GIVING GREEN

STARTED: Incubated in the 2020 Incubation Program (started before the program).

Dan Stein
Co-founder

SEED GRANT: $60,000

MONEY FUNDRAISED TO DATE (Aug 2023): $2M

TEAM SIZE (Aug 2023): 6

Giving Green is an evidence-based guide to help donors and businesses fight climate change

CURRENT OR PREDICTED IMPACT:

Giving Green estimates that they have directly influenced over $5 million in donations towards their recommended cost-effective climate initiatives. Over 90% of these funds have gone to their “top nonprofits”, which they estimate are the most cost-effective of its recommendations. These organizations focus on systems change: policy advocacy and technological innovation that fundamentally shift our society away from fossil fuels and other carbon-intensive activities.
Their recommendations have shared that the impact of a Giving Green endorsement is likely even greater than the directly measurable donations. Recommendations point to Giving Green’s work when they speak with other donors or buyers and refer to Giving Green in their fundraising materials. Several recommendations have seen a general spike in traffic and funds raised during Giving Green’s launch that they attribute to Giving Green’s influence.
Giving Green also aims to qualitatively shift the climate world towards evidence-based impact through its engagement with popular media, philanthropists, and businesses. (See Achievements section.)

COST-EFFECTIVENESS:

Giving Green estimates that, through the end of 2022, they have a 7.5x impact multiplier - that is, for every dollar spent on Giving Green, they have historically directed $7.50 towards high-impact climate work. The details behind this calculation can be found in their 2022 annual report.

SIGNIFICANT UPDATES:

Major updates to their Top Recommendations and associated research in 2022, looking beyond US policy and towards global technological innovation. They now have 5 top recommendations across four sectors: US policy, advanced nuclear, industrial decarbonization, and food systems.
Revamped their approach to effective climate action for businesses in 2022 with the publication of a new whitepaper on business climate strategy, and a comprehensive set of recommendations for technology innovation portfolios, carbon removal providers, and carbon offset providers.
Launched Giving Green Australia in 2021, and are close to establishing an ongoing research effort for Australian donors alongside Effective Altruism Australia - Environment.
Major updates to their research process, including formalizing their theory of change, publishing their mistakes, and increasing their reasoning transparency. See more in their 2022 updates shared on the EA Forum.

ACHIEVEMENTS:

They’ve been mentioned in the media more than 80 times. Their press coverage and published articles include appearances in popular media such as The Atlantic, Vox, and The New York Times; philanthropy and social impact publications such as Center for Effective Philanthropy, SSIR, and Alliance Magazine; and climate and tech publications such as Energy Monitor, MIT Technology Review, and Patent Drop.
In 2023, they hosted a webinar with speakers from businesses with forward-thinking climate strategies that reached over 100 people.
They directly advised an Australian fund manager on their philanthropic donations, which led to renewing their support for an existing grantee and adding two new grantees.
They have raised over $500,000 into the Giving Green Fund, launched in November 2022, which allocates donor funds across their top recommendations to maximize impact.

IMPORTANT PUBLICATIONS:

ROOM FOR MORE FUNDING IN 2023:

$400,000
Like many other EA organizations, they are impacted by the FTX collapse. They have a funding gap at current staffing levels of $200,000 in 2023, but could productively absorb another $200,000 on top of that to undertake additional work streams such as expanding their top nonprofit research, revamping their Australia recommendations, and creating new research on private sector investments. They would use additional funds to expand research capacity and to improve their communications, especially to reach donors who may not have experience with effective giving. Please get in touch to discuss funding in more detail.