2023 Annual Report

Global Greengrants Fund fosters a resilient movement network that weaves together environmental action with social justice issues, placing communities and grassroots movements around the world at the core of our work.

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A Letter from Laura García and Dr. Nisha Owen

Dear Friends,

The power of collective action has never been clearer. Grassroots environmental and climate justice movements are rising up globally to create a groundswell of change to protect our shared planet and create a more just world. This year, Global Greengrants Fund celebrates 30 years of championing environmental justice! In 2023, we reached new heights in our grantmaking efforts across our network of advisory boards, partner funds, donor advised funds, and fiscally sponsored partnerships, distributing $18.2 million via 1,526 grants across 121 countries. We are not only supporting individual projects but also nurturing global movements. Frontline communities are the heart of environmental justice, leading resistance against harmful industries and pioneering sustainable alternatives.

Just like a healthy forest thrives on interconnectedness, so too does our mission to foster a resilient network of solidarity for environmental and social justice, connecting donors, staff, and grassroots movements with the resources needed to thrive. These networks and webs of solidarity that span the globe are how we will collectively build power from the grassroots up; from Indigenous communities halting oil development in the Amazon to African youth shaping climate policies, the collective action we support is advancing environmental justice.

Our Transformative Journey, which began in 2021, has continued to focus on building movement resilience by strengthening our decentralized network of 30 advisory boards, partner funders, and global partners, increasing participation, learning, and sustainability, and expanding resources. We're diversifying our reach to areas often off the funding radar by launching advisory boards in Central Asia (formed in 2023) and Disability Rights and Climate Justice (formed in 2022), and piloting new grantmaking initiatives in Plastics and Zero Waste and Indigenous Rights. Through these initiatives, we are fostering Global South philanthropy and investing in new participatory grantmaking models.

The impacts we have made and the progress we have seen would not have been possible without the incredible efforts of our grantee partners, our donors, and our committed staff. We want to express our deepest gratitude to all those who have supported us in our mission. Your trust in us and in the work of grassroots activists around the world makes a real difference.

Thank you for standing with us in solidarity.

Laura García
President and CEO
Global Greengrants Fund

Dr. Nisha Owen
Executive Director
Global Greengrants Fund UK

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A group of people participate in an environmental protest. Central figures hold signs reading "Save the Planet" and displaying artwork of an eye with a mask. Smaller, peripheral images depict individuals engaged in sustainable activities, like planting tree saplings.

Image Credit: Dhrubotara Youth Development Foundation

Connecting Resources and Movements

Each year, Global Greengrants gives out grants in alliance with a vast network of advisory boards, donors, partner funds, regional partners, and fiscal sponsorship partners. Our grantmaking statistics reflect the work of this entire network.

US Numbers* UK Numbers**

US Numbers*

1,462

Grants

121

Countries

$18M

Total granted

UK Numbers**

2023 Grantmaking by Issue Area***

$.05M

in climate justice grants awarded to 833 groups in 107 countries. These grants support recovery, mitigation, and prevention measures directly connected to the global climate crisis.

in disability-inclusive climate justice grants to 124 groups in 51 countries. These grants bridge gaps between disability and climate justice movements.

$.71M

in gender-just climate action grants to 726 groups in 96 countries. These grants invest in gender-just climate action.

$.03M

in healthy ecosystems and communities grants to 1,160 groups in 112 countries. These grants support the health and resilience of local ecosystems and communities.

$.69M

in Indigenous rights grants to 564 groups in 73 countries. These grants are investments in the critical role Indigenous Peoples play as stewards of the environment.

in International Financial Institutions grants to 71 groups in 31 countries. These grants support grassroots groups holding financial actors accountable.

in just energy transition grants to 128 groups in 46 countries. These grants are investments in a transition away from fossil fuels and other extractive industries and towards equitable and regenerative alternatives.

$.43M

in local livelihoods and agroecology grants to 658 groups in 99 countries. These grants are investments in local farmers, fisherfolk, beekeepers, and artisans whose economies restore the environment, ensure a fair wage, and remain resilient amidst disaster.

in resilience/pandemic recovery grants to 58 groups in 32 countries. These grants support adaptation efforts and risk mitigation.

$.1M

in right to defend the environment grants to 304 groups in 61 countries. These grants protect the rights of activists and communities to defend the environment.

$.47M

in right to land, water, and resources grants to 532 groups in 79 countries. These grants are investments in the rights of local people to make decisions about their own land, water, and resources.

$.39M

in youth-centered climate justice grants to 479 groups in 83 countries. These include grants and mentorship to young people pursuing cutting-edge climate change initiatives worldwide.

*Unless specified as UK-specific statistics, all grantmaking numbers include Global Greengrants Fund UK, donor-advised funds (DAFs), regional partner funds, and our fiscal sponsorships, in addition to our general grantmaking.
**Global Greengrants Fund is made up of two organizations, one based in the US and one in the UK. The two organizations share a grantmaking program and collaborate strategically at the senior leadership level, while reaching a broader donor audience. This inspiring partnership speaks to the power of collaboration and more decentralized decision-making. All UK numbers are also included in the overall numbers.
***There is overlap between issue areas, as some groups' activities fall into multiple categories.

A Groundswell of Grassroots Power: Grantee Highlights

Grassroots movements are at the forefront of environmental and climate justice, including leading transitions from extractive agriculture and energy production to regenerative, equitable energy practices that prioritize community and environmental wellbeing. Often, these grassroots groups serve as the seed from which broader socio-environmental justice movements grow. When properly supported from the grassroots level, these movements become the most effective and enduring force against environmental degradation, inequality, and injustice, fostering lasting systemic change in our societies and institutions.

Image Credit: Women and Girls Empowerment Network

Grantee Highlight

Collective Action Protects Yasuní National Park

In August 2023, the population of Ecuador voted through a national referendum to halt all current and future oil extraction in Yasuní National Park.

Launch Story

Grantee Highlight

The Movement to #StopEACOP

Since 2021, Global Greengrants has funded over a dozen projects to stop construction of the 1,445km East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) in Tanzania and Uganda.

Launch Story

Grantee Highlight

The First Indigenous Peoples Led Conservation Congress

As part of Alliance for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities for Conservation in Africa (AICA), Global Greengrants grantee partner IMPACT Kenya played a leading role in organizing the First Indigenous Peoples Led Conservation Congress.

Launch Story

Grantee Highlight

Creating Agroecological Alternatives

Agroecology is a core pillar of achieving environmental justice. In 2023, we funded numerous grassroots groups worldwide implementing agroecological solutions.

Launch Story

A Growing, Decentralized Grassroots-Led Advisory Network

Global Greengrants makes grants to grassroots groups in the Global South working at the intersection of human rights and environmental justice. Our model is built around decentralized grassroots-focused grantmaking in which decisions on funding are made through volunteer advisors who are part of the movements they fund.

To deepen the breadth of our grantmaking, we continually assess how we can expand our advisory network to new regions and issue areas. In 2023, we launched two new advisory boards-a Disability Rights and Climate Justice (DRCJ) Advisory Board and a Central Asia Advisory Board-and began piloting both a new Indigenous Peoples board and a Global Plastics and Zero Waste board. These boards ensure that our collective efforts are inclusive and effective in addressing the root causes of environmental injustice.

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Image Credit: Life Haven

Our Current Advisory Network

At the heart of our 30 years of grantmaking is our decentralized grantmaking model that includes an interconnected network of 30 advisory boards consisting of 220 activist advisors. This decentralized accountable structure redistributes resources and power to the grassroots groups facing the deepest climate impacts, and who hold the local knowledge necessary to implement the most effective and just environmental actions.

Meet our network of advisory boards below:

A Bridge Between Disability and Climate Movements

"By amplifying the voices of persons with disabilities and integrating their perspectives into climate solutions, we can build a world that is not only resilient to environmental changes but also rich with empathy and meaningful inclusion."

- Yolanda Muñoz, Disability Rights and Climate Justice Advisory Board Coordinator

In 2023, Global Greengrants awarded more than $300k USD to 31 groups through our Disability Rights and Climate Justice Advisory Board, a global board dedicated to encouraging intersectional connections between disability rights and environmental justice. This was the Board's first official year of grantmaking. Groups we supported are creating recommendations for inclusive climate policies, generating public awareness campaigns, conducting research, running climate workshops for people with disabilities, and more.

Global Greengrants has been making grants at this intersection since 2018, totaling more than $3.1M to 462 groups thus far, yet the creation of the DRCJ board signals a more intentional commitment to disability-inclusive climate justice. Made up of experts, activists, policymakers, and individuals with disabilities, the Board has fostered a space for meaningful knowledge exchange. This collaboration has enriched both the Board's and the organization's understanding of the complex intersections between disability and climate change, leading to innovative solutions that address the unique challenges that persons with disabilities face.

Image Credit: Coalition National des Personnes Handicapées (CONAPH)

A New Advisory Board in Central Asia

In its first pilot year, the Central Asia Advisory Board at Global Greengrants made 35 grants for a total of more than $250k in four countries-Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

In Central Asia, increases in raw material extraction are degrading the region's natural ecosystems and causing intensive pollution. Against this backdrop, environmental movements in the region are under threat due to rising official pressure and a significant decrease in funding sources.

The board's advisors have vast experience in the region, and supported groups who are educating people about environmental justice and climate change, implementing biodiversity conservation and agroecology practices, tackling waste collection and disposal issues, and more.

"The Board is committed to advocating for additional financial resources to flow into Central Asia, both from Global Greengrants and from philanthropy more generally, with the intention of bolstering the resilience and impact of environmental justice movements in Central Asia."

- Sergey Solyanik, Central Asia Advisory Board Coordinator

Currently, Global Greengrants is one of the only international funds providing support to environmental justice groups in Central Asia. Our continued support in this region, now through a permanent Central Asia Advisory Board, is pivotal.

Image Credit: Climate Network of the Central Asian Region

Piloting New Advisory Boards

In 2023, we began piloting a global advisory board led by Indigenous Peoples, building on over $46.5M we have already granted to Indigenous communities worldwide over three decades. We also began piloting a Global Plastics and Zero Waste Advisory Board. These boards harness the wisdom and knowledge of our grantmaking advisors and increase the scope of our grantmaking to better support movements. In 2024, we will continue both pilot programs, with the intention that they will become longer-term advisory boards.

Two existing regional advisory boards also expanded their work in 2023. The East Africa Advisory Board assessed the funding needs of environmental movements in Ethiopia. The Pacific Islands Advisory Board will also assess their expansion of grantmaking into Melanesia. We are excited to continue to deepen the breadth of regions and issues that our advisory network has the expertise to support.

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Image Credit: Corporación Privada para el Desarrollo de Aysén

Building Solidarity: Convenings for Collective Power-Building

At the heart of our approach lies the recognition that solidarity is the bedrock of resilient movements. Our coordinators' retreat, virtual advisor learning circles, and regional convenings serve as powerful platforms for fostering connections between activists and advisors from across the Global South, creating a grassroots-based groundswell of environmental action. These gatherings foster a spirit of shared learning, and an exchange of expertise and mutual support.

Convening Advisory Boards

In 2023, we hosted a coordinators' retreat in Mexico City. From Fiji to Argentina, 24 coordinators from 24 Global Greengrants advisory boards, as well as several staff members, gathered from all over the world to strategize and build relationships. This was our first formal in-person advisor gathering since 2018.

The retreat was an opportunity for coordinators, who oversee advisory board activities and serve as primary contact points with Global Greengrants staff, to shape Global Greengrants' next steps and envision a just future for people and the planet. Discussions at the retreat surfaced both the immense challenges that grassroots environmental defenders face, as well as the hope and vitality that grassroots activism already taking place around the world inspires. Advisors and staff committed to expanding our grantmaking model and network's ability to provide rapid response grants, grants to networks, grant amounts more appropriate to the scale of need, and grants to intersectional movements as a way to break down silos and build collective power.

Harnessing the power of our network is crucial for collective learning, building network-wide solidarity, and connecting with global grassroots environmental justice movements. Participants named how meeting with other advisors was valuable, both to exchange knowledge and to build connections and solidarity. The climate crisis requires collective action, and building connection and solidarity enhances our collective effectiveness in creating change.

Image Credit: Global Greengrants Fund

Networked Learning

In 2023, we initiated learning and sharing circles across our network. These sessions, organized by our advisory network and staff, allow advisors to share expertise on emergent concepts in philanthropy and environmental justice. They embrace the Lakota value that "in a circle we are all equal, no one in front of you, no one behind you, no one above you, no one below you." The sessions we held in 2023 included "Engaging with Gender Justice: A Series of Conversations" and a Loss and Damage Learning Circle.

The learning circles provide an important opportunity for building connection, collective knowledge, and solidarity across our advisory network. This solidarity helps build stronger collective movements and coalesces movement agendas for scale and impact.

Organizing at COP28

Global Greengrants Fund allocated over $270k for 140 grassroots activists to participate at COP28 in the United Arab Emirates, where they shaped movement agendas, launched campaigns, and strengthened coalitions, critically ensuring grassroots involvement in the global climate dialogue. Here are a few examples of our grantee partners' and advisors' involvement:

Global Greengrants partners Home of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) and OilWatch hosted several events, including an OilWatch global gathering and an event launching a Manifesto for an Ecosocial Just Transition in the Global South.
Grantee Coalition d'Afrique Francophone pour la promotion des Energies Renouvelables (CAF-ER) hosted a panel on the role, challenges, and opportunities for African civil society when it comes to promoting renewables for a just energy transition in Africa.
Members of grantee partner Strategic Youth Network for Development (SYND) from Ghana hosted a panel on preserving livelihoods and culture for young Indigenous Peoples in the midst of climate change crisis through policy and local action.
Global Greengrants Just Energy Transition Coordinator Nerissa Anku met with organizers of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Campaign, which aims to create "a concrete, binding plan to end the expansion of new coal, oil and gas projects and manage a global transition away from fossil fuels."
Global Greengrants CEO Laura García and Global Greengrants UK Executive Director Nisha Owen hosted a lunchtime gathering of grantee partners, during which activists shared feedback about how valuable the opportunity to attend COP28 was for them.

Read Just Energy Transition Coordinator Nerissa Anku's reflections from COP28.

Regional Meetings Connect Movements

Global Greengrants supported regional meetings to develop aligned organizing agendas in the service of more powerful movement building and strengthen solidarity among advisors within regions. In 2023, we supported:

1. Defending environmental defenders in Colombia: Global Greengrants and our Andes advisory board organized a workshop in Bogotá with grassroots environmental defender organizations and grantee partners from four countries. Attendees shared about the rise of far-right politicians, increased extractive activity, and other factors that impact the safety of environmental defenders.
2. Women's environmental organizing in Africa: Global Greengrants and GAGGA hosted a retreat in Accra, Ghana that supported African grantmaking advisors to collaboratively select the most important learning themes for the years ahead, which include safety and security, advocacy and communication, and women and extractivism.

Image Credit: Yow Ampoto, Friends of the Nation

Transforming Philanthropy: Weaving an Ecosystem of Justice

Through collaborative initiatives with other funders that disrupt traditional norms, and research, we hold the entire environmental justice ecosystem as interdependent rather than competitive. Our gender and environment program and funder learning community play a pivotal role in advancing a more equitable approach to environmental philanthropy, while our partnership with the CLIMA Fund stands as a testament to the transformative power of collaboration to influence philanthropy to move resources to the grassroots.

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Funder Learning and Action

In 2019, Global Greengrants Fund, Prospera, Ford Foundation, and MacArthur Foundation formed the Funder Learning Community with 25 funders to explore environmental and gender justice intersections. Members learned about grassroots climate initiatives led by Indigenous women and feminist climate activists from around the world.

After four years, the community evolved into the Funder Learning and Action Co-Lab (FLAC), with a focus on learning, advocacy, and innovative funding practices. In its first year, FLAC developed a unique decision-making structure and grantmaking priorities, and set a goal to grant $25 million over five years to underfunded feminist climate work. FLAC aims to fund and build infrastructures for new intersectional feminist, environmental, and climate leaders in the Global South and East. The designed autonomy of FLAC is an intentional strategy that reflects Global Greengrants' commitment to seeding robust partnerships within a wider collaborative ecosystem.

Data to Address Violence Against Women Environmental Defenders

Funding focused specifically on addressing violence against women environmental activists represents only 0.05% of overall foundation funding for the environment.

To help bridge this funding gap, we recently launched two new reports: "A Holistic Approach to Funding Women Environmental Defenders" and "Women on the Frontlines of Extractivism: How funders can support women environmental defenders" with Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA) and SAGE Fund.

Women Environmental Defenders (WEDs) bear a disproportionate burden of harm due to entrenched systems of colonialism, patriarchy, and gender norms that lead to increased violence for their activism.

Together, these two reports foster an understanding of the systemic causes behind the harm women environmental defenders face, explore the dire state of funding at the intersection of women, the environment, and gender-based violence, and offer concrete recommendations for a more holistic philanthropic approach to supporting WEDs.

Partnership through the CLIMA Fund

In 2023, our CLIMA Fund community, a collaboration with Grassroots International, Thousand Currents, and Urgent Action Fund, achieved significant milestones. We raised a substantial $32M and made 354 grants, a notable increase from 22 grants in 2019.

Our partnerships blossomed, as seen in materials like Soil to Sky: Climate Solutions That Transform. This second edition to CLIMA's first successful Soil to Sky report further proves that grassroots movements are key to transitioning global food and energy sectors to regenerative models. The report combines the knowledge of various funders with longstanding relationships with grassroots climate groups. Such research collaborations serve to influence more funders to support grassroots climate solutions.

Most importantly, the CLIMA community strengthened through critical discussions and collaborations, deepening relationships to better support grassroots movements. 2023's journey reflects our collective partnership, commitment, and resilience.

Mobilizing Resources for Gender-Just Climate Action

Less than 1% of all philanthropic funding focuses on the intersection of gender and the environment, a shockingly small amount considering the critical role women play in defending territories from environmental degradation, maintaining biodiversity, and mitigating climate change.

To combat this dearth of funding, Global Greengrants, GAGGA, and WEDO launched a new campaign, Roots Rising, during an event at COP28 in the United Arab Emirates. Roots Rising is a collective campaign co-led by funders and feminist civil society to support governments and philanthropic actors to mobilize resources for transformative, gender-just climate action. Roots Rising was born out of a commitment campaign Global Greengrants and GAGGA took on in conjunction with UN Women to mobilize at least $100 million of new funding for gender-just climate action by 2026.

Roots Rising ultimately aims to bridge gaps between existing climate finance and women's rights funding streams and channel resources towards the communities that need them most and who hold the most transformative potential for leading us towards a healthier and more just planet.

Our Transformative Journey

In 2021, Global Greengrants Fund initiated a Transformative Journey, answering a call amidst socio-environmental adversity globally to leverage our extensive network to better serve environmental and climate justice movements. After an initial focus on strengthening organizational culture, structure, processes, and learning, over the past year we've transitioned towards more tangible outcomes that leverage our vast network of environmental and climate justice advocates, built over 30 years.

As we look towards the next year, the key pillars of our Transformative Journey include:

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Image Credit: Federation of Kukama Women Workers

Strengthening the capacity of our advisory network to scale up and deepen its support to grassroots movements. We're successfully expanding and diversifying our advisory boards into new geographies and themes, and strengthening underfunded areas. In 2023, we launched the Central Asia Advisory Board and the Disability Rights and Climate Justice Board, and began piloting an Indigenous Rights Advisory Board and a Global Plastics and Zero Waste Board. We're fostering Global South philanthropy by supporting local environmental justice funds, and enhancing connections across our network, leading to cross-movement learning and investment in movement-building spaces.

Expanding our participatory grantmaking models to enhance the participation of diverse communities, voices, ideas, and information. Building on our 30-year history of decentralized grantmaking, we are investing in and developing an expanded participatory grantmaking model. This expanded model will better support grassroots environmental justice movements by providing rapid response grants, network grants, and grants of varying sizes to grassroots movements. We intend to increase flexibility, improve capacity to absorb funding, support emerging social movements, and foster collaboration and knowledge exchange.

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Image Credit: Global Greengrants Fund

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Image Credit: Global Greengrants Fund

Fostering learning and financial sustainability. We're investing in fostering collective learning among activists, organizations, and philanthropy, in order to build movement resilience and transform philanthropy models. We are also advocating for donors to join us in building long-term financial sustainability for movements.

Increasing the breadth and scope of our funding to movements via grantmaking and accompaniment. We're continuing to expand our support to movements through accompaniment, with a focus on regions where we have established networks. Our goal is to provide crucial support for communities advocating for environmental justice beyond just giving one-off grants.

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Image Credit: Society for Roots and Equity (SRE)

Our Transformative Journey aims to transform Global Greengrants into a resilient, adaptable, learning community with greater impact. Through that journey, we hope to better respond to emerging challenges, and to foster a more just and sustainable future. As we look ahead, we are excited to continue supporting grassroots movements for environmental justice globally.

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Image Credit: Arjun Anand Elavally Anandan

2023 Financial Overview

Overall Data UK Data

Overall Data

$18.0M

Total Grants Allocated in 2023

$65.8M

Total Assets

$26.5M

Total Expenses in 2023

UK Data

Expenses

Numbers labeled "overall" include Global Greengrants Fund UK, donor-advised funds (DAFs), regional partner funds, and our fiscal sponsorships, in addition to our general operations and grantmaking. UK data highlight the numbers within that overall umbrella that are specific to Global Greengrants UK.

Overall Expenses UK Expenses

Overall Expenses

UK Expenses

Financials

For U.S. and European-based operations in fiscal year ended June 30, 2023.

For financials from
prior years, visit greengrants.org/financials.

We are grateful for the support of our donors, and for their commitment to the well-being of people and our planet. To view a list of Global Greengrants Fund's donors, please visit: https://www.greengrants.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2023-GGF-Donor-List.pdf

Overall Details UK Details

Overall Details

UK Details

Together, we are where change takes root.

Thank you to our community of supporters, partners, and allies for your unwavering commitment to protecting our shared planet and creating a more just world.

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