Introducing our newest charity recommendations—From Reducing Brick Kiln Emissions to Securing Scale-up Funding for Alternative Proteins
- Crystal Lam
- Aug 20
- 4 min read
Updated: Oct 6
Introducing our newest recommended ideas
We are excited to recommend six new impactful charities for the February 2026 Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Program cohort.
During the first half of 2025, the AIM research team examined (i) climate interventions with co-benefits for human health or animal welfare and (ii) classic global health and development ideas that support humans' living longer and more fulfilling lives.
Our recommendations span different sectors and approaches, including a meta organization supporting local air quality monitoring and advocacy teams; training brick kiln owners in practices to reduce CO2 and PM2.5 emissions; innovative financing tools to assist smallholder farmers; a highly targeted Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) mHealth intervention; advocating for supermarkets to make 60:40 plant:animal protein ratio commitments; and lobbying to secure scale-up funding for alternative proteins from governments. Below is a brief summary of each recommendation and links to further details on our website.
Full reports on each idea are available here.
We are deeply appreciative of the people who supported us throughout this round, including dozens of experts who gave us their time and insight, and the group of AIM Research Program fellows who contributed to this research round: Léa Guttman, Margaret Hegwood, Maximilian Weylandt, Stuart Craig, and Unathi Maddie Beku.
Strengthening air quality monitoring and advocacy in LMICs
Ambient air pollution is a leading risk factor for poor health and mortality, responsible for nearly five million premature deaths each year. Relative to its severity, air pollution remains a neglected topic in many places, especially low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This neglect is partly due to a lack of high-quality, transparent, local data on the severity and sources of air pollution. While there is a growing number of local air quality monitoring initiatives, these are often undertrained and under-supported, limiting their effectiveness and chance of success. This non-profit will strengthen the global infrastructure of air quality monitoring & advocacy by providing services such as technical training, research support, and monitoring & evaluation.
Reducing air pollution by improving brick kiln energy efficiency
Artisanal brick kilns are a significant source of air pollution across South Asia, causing an estimated 60,000 premature deaths yearly. In addition, they are significant emitters of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Although many kilns in the region have been converted to cleaner ‘zigzag’ designs, the lack of proper training for workers means they are unable to fully utilise the sustainability benefits of these conversions. Recent research shows that targeted training for the workers and owners of these kilns can reduce emissions by 20%. We estimate that this charity can avert a disability-adjusted life year (DALY) for between $150 and $320 and one ton of CO2-equivalent GHGs for $1.60–$4.70.
Increasing access to novel, low-risk loans for smallholder farmers
Smallholder farmers are often caught up in low-productivity cycles because of their inability to access credit. This new organization will increase the provision by cooperative-like institutions of asset-collateralized loans - where the asset purchased with the loan (such as water tanks) acts as collateral. These types of loans are rare in LMICs, despite their potential to significantly increase farmers’ incomes while posing minimal risk for financial institutions. We expect this intervention to be highly cost-effective, enabling large increases in household purchasing power at a cost of $12 per consumption doubling.
Reducing diarrhoeal-related deaths through targeted sanitation interventions
A new organization will deliver a novel package of highly targeted water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions to reduce the prevalence of diarrhoeal disease and associated mortality in high-burden regions. The team will identify hospitalized patients with diarrhoeal illness and provide their households with low-cost WASH supplies, education, and phone-based follow-up. We believe this targeted approach will be particularly effective because household contacts of a recent case are at significantly higher risk of contracting diarrhoeal illness, and recent hospitalisation is likely to increase motivation to adopt WASH practices within the household.
Advocating for 60:40 plant:animal protein sales ratios by 2040
A new team will reduce the climate footprint and welfare costs of our food system by securing commitments from supermarkets to increase the percentage of protein sales coming from plant-based sources. The non-profit will advocate for protein sales ratio commitments by a target year (e.g., 60:40 plant:animal protein sales by 2040) through corporate campaigns - drawing lessons from the success of the cage-free movement - and by assisting supermarkets in encouraging plant-based protein purchases.
Securing scale-up funding for Alternative Proteins
A policy non-profit will work with governments to identify and introduce finance tools - such as loan guarantees - that enable alternative protein producers to scale production. We think scale-up financing is a barrier to the growth of plant-based protein sales, but it remains neglected in the advocacy ecosystem. Drawing lessons from industries like clean energy, the non-profit will push for policies that give alternative protein companies access to scale-up funding from governments while unlocking private capital and reducing investment risk.
In addition to the above ideas, two previously recommended animal welfare ideas will be available to the February 2026 cohort:
Cage-free Farming in the Middle East: Collaborative corporate campaigning for cage-free farming in neglected countries in the Middle East (United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt).
Reducing Keel Bone Fractures: Working with farmers to reduce the prevalence of keel bone fractures (KBF) in cage-free layer hens, ideally through outreach to certifiers to update their certification standards to include an outcome-based limit on KBF.
Apply to our program to help launch these organizations
We encourage you to learn more about these ideas here and sign up for the upcoming Q&A sessions, where you will have the opportunity to have your questions answered by our program, research and recruitment team.
Curious about nonprofit entrepreneurship? Hear directly from our founders about what inspired them to take the leap.
Unfamiliar with our program? The Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Program is a free 2-month training program that helps you find an evidence-based idea for a new charity, a talented co-founder to build a new organization with, and up to $200,000 in seed funding. We have successfully incubated over 50 charities, reaching 75+ million people and 1+ billion animals. Learn more about our track record and what it’s like to be on the program.
This was such an inspiring read! I truly admire how innovation and compassion blend in your mission to create lasting change. It’s refreshing to see ideas focused on impact rather than recognition. That same sense of purpose and thoughtful design reminds me of the Supreme Fox Racing Denim Jacket—crafted with meaning and made to last beyond trends.
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