By Jamie Merisotis, Eloy Oakley, and Lande Ajose
The devastation of recent hurricanes in the U.S. Southeast brings a sobering reminder that none of us can ignore the growing dangers of climate change. Hurricanes Helene and Milton gained intensity from warming ocean temperatures, to catastrophic and deadly effects on parts of the country that once felt safe from these types of threats.
A disaster touches every aspect of community. Recovery efforts will range from reopening schools, college campuses and businesses to treating damaging health effects for years to come.
This shows us why every sector of philanthropy needs to think about the implications of climate change and find a role in cultivating solutions. While we have carved out interest areas — health, education, the arts — and dug in deep to drive meaningful change, a global threat to our very existence requires philanthropy to look outside its silos.
Luckily, this is what philanthropy does best: We take risks to solve large-scale social problems. Philanthropy is not just about charity; it’s about leadership. It’s about acting boldly. It’s about staying focused while responding nimbly, like we need to do with climate action.
The three of us served on the Higher Ed Climate Action Task Force supported by the Aspen Institute, which recently released a report mapping a vision for how the higher ed sector can address climate change.
Our takeaway from the task force’s work is that we can all find ways to advance climate solutions within our missions. Whether you work in housing or human rights, we need to understand how each of our lanes intersects with climate. Climate change is a universal — and unifying — issue across sectors.
At Lumina Foundation and College Futures Foundation, we recognize that overarching challenges such as climate change and threats to American democracy shape the context in which we work to increase opportunities for education and training after high school.
In higher education, philanthropy has long focused on expanding access, improving outcomes and supporting innovation. The climate crisis has complicated the paths to achieving those goals. It becomes harder to hold classes when colleges need to issue extreme heat advisories on campus or when faculty need to evacuate their homes because of wildfires. Colleges and universities are rethinking their operations and even hiring chief sustainability officers to manage emergency planning and reduce the environmental impact of sprawling campuses. The jobs of the future are “green jobs,” requiring shifts in academic offerings, new research programs and collaboration with business and government.
Waverley Street Foundation builds connections that weave skill sets and expertise from different sectors with community partnerships to ground the action locally.
That’s why we see an expanding duty to address this urgent issue and make climate action a priority in philanthropy.
Consider what’s at stake. The year 2023 was the warmest on historical record. Sea levels are at a record high and rising at an ever-faster pace. Natural disasters are becoming more frequent and intense. These changes to the environment threaten food and water supplies, affecting health outcomes, where people live, and the global economy.
So the climate crisis blocks our best efforts to improve education, address poverty and eliminate health disparities. It affects those living on eroding coasts, in cities that consume massive amounts of energy and water, and in rural areas that run on agriculture.
As funders consider bringing a climate lens to their own work, here are three ways philanthropy can act:
- Get attention and gain momentum. Philanthropy needs to keep the spotlight on climate action when organizations and institutions are juggling competing priorities. We’re uniquely positioned to push for climate solutions by using our dollars and influence to incentivize ideas and bring stakeholders together. Less than 2% of all philanthropic giving goes toward climate issues, according to ClimateWorks Foundation’s 2023 funding trends report. Foundation funding for climate issues is growing overall, but the rate of giving slowed in 2022 after record investment the prior year. That’s a call to action for funders to amplify climate issues and make investments that can encourage more support from government and business.
- Boost communities at the center of the work. Philanthropy must emphasize equity in climate work. We can do this by investing in the communities of color and low-income communities that are most likely to be affected by climate change and least likely to receive philanthropic support. This could look like backing Indigenous communities with traditions rooted in sustainability and respect for the land, or rural communities transitioning to wind, solar and other clean energy sources.
- Work on climate literacy. We all need to understand better our relationship with climate: how it affects society and how we can positively influence it. Generally, people don’t fully realize that climate change will increasingly affect them, in part because they didn’t have opportunities to learn about it. Only 5% of public universities have an environmental literacy graduation requirement. The gap is one of the reasons that it’s hard to focus public attention on such a vital topic. It also leaves room for misinformation and division. As educators and community anchors, schools and colleges can promote respectful, informative debate by helping students understand our climate and the impact across sectors and inspiring them to pursue new ideas for change.
In the case of higher ed, addressing climate change embraces the public service role of colleges and universities to build community — shaping the ideas, strategies and leadership that drive movements like the one we need behind climate action.
At a time when higher ed faces scrutiny over a litany of issues — including tuition costs, free speech, and admissions processes — today’s youth are watching with a deep investment in advancing the climate agenda. How we respond has the potential to earn back public trust in an essential institution that is preparing future leaders and fostering solutions to our most pressing challenges.
This article was originally published in Inside Philanthropy.
About the authors
Jamie Merisotis, an internationally recognized leader in higher education, human work, philanthropy, and public policy, has been Lumina Foundation’s president and CEO since 2008. He is the author of America Needs Talent and Human Work in the Age of Smart Machines. Lumina Foundation is an independent, private foundation in Indianapolis working with education and business leaders, civil rights organizations, policymakers, and individuals to make opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all.
Eloy Ortiz Oakley is president and CEO at College Futures Foundation where he works in partnership with organizations and leaders around the state to ensure that more students who reflect California’s diversity can complete their postsecondary journeys, access the opportunity for a better life, and participate in an inclusive and robust economy. Formerly the Chancellor for the California Community Colleges, Eloy is known as a leading voice on improving equity in higher education and for positioning institutions for global shifts in the workforce and the future of learning.
Lande Ajose is an accomplished public policy leader who has worked relentlessly to improve lives in her home state of California. She now takes that purpose global in her leadership role at Waverley Street Foundation as its Managing Director and Chief of Staff.