The Donors of Color Network (DOCN)—a cross-racial community of donors and movement leaders committed to building the collective power of people of color to achieve racial equity—has announced that its Climate Funders Justice Pledge (CFJP) established a funding baseline for Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC)-led justice groups of nearly $100 million annually.

DOCN also announced that three additional top 40 environmental funders have signed on to the pledge, which comprises two parts: to make their climate-related grants transparent, and to direct at least 30 percent of that funding within two years to organizations that are run by, serving, and building power for communities of color and have majority-POC boards and senior staff and a justice lens. The ClimateWorks Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, and Energy Foundation are taking the transparency portion of the pledge. Twenty-nine foundations overall and 11 of the top 40 funders have committed to at least one portion of the pledge.

Launched in February 2021, CFJP works in partnership with movement leaders, organizations, and networks to provide the philanthropic infrastructure and resources necessary to advance the goals of the climate justice movement. To date, the campaign has enlisted the support of more than 70 BIPOC scholars and PhDs, creating the first compilation of U.S.-based BIPOC PhDs who are leading on climate policy and research. According to DOCN, engaging the expertise, talent, and power of communities and leaders of color is critical to meeting the urgency of the global climate crisis.

“To win on climate, structural inequities in communities around the world must be addressed,” said ClimateWorks Foundation president and CEO Helen Mountford. “Climate philanthropy can be transformative in advancing solutions that are equitable, inclusive, and just. And understanding where climate funding is being directed is fundamental to identifying gaps and opportunities for action.”

“Latino/a/x frontline environmental justice leaders and organizations have been doing amazing work in their communities with literally ‘pennies on the dollar’ relative to what mainstream legacy environmental organizations have been receiving from funders. Imagine the lives they can change with more equitable funding levels,” said Mark Magana, founding president and CEO of GreenLatinos. “I am hopeful that when I see the growing number of major environmental and conservation funders taking the Climate Funders Justice Pledge and committing to increase transparency and funding of organizations of color to at least 30 percent within two years, it will lead to their funding finally matching their public sentiments on racial justice. Philanthropy must now see that this is not just the right thing to do, but it is the strategic thing to do to overcome the climate and environmental crisis in the time we have remaining to do so.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Andrea Migliarini)