Delivering unconditional cash directly to the world's poorest households via secure mobile transfers. 

COVID-19 has pushed 150 million more people into extreme poverty worldwide. You can empower them to meet their needs by giving unconditional cash transfers to the poorest households in the US and Africa. Why cash? Because the best way to alleviate poverty is to make people less poor. If the disruption of pandemic taught us anything, we need simple, direct ways to help the most vulnerable. Giving directly is a fast, efficient, proven, and empowering way to do so. 

GiveDirectly

We are devoted to abolishing immigration detention, while ending the isolation of people currently suffering in this system.

Freedom for Immigrants is a national nonprofit devoted to abolishing immigration detention through two main strategies, while ending the isolation of people currently suffering in this profit¬-driven system. First, we mobilize a network of 4,500 watchdog community members that uncovers and tracks abuses experienced by those in immigration detention, shedding light in a consistent manner for the first time on this hidden system. Second, we are modeling a community-based alternative to detention that welcomes immigrants into the social fabric of the United States. Through these windows into the system, we gather data and stories to combat injustice at the individual level and push systemic change.

Freedom for Immigrants

Supporting highly-impactful, evidence-based solutions to the triple challenge of climate change, air pollution and energy poverty.

## The Founders Pledge Perspective

Climate change is one part of a triple challenge surrounding energy production. Not only does most current energy production lead to damaging carbon emissions, the effects of which are devastating ecosystems and changing our planet beyond recognition, it also pollutes the air and leaves many of the world’s poor without sufficient energy. This adds up to an environmental and humanitarian crisis.

Thus, we face a triple challenge: we not only need to drive down carbon emissions to near zero by mid-century, and drastically reduce air pollution, but we need to do so while supporting work to reduce global poverty that will often be accompanied, or even driven, by increased energy consumption.

We aim to take a holistic approach that recognizes the global nature of this challenge, as well as the fact that, despite its urgency, we are still in the early days of climate action. This means that the solutions that we focus on will not only reduce emissions now, but will do so in a way that avoids future emissions, while also creating opportunities for the world’s poor and eventually ending energy poverty entirely.

We aim to do this in three ways:

- **Audacious advocacy**: By focusing our grantmaking on organizations leveraging large amounts of money through policy advocacy. There are highly effective organizations with budgets in the millions of dollars which have influenced government innovation budgets, orders of magnitude larger than their costs. By looking for opportunities with leverage like this, we can have an outsize impact.
- **Accelerating low-carbon innovation**: By finding and funding advocacy opportunities that strengthen the energy innovation eco-system or promote particularly neglected technologies. As the success of solar has shown for electricity, the availability of cheap, low carbon alternatives to our current energy sources can make a very significant difference. Efficient, low-cost technology can spread around the world without inter-governmental cooperation or expensive policies to spread around the world, making it a more robust strategy in a world where climate action will often not be the first priority of policy makers and the public.
- **Focusing on blindspots and bottlenecks**: By focusing on areas neglected by other stakeholders, we can ensure that fund dollars make as much difference as possible. While some technologies, such as solar, enjoy widespread popularity and significant policy support, this is not similarly true for other approaches, resulting in a huge imbalance in resource allocation. By finding and funding advocates for overlooked solutions, such as carbon capture and storage technology, we can ensure we are making the most of every tool available to us in the fight against climate change.

Managed by two members of the Founders Pledge Research team, the Climate Change Fund identifies and supports sustainable, evidence-based solutions to the “triple challenge” of carbon emissions, air pollution, and energy poverty.

## Our Approach to Grantmaking

When evaluating potential grants, we consider several key points:

- **Counterfactual impact**. Our grants are designed to create a meaningful outcome that would not otherwise have happened. In particular, we aim to make grants that otherwise wouldn’t have been made, rather than those which just take the place of other philanthropists’ donations. This means that you can rely on the Funds to create meaningful, real change, rather than just maintaining the status quo.
- **Impact-driven philanthropy**. The goal of this fund is maximal positive impact, irrespective of this impact being “sexy” or visible. This means we will focus on opportunities that others focused on clear attribution of their work or shiny outcomes might neglect. For example, we are very comfortable funding organizations to increase their general capacity and strategy when we perceive this as their bottleneck to higher impact, rather than being tied to specific outcomes or deliverables.
- **The organization’s funding gap**. Not all organizations are set up to scale up their programming and many can’t productively absorb large amounts of unsolicited funding. We evaluate all potential grantees’ capacity for growth and consider how much money they could put to good use.
- **Organizational strength**. Particularly with unrestricted funding, it’s important to have trust in the leadership and capacity of the organizations we support. We look at their track record of success and their transparency about failures as well as successes, and we only support those organizations which are exceptionally well run.
- **Time-critical opportunities and funding certainty**. While Founders Pledge members give to our top climate charities regularly, sometimes there are time-critical opportunities which require fast decisions. Or there are needs for certainty of funding streams to allow new hires and start new campaigns and programs. We will use the Fund to make grants that enable such short-term opportunities and stability for high-impact funding opportunities thereby increasing the impact compared to individual giving to specific organizations.
- **Portfolio approach**. Because most climate damage comes from particular severe outcomes – with a world of 4 degrees of warming being much worse than twice as bad as a world with 2 degrees – and because every particular strategy – such as energy innovation – might underdeliver, we pursue a portfolio approach to maximize positive impact. This means we will diversify our bets in ways that, when one approach fails (such as energy innovation), the others we promote (such as carbon removal) can be expected to be particularly important and still available. This maximizes the expected impact of your donation in a world characterized by huge uncertainty about the success of different high-impact solutions.

## Frequently-Asked Questions

**Can charities apply for money from the Fund?**

The Funds do not generally accept applications from charities. If the Fund Managers choose to open up an application round, this will be publicized. Charities are requested not to send unsolicited applications for funding.

**How frequently will you make grants from the Fund?**

Fund Managers will review grant-making decisions on a quarterly basis. Decisions will be made based on the value of Funds and the available options for high-impact grant-making. We may sometimes delay grant-making if we believe that waiting for more promising opportunities will be more impactful. Conversely, we may disburse funds outside of our quarterly review dates if we become aware of a particularly promising and time-sensitive funding opportunity.

**How will my contribution be used?**

All funds are granted out. The Fund is not an investment vehicle. The Fund does not use any percentage of contributions to cover staff time or other overhead costs. Every dollar contributed to the Fund will be used to make grants directly to end-user organizations creating a real difference.

## More Questions?

To learn more about the Founders Pledge Climate Change Fund, please visit [founderspledge.com](https://founderspledge.com/funds/climate-change-fund) or email the Fund Managers at [funds@founderspledge.com](mailto:funds@founderspledge.com).

Climate Change Fund

Legal advocacy nonprofit dedicated to the civil rights of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI).

Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta’s mission is to protect and promote the civil rights of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders in Georgia and the Southeast through policy advocacy, legal services, civic engagement, and leadership development. Our vision is a social movement where individuals are fully empowered, active in civic life, and working together to promote equity and fair treatment for all.

Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta

We're working every day to reinvent charity while bringing clean drinking water to the 663 million people living without. Join us.

charity: water is a non-profit bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. 

In just ten years, we've funded more than 38,000 water projects in 27 developing countries. When complete, these projects will provide clean, safe drinking water for more than 9.6 million people.

Nearly 663 million people in our world don’t have access to clean drinking water. Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of diseases and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war.

The good news: there are simple solutions, from deep drilled wells to water filtration systems. And with the help of 1,000,000+ donors and individual fundraisers, we're forming a strong force against the water crisis.

HELP KEEP FAMILIES HEALTHY AND SAFE

As COVID-19 spreads, clean and safe water for hand washing is essential. 100% of your donation helps equip families with the lifesaving resources they need.

charity: water

Works to exonerate innocent people through DNA testing and reform the criminal justice system to prevent injustice.

The Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University to assist prisoners who could be proven innocent through DNA testing. More than 350 people in the United States have been exonerated by DNA testing, including 38 who pleaded guilty to crimes they did not commit and 20 who served time on death row. The Innocence Project provided direct representation or critical assistance in more than 200 exonerations.   The Innocence Project’s full-time staff attorneys and Cardozo clinic students provide direct representation or critical assistance in most of these cases. The Innocence Project’s groundbreaking use of DNA technology to free innocent people has provided irrefutable proof that wrongful convictions are not isolated or rare events but instead arise from systemic defects. Now an independent nonprofit organization closely affiliated with Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, the Innocence Project’s mission is nothing less than to free the staggering numbers of innocent people who remain incarcerated and to bring substantive reform to the system responsible for their unjust imprisonment.  With the generous support of individuals like you the Innocence Project has exonerated scores of innocent people and worked around the country to reform our criminal justice system. With the generous support of individuals like you the Innocence Project has exonerated scores of innocent people and worked around the country to reform our criminal justice system.

Innocence Project

The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonpartisan organization whose sole purpose is to end homelessness in the US.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization whose sole purpose is to end homelessness in the United States. We use research and data to find solutions to homelessness; we work with federal and local partners to create a solid base of policy and resources that support those solutions; and then we help communities implement them.

Our strength is that we are an outcome-driven organization. Starting with our name and continuing with how we choose the work we do, allocate staff time, and use our resources, we focus on one thing: ending homelessness.

National Alliance to End Homelessness

We share our knowledge, hopeful that one day it will cease to be needed. 

Our mission is to offer scientifically-informed programs based in trauma-informed Mindful Awareness and Social-Emotional Learning which equitably support children, educators and communities with tools to manage stress and navigate life’s challenges.
As our world continues to suffer from man-made systemic struggles like poverty, inequality, racism, violence, isolation, and ACES, Adverse Childhood Experiences, the need for increased access mindfulness skills becomes even more profound. Scientific studies, experts like Ellen Langer, as well as our own professional experiences, demonstrate that when we address the issues that stem from our most basic instincts - fear and stress, the pervasive problems we see in humans are impacted for the better.

Mindfulness First

A hot plate of food when it’s needed most. For people fighting or fleeing disasters, we are here. 

Ten years ago, my wife Patricia and I had a big dream to start World Central Kitchen. We envisioned an organization that would create smart solutions to hunger and poverty, and for many years we saw an amazing impact through our clean cookstoves initiative, culinary training programs, and social enterprise ventures that empower communities and strengthen economies. But we had no idea we would one day be answering the call in Puerto Rico and around the world – “Food First Responders” serving millions of meals each year. In the process, we learned that a small NGO can change the world through the power of food.

Last year, WCK activated in response to dozens of disasters — some of them natural, and some man-made. From serving children in the shelters on our border with Mexico to making deliveries by lamplight to those keeping watch over beaches in Indonesia, our fight to feed the hungry has taken us to more places than we ever expected.

At the same time, WCK continues planting roots in the communities where we work. Our Plow to Plate program is helping to create food resiliency in the face of future disasters. In Haiti, aspiring chefs are obtaining the skills and confidence they need to elevate their careers and the country’s tourism sector.

With your help, we have shown that there is no place too far or disaster too great for our chefs to be there with a hot plate of food when it’s needed most.

I hope you’ll dream with us as we envision a world where there is always a warm meal, an encouraging word, and a helping hand in hard times. Thank you for taking this journey with us.

Join me in fulfilling the inspiring words of John Steinbeck: Wherever there’s a fight so hungry people may eat, we will be there.

We must be there.
- Jose Andres, founder

World Central Kitchen

We're finding solutions to the world’s most pressing problems through evidence-led and thoughtful approaches to impact.

Founders Pledge is a community of over 1,700 tech entrepreneurs finding and funding solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. Through cutting-edge research, world-class advice, and end-to-end giving infrastructure, we empower members to maximise their philanthropic impact by pledging a meaningful portion of their proceeds to charitable causes. Since 2015, our members have pledged over $7 billion and donated more than $700 million globally. As a non-profit, we are grateful to be community-supported. Together, we are committed to doing immense good.

Founders Pledge

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I give because I like any thing that would help change the 🌎 and help change other peoples lives 

Engineering @ Every.org. I believe we can all do good together.

I believe in gratitude+action and that together we can build a better world. Have the best job as Cofounder at Every.org :)

Designer at every.org. Passionate about animals and nature. Taking action so our children can inherit a better world 💚

Direct cash payments seem to be the most effective way to actually affect change.  I love that give directly is pioneering this approach and hope to see more of it!

An amazing organization helping immigrants and detainees being held in Detention Centers across the US. From visiting, helping them get proper paperwork for their asylum hearing, matching them with proper legal help and aiding them after their release. Another personal one for me - been volunteering and have supported the release of several women from Cameroon from Adelanto Detention Center in California. 

50,000+ immigrant children and adults are being detained, many with no path to being released. Some have been kept for 9+ years.

Freedom for Immigrants fights for and supports these unfortunate souls.

Climate Change Fund uses scientific and evidence based methodology to tackle real problems.
We only have one planet, let's do what we can to protect it.

I really want our Earth to live on for a long time. And so I can say that I had a very good environment when I was young. 

Nobody should have to live their life in fear of being assaulted or worse, just because of their race or gender.

The recent acts of violence against Asians has deeply saddened me, not just as an Asian-American myself, but as a human being.

We need to support organizations trying to make a difference, however we can.

These recent acts of anti-asian violence are just part of an unavoidable truth that stretches back to this country's founding. Yes, we must do our work to be anti-racist, but our responsibility to fix this goes beyond our own actions. We must support the organizations that are working to change the deeply structural racism of our society and are supporting those most at risk.

We use clean water for everything. Drinking, washing, cleaning, cooking, and even recreation.

Billions (with a B!) of people around the world go daily without any clean water. Help save lives by donating.

I can't imagine how hard it must be to live without access to safe drinking water and charity: water is helping relieve that

Innocence project minimizes wrongful convictions through DNA testing, giving people a second chance at life.

The criminal justice system is broken. The Innocence Project showed that a large fraction of people confess to crimes they did NOT commit, partly because of this. I support any efforts to right the wrongs of the broken system. Justice for the wrongly incarcerated!

A non-partisan organization that gathers, consolidates, and presents data about homelessness to encourage action and policy change.

Although they try to remain objective, the picture they paint is grim. We need to help.

Mental health should be as transparent as physical health.

Mindfulness First provides programs that teach kids mindfulness and awareness, so that they're aware from an early age.

WCK has provided millions of meals. Whether they're for people going through a disaster, frontline workers trying to help, or humans who have been displaced.

Food is a basic human need that no one should ever have to worry about.