Giving Compass' Take:

•  Ruth McCambridge at Nonprofit Quarterly discusses both sides of the argument on the idea of depending upon philanthropy to address the all-important and critical issue of climate change. 

• How can individuals work to reduce the effects of the rising climate? Where can leaders and countries go from here to help mitigate the issue?

• Learn what donors can do about climate change.

An article by Darien Alexander Williams, a doctoral student of urban planning at MIT, challenges the idea of depending upon philanthropy to address an issue as critical and pervasive as the climate crisis; in fact, he calls such dependence “folly.”

His way into the issue is through the Rockefeller Foundation’s withdrawal from its 100 Resilient Cities initiative, launched to help cities address the oncoming threats posed by climate change. Williams reminds us that the Rockefeller Foundation is endowed with money made through the production and sale of fossil fuels. As he writes, the massive project had gained traction:

"More than 80 “Chief Resilience Officers” were hired and trained to work within city governments, and more than $160 million was spent to kickstart projects of all shapes and sizes. Planners designed schoolyards that remain cool during heat waves in Paris, restored urban wetlands in Atlanta, and harnessed the power of the Yaque, the Dominican Republic’s longest river, to mitigate flooding in Santiago De Los Caballeros, among other projects."

But then the foundation wandered off as of the end of the year, largely abandoning the project with little explanation.

Read the full article about climate crisis philanthropy by Ruth McCambridge at Nonprofit Quarterly.