Titled Much Alarm, Less Action: Foundations & Climate Change and authored by Naomi Orensten, Katarina Malmgren, and Maria Lopez of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, the report (based on a survey of 188 foundation leaders and 120 nonprofit leaders) shows that, on one hand, 60 percent of foundation respondents say that the climate crisis is “extremely urgent,” and another 29 percent say it is “very urgent”. On the other hand, when asked about expected future climate-justice funding commitments, only 18 percent plan a large increase, 26 percent plan a small increase, 15 percent plan for no change, and 40 percent are not sure. The good news, apparently, is that no one is planning to reduce funding. Still, these numbers belie supposed urgency. All told, the authors report that presently less than two percent of total global philanthropic giving is directed toward addressing the climate crisis.
Intriguingly, of the 67 foundation respondents who indicated that their institutions had made no climate justice commitments, 29 of them (43 percent) said that the climate crisis was “extremely urgent.” How many of those 29 leaders expect their foundations to begin acting on the “extremely urgent” crisis? That remains unclear.
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