Giving Compass' Take:

• To address the world's clean energy gap, Fast Company explains how Jumpstart, a crowdfunding platform, allows everyone to contribute any amount to support clean energy projects. 

• Which clean energy programs will prove the most effective in addressing climate change and how can we measure them? Will crowdfunding prove to be a viable way to support this effort?

• Learn more about which clean energy innovations are best. 

The world isn’t spending enough on climate change. But as government and corporate investments fall short–we spent around $280 billion globally last year, $2.1 trillion short of what a recent landmark climate report says is necessary–a new startup suggests that crowdfunding could begin to fill the gap.

“The reality is that when you read the IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] report that says we have 12 years to save the world, and the world needs to invest $2.4 trillion every single year to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius . . . it really makes you feel helpless and powerless and like there’s nothing you can do,” says Aoi Senju, CEO and cofounder of the startup Jumpstart. The startup is designed to point people to concrete action, with clean energy investments targeted at areas where the grid lacks renewables and other sources of funding.

In one of the site’s projects, you can invest in rooftop solar power for a Crow Nation school in Montana. The state is sunnier than the national average, but solar is growing slowly there. “Huge parts of Montana are powered by natural gas and coal, so it’s a very dirty grid,” says Senju. The project is a loan; anyone who invests will be paid back and should get a return on the investment. (Like Kickstarter, however, if a project doesn’t reach its full funding goal–$500,000 for the Crow project–it won’t move forward.) Some projects on the site ask for donations instead, such as a project that gives solar lanterns to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

Read the full article about crowdfunding clean energy investments by Adele Peters at Fast Company.