Investment & Grant Portfolio

Water For People (WFP) promotes developing high-quality drinking water and sanitation services, accessible to all, and sustained by strong communities, businesses, and governments in 39 partner areas in Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Malawi, Peru, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. To date, they have supported 5.2 million people gaining access to an intermediate/high level of water services and market-based sanitation initiatives have led to 2.4 million people improving household sanitation.

Tailwind Climate’s mission is to protect lives and livelihoods through the development and deployment of climate adaptation and resilience (A&R) solutions. They create products and services that predict, prevent, mitigate and enable recovery from climate impacts like floods, heatwaves, storms, and wildfires. They focus on field building to enable the growth of the innovation ecosystem, and investing, providing catalytic capital to early stage A&R companies.

Semilla Nueva improves nutrition, poverty, and climate resilience in Guatemala with biofortified corn seeds. They develop high yielding, climate resilient corn seeds that have been conventionally bred (non-GMO) to have higher levels of zinc, iron, and quality protein and promote and sell the seeds at subsidized prices to farmers and seed companies.

The Global Development Incubator (GDI) develops transformational development ventures, working to build and scale the next generation of social impact solutions. Whether these concepts originate from sector experts, or are developed and tested internally, GDI creates new approaches to address persistent global issues.

Global Resilience Partnership (GRP) and the Shockwave Foundation are partnering on the Resilient Agriculture Innovations for Nature (RAIN) challenge.

RAIN aims to identify seed-level innovative agricultural ideas that are meeting climate resilience needs in East Africa and scale them to sustainable business ideas of interest to private investors and funders. In addition to awarding new innovative agricultural initiatives with seed funds, we will provide customized support to maximize each initiative’s potential for impact. The challenge will align potential funders to these initiatives and drive attention to the urgent need for agricultural systems transformation.

The African continent is facing a food crisis greater than any other region in the world. Already affecting over 300 million people, the crisis is worsening due to climate variability, political instability, economic downturns, and other shocks. The ensuing hunger and malnutrition puts communities at further risk of violence and exploitation.

Both immediate needs and the root causes of food insecurity need to be addressed, urgently.

Forward Global is a network of over 450 individuals committed to solving the world’s most pressing social issues. As the largest network of its kind, they engage people who seek to leverage their time, talent, resources and networks for sustainable impact.

The Pacific Institute is a global water and climate nonprofit organization that combines science-based research and policy leadership with targeted solutions to influence local, national, and international efforts in developing sustainable water policies. Their mission is to create and advance solutions to the world’s most pressing water challenges.

The Nature Conservancy’s Resilient Watersheds strategy’s goal is to conserve freshwater ecosystems and help communities adapt to climate change by mainstreaming investments in nature-based solutions (NbS) in the water sector. They’re making investments in nature the norm by helping a critical mass of early adopters–utilities, regulators, financiers, corporations, and communities–to implement watershed investment programs in key markets.

Blue Harvest, launched by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in partnership with Keurig Dr. Pepper and the Inter-American Development Bank, transforms livelihoods and restores land and water resources through Water Smart Agriculture (WSA) in the coffee lands of Central America. Blue Harvest capitalizes on the symbiotic relationship between well-managed coffee agroforestry systems and good watershed management to increase climate resilience, productivity, and profitability for farmers while reducing landslide and flooding risks and contributing to sustainable water access for communities downstream.

The Africa Sand Dam Foundation (ASDF) constructs sand dams, rock catchments, school water tanks, and solar powered pipeline systems. They also train communities on better cultivation and land reclamation practices such as reforestation and afforestation, laying of terraces on their farms and pasture establishments.

Blood:Water partners with African grassroots organizations to address the HIV/AIDS and water crises. They provide technical, financial, and organizational support so that African civil society organizations have expanded reach and effectiveness in the communities they serve. They invest in scalable, African-led organizations and support their capacity building so that the investment will be leveraged for years to come.

Water Initiative for Net Zero (WINZ) is an advocacy initiative that aims to mobilize investment to reduce and capture carbon emissions through improved water utilization, reduce water risks and promote win-win opportunities in carbon management, and advocate for climate action that enhances water resilience.

The Agroecology Fund (AEF) is a multi-donor fund supporting agroecological practices and policies. The Fund aims to support viable food systems, promote the economic well-being and human rights of small farmers and their communities, and mitigate climate change through low input agriculture featuring sustainable soil and water use. It links organizations and movements that advance agroecological solutions locally, regionally and globally.

Saha Global brings the cleanest water to the hardest-to-reach people who need it most. They develop an entrepreneurial ecosystem that provides treated clean water for people whose best alternative is gathering surface water from contaminated sources.

Root Capital invests in the growth of agricultural enterprises that support smallholder farmers. They seek out enterprises whose credit needs are too big for micro-finance and too small or risky for commercial banks. They provide loans ranging from $200,000 to $2 million specially tailored to harvest and sales cycles. To help businesses grow over the long-term, they also provide highly-customized training to strengthen their financial management, governance, and agronomic capacity.

The Foundation for Community Development and Empowerment, FCDE, empowers communities to lead their own development by increasing the effectiveness and sustainability of local organizations. They help grassroots partners assess, envision and attain organizational growth to drive community change.

Collaborating for Resilience (CoRe) reduces environmental resource conflicts by providing tools to civil society organizations to catalyze collective action. They work to influence policy and investor priorities.

They are an international, non-profit, entrepreneurial change initiative working to address resource competition, and strengthen governance and livelihood resilience in interconnected resource domains and landscapes, including agricultural lands, forests, fisheries, inland waterways and coastal zones.

They foster innovations that sustain critical ecosystem services, build resilient local economies and increase social and economic well-being.

The Rise Fund invests in companies driving measurable social and environmental impact alongside business performance and strong returns. With $4 billion under management, The Rise Fund platform works with growth-stage, high potential, mission-driven companies that have the power to change the world.

Horizon Environment and Climate solutions is a one billion dollar fund that will make approximate 16 growth equity investments into businesses that support one of five themes: “ecosystem services and water”; waste and materials; sustainable food and agriculture; sustainable transport; and clean energy.

Renewable Resources Group (RRG) is an asset management firm specializing in rural land, agriculture, water, conservation, and renewable energy. Since its founding in 2003, the Los Angeles-based firm has developed over 2 million acre-feet of water projects, 1.5 gigawatts of solar energy, and 840 megawatts of wind energy. It has also owned and managed over 100,000 acres of agricultural land.

We are at a turning point. From the wildfires of the Western US to flooding in Niger, climate change is here. Water resources across the world will be under increasing stress as the world warms. Products and services that allow individuals, governments and companies to navigate this change will see more and more demand. Entrepreneurs are emerging with the skill and insight to meet that demand, developing solutions to water problems at scale. Burnt Island Ventures exists to find, fund and support the best of these founders.

Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company invests in renewable energy infrastructure assets in North America.

Since 1992, Land is Life has built a trusted, global network of Indigenous communities, organizations, and leaders founded on the universal right to self-determination. They live for the day when indigenous peoples around the world are able to practice self-determination; when their human, economic, social, cultural, political and territorial rights are recognized and respected; when they are free to speak their languages, maintain their sacred traditions, and continue the work of caring for their ancestral homelands.

For 75 years, CARE has led the way to a better life for millions of vulnerable people around the world. CARE tackles poverty from multiple angles. Their Water+ programs are about more than just hand washing and clean drinking water. Their work links water to other activities so that they can make the biggest impact possible. Their programs include water for agriculture, livelihoods, nutrition, keeping girls in schools, helping women to be leaders, preventing disease outbreaks, and more.

Buoyant Ventures is a venture capital fund that invests in early-stage companies that can generate an outsized positive impact on the climate while quickly and efficiently scaling. Buoyant focuses both on climate mitigation – reducing greenhouse gas emissions – and adaptation – minimizing risks presented by and helping people to cope with weather patterns exacerbated by climate change.

The pandemic has shed light on the fragility and inequality of our most foundational systems, while highlighting the innovation and resilience of locally-led, community-based organizations. To improve upon and ultimately change our failing systems for the better we must leverage this moment to support them in profoundly different ways. The +1:WASH initiative is an ambitious, collective effort to catalyze this change.

change:WATER Labs is developing a low-cost, compact, waterless toilet for non-sewered households and communities.

New Philanthropy Capital is a think tank and consultancy for the charity sector. They help charities, foundations, philanthropists, impact investors, social enterprises, corporations, and the public sector to maximize social impact in the lives of the people they serve.

We are funding development and implementation of resources to foster open philanthropy.

The Women’s Climate Center (WCCI) concept recognizes that the answer to climate security lies within the local and indigenous knowledge of women who farm, raise families and build communities throughout the world. Their ultimate goal is to share that knowledge so that agricultural yields become vigorous, safe drinking water becomes routine, water-borne disease becomes a part of history and revenue generating opportunities and newly-learned business skills unlock a more prosperous and climate resilient future for rural women and girls.

Navajo Power is a Public Benefit Corporation that develops utility-scale clean energy projects on tribal lands, and maximizes the economic benefits for local communities.

At its core, solar is a simple, predictable, and widely available source of energy. GSSG is committed to creating the world’s premier solar-only investment firm.

Firelight supports catalytic community-based organizations that are working with their own communities to build smart, sustainable, and potentially scalable solutions to the challenges faced by children and youth in eastern and southern Africa.

Every farmer has a different set of opportunities and challenges. For some, a community of like-minded farmers is all that is needed to revolutionize their operation. The catalyst for others can be markets that reward their stewardship of land. Some need an integrated farm plan that brings clarity and technique to their vision. Mad Agriculture meets farmers on their journey, helping them thrive in making a living growing plants and raising animals in relationship with their place.

Catalyst 2030 is a network of NGOs, social enterprises, funders and other social change innovators, who are collaborating to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Initiated by leading social entrepreneurs from Ashoka, Echoing Green, the Schwab Foundation, the Skoll Foundation and other global networks of social entrepreneurs, Catalyst 2030 aims to galvanize collaboration across sectors to unleash collective potential for global systems change.

The Impact America Fund bridges the financial and cultural divides that have kept low- and moderate-income people of color on the sidelines of the modern economy.

TIP Global Health (formerly known as the Ihangane Project) is a nonprofit healthcare organization that began in 2008 as a grassroots effort to address health challenges in Rwanda. They have evolved into a highly effective model for delivering primary health care to vulnerable people everywhere – and a leader in the design and implementation of local health care delivery systems.

Power and Resilience Through Experiential Education (PaRTEE) seeks to address the problem of equitable access to disaster preparation and response resources around the intersection of Queer, Transgender, and People of Color in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Scott River Watershed Council’s mission is to facilitate communication and science-based collaborative solutions for natural resource concerns in Scott Valley.

Sabore’s Well was founded in January 2009. The organization has drilled boreholes that have helped the Maasai community by bringing water collection points closer to the villages. It has installed large water storage tanks to allow for constant and immediate access to safe clean drinking water.