Clean Energy Communities Fund
About
The Clean Energy Communities Fund aims to deliver seed grants quickly to more than 1,000 communities across the country, helping jump-start and accelerate their climate mitigation and resilience work at the community level.
About 60% of US greenhouse gas emissions annually come from the fossil fuels that power two things: buildings and vehicles. The good news is that we have access to technologies like solar panels, wind turbines, heat pumps and electric vehicles that can eliminate most of these emissions. The challenge is that our climate goals depend on thousands of local governments and millions of residents nationwide making these upgrades by 2030. We’re not moving fast enough, which is where communities come in.
Many local leaders want to do more to fight climate change. Their biggest hurdle is a lack of investment leading to a lack of organizational capacity. The CECF eliminates that hurdle, granting communities the funding and tools they need to shift to electric and clean energy in a short amount of time. We know that motivating people to act is a social and local process. Through community-led initiatives, we help friends, family, and neighbors act as trusted messengers evangelizing clean-energy upgrades.
Together with community partners, we give individuals the tools and social proof they need to influence local policy and to sway household decision making.
We focus on these high-impact climate strategies:
Powering communities with clean energy
Electrifying homes and buildings
Decarbonizing transportation
Adaptation and resilience
These changes can’t occur in just one type of community. That’s why the Clean Energy Communities Fund supports an equitable and just transition to clean energy. 100% of grantees prioritize equity and more than half of our grant funding will flow to disinvested communities.
100+ organizations have signed on as collaborators with the Clean Energy Communities Fund. This includes networks of local governments, networks of community-based nonprofit organizations, and technical assistance providers that support communities.
Collectively, our collaborators are working across all 50 states, with 25,000+ local communities, local partnership and local chapters.
The Clean Energy Communities Fund provides a simple mechanism for donors to invest in thousands of communities across all 50 states as they transition to clean energy.
By engaging individual residents, community-based organizations and local governments, we’re helping transform the United States’ energy infrastructure towards a healthier, more sustainable and equitable future.
Communities Served
About the Host
The Philanthropy Workshop accelerates social impact by mobilizing a global network of strategic investors committed to unlocking resources, lifelong learning, collaboration, and entrepreneurial approaches. With over 350 philanthropists and social investors, TPW is one of the largest networks of its kind, bringing together members from the US, UK, Canada, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia. Their programming focuses on action, collaboration, and impact through global learning journeys, an annual summit, action-oriented peer groups, and skills-building training, creating a platform for lifelong learning, collaboration, and innovation.
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