of how, in a time of multiple intersecting social and environmental crises, we must address the shared root causes through holistic, complex and regenerative approaches in order to very quickly create a more just and resilient world.

The good news is we know how to do it. Grassroots social movements and communities on the frontlines of the struggle for environmental/climate, racial and economic justice have been working for decades to advance systemic and transformative solutions. As low-income communities and communities of color who have borne disproportionate harm from the fossil fuel economy, they are well practiced – and best poised – to advocate for the kinds of  bold policies and innovative projects that tackle the climate crisis in equitable, lasting, wholly beneficial and regenerative ways.

The expertise of impacted communities is precisely what billionaire philanthropists and all funders who claim to care about the future of the planet should be relying on in this moment.  Investing in grassroots-directed CJ solutions is a clear and committed way of dismantling the systems that have not only wrecked the environment, but also allowed the power of unprincipled billionaires to go unchecked in the first place. Community-centered solutions are the best way to bring about a world in which well-being for all, not accumulated wealth for a few, is the highest measure of success.

 

To download the PDF of “Good, Bad, Bezos And Beyond: Climate Philanthropy And The Grassroots” report, click here.