1.5°Climate Strategies Group Projects - Member View

Colin Allred Victory Fund

$6,650 Raised

Colin, a fourth-generation Texan from Dallas raised by a hardworking single mother, is a former NFL linebacker and a dedicated civil rights attorney who has fought for voting rights nationwide. After serving in the Obama Administration at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Colin made headlines in 2018 by defeating a 22-year Republican incumbent in Texas' 32nd District, winning re-election twice since. With a 97% lifetime score on the League of Conservation Voters’ National Environmental Scorecard, Colin champions both environmental and working-class issues. Colin has the ability to win tough elections cycle after cycle and knows that Texans are fed up with Ted Cruz and ready to move FORWARD. Let’s help him win in Texas this year!

Geography: Texas

Funding Type: PAC

Contact: Colin Allred, Texas Senator Candidate

Presentation Date: 09/17/2024

Contribution Info

Presentation

Meeting Notes

Texas Grassroots Powerbuilding

$1,210,500 Raised | Fundraising Goal Achieved!

Texas’s rapidly changing demographics warrant significant long-term power-building investments, while the positive polling trends for 2024 indicate a promising path to a potential Allred victory in Texas that could deliver Senate and trifecta control. In response, 1.5°CSG, in collaboration with Way to Win, is excited to announce our largest-ever $500,000 matching funds challenge. Contributions to any of the three featured organizations will be matched dollar-for-dollar, doubling the impact of your support.

Communications Workers of America (CWA) which leads the “Fight for Democracy” program, focused on mobilizing Black and Latino voters in Texas' five largest counties through canvassing, calling, texting, and paid media. Contact: Derrick Osobase
Texas Organizing Project’s (TOP) voter contact program engages voters with canvassing, calls, texts, relational outreach, mail, and digital. They focus on empowering Black voters through organizing in key Texas counties. Contact: Brianna Brown
Texas Freedom Network (TFN) is a leading voter engagement model, targeting young Texans through comprehensive GOTV efforts including canvassing, digital ads, and campus outreach events across the state. Contact: Val Benavidez

Geography: Texas

Funding Type: PACc4c3

Presentation Date: 09/17/2024

Jane Fonda Climate PAC

$63,300 Raised

Jane Fonda Climate PAC is on a mission to reshape the political landscape, ensuring that leaders are not only aware of the urgent climate crisis but are also committed to taking decisive action. Through strategic campaigns, direct candidate support, and relentless grassroots organizing, Jane Fonda Climate PAC is holding the fossil fuel industry accountable and pushing for a sustainable future. And now, in 2024, they’re taking their efforts to the next level with the launch of a groundbreaking relational field organizing program. This initiative aims to empower communities and amplify their voices in electing climate champions to state legislative seats. These are the individuals who will shape policy, drive innovation, and lead us toward a cleaner, greener tomorrow. Join to learn more about the critical climate fights at the down ballot level and how JanePAC is building a bench of climate champions to lead us to a clean energy future.

Geography: National, California, Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Oregon, Colorado, Nevada.

Funding Type: PAC

Contact: Jane Fonda, Principal

Presentation Date: 05/28/2024

Celebrity Presentation

Meeting Notes

Sister District Project

$31,500 Raised | $18,500 Left to Raise

Sister District mobilizes their national network of grassroots volunteers around the most strategic opportunities to win elections and build power in state legislatures. In 2024, they are driving make-or-break field and fundraising capacity to state legislative races in battlegrounds ― AZ, GA, MI, NC, NV, PA, WI. Sister District is closing narrow vote margins, helping Democrats win key seats, shifting the balance of power in entire chambers, and advancing policies on climate change, democracy, and more. Funding will allow Sister District to implement their proven volunteer-powered field strategies and tactics in these seven target states, and expand their work into MN and NH.

Geography: Arizona, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia

Funding Type: PACc4c3

Contact: Lala Wu, Co-Founder & Executive Director

Presentation Date: 05/14/2024

| House Races

AZ Corporation Commissioner Candidates

$15,300 Raised

After our trip to Arizona we are jazzed up about the Arizona Corporation Commission races. We hope you will join us in supporting all three candidates. Candidates Ylenia Aguilar and Jonathan Hill are limited in their total fundraising as they are accessing a state pool of funds for their campaign. They need $210 contributions from seed donors like you to access those state funds. Joshua Polacheck’s campaign has no limits and is the main vehicle for hard-side investments focused on flipping the Arizona Corporation Commission which regulates Arizona’s utilities. We urge you to send $210 to each of these candidates now.

Geography: Arizona

Funding Type: PAC

Presentation Date: 05/06/2024

AZ Corporation Commissioner Candidates

Contribution Info

Save our Schools

$100,000 Raised | Fundraising Goal Achieved!

Save our Schools is organizing around protecting public school funding, an issue that has allowed them to recruit and maintain 16,000 volunteers statewide. They are currently raising funds to expand their volunteer coordination staff from 8 to 16 expanding the reach of their already cost effective volunteer powered voter registration program. Save our Schools has been uniquely successful at reaching, registering, and turning out voters in non-urban parts of Arizona with a special focus on competitive state legislative races, many of which are nested within the States’ competitive congressional districts.

Geography: Arizona

Funding Type: PACc4c3

Contact: Beth Lewis, Executive Director

Presentation Date: 04/30/2024

| House Races

Climate Cabinet

$112,100 Raised | Fundraising Goal Achieved!

Climate Cabinet is Moneyball for Climate. To combat the climate crisis fast, we need to activate the levers of power that have the biggest impact. Please join this presentation by Climate Cabinet which will explore state and local candidates whose elections hold outsized impact on climate policies and infrastructure. Nested within key 2024 congressional battlegrounds, these pre-vetted candidates also run strong field and media campaigns, unlocking additional benefits all the way up the ballot. Join us to learn how small investments can equal big climate wins, and boost voter turnout in key geographies.

Geography: National

Funding Type: PAC

Contact: Caroline Spears, Executive Director

Presentation Date: 03/12/2024

Climate Bond Initiative

$20,000 Raised

Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) is a UK-based nonprofit, deeply engaged with policymakers and financial firms around the world as the top certifier of green bonds, but has limited presence in the US. Carbon Washington, founded to promote the first carbon pricing ballot initiative in the US, is now focused on mobilizing the trillions of dollars in public and private investment needed to meet climate goals and is partnering with CBI to facilitate its U.S. expansion.

Geography: National

Funding Type: c3

Contact: Sean Kidney, CEO and Founder

Presentation Date: 01/09/2024

Inclusive Prosperity Capital

$117,000 Raised | Fundraising Goal Achieved!

Inclusive Prosperity Capital (IPC), a mission-driven 501(c)3 national clean energy financing platform spun out of the Connecticut Green Bank, focuses on bridging the gap in clean energy financing for traditionally underserved communities and market segments. IPC has invested over $50 million in clean energy and resilience projects across the U.S. and Territories, with a near-term pipeline of over $100 million of additional investment opportunities. Approximately 50% of IPC's investments benefit low to moderate income communities, with approximately 60% directed towards communities of color IPC's unique business model leverages a blended capital stack to ensure sustainable operations and capital reinvestment. As a lead coalition partner with the Justice Climate Fund, IPC is well-positioned to access Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) capital facilitating the potential to exponentially scale its impact during the coming years. Currently, IPC is spearheading the creation of a secondary market platform, collaborating with organizations like Opportunity Finance Network, Inclusive, Carsey School of Public Policy, and Natural Resource Defense Council, to standardize clean energy financing, making it easier for small community lenders to issue clean energy loans to subprime applicants with the risk reduced by philanthropic dollars.

Geography: National

Funding Type: c3

Contact: Kerry O'Neil, Chief Executive Officer

Presentation Date: 11/28/2023

| Climate Finance

Greenlight America

$100,000 Raised | Fundraising Goal Achieved!

Greenlight America is focused on leveraging local grassroots support with the goal of winning local clean energy siting and permitting fights. The U.S. needs to build 6,000 clean energy facilities over the next decade, almost 2 per day, as well as more than 10,000 miles of transmission lines to hit emission reduction goals. Local opposition is the biggest obstacle to these projects, and there are few coordinated efforts to engage supporters as advocates for these projects. Greenlight is building a scalable, nationwide clean energy campaign hub to work with partner organizations, engage and mobilize local residents, and win project approvals.

Geography: National

Funding Type: c3

Contact: Matt Traldi, Founder and CEO

Presentation Date: 10/10/2023

| Investing in Elections for Climate (2024)

| Coordination, Collaboration, and Technical Assistance

Land & Liberty

$105,000 Raised | Fundraising Goal Achieved!

Land & Liberty, part of the Clean Grid Alliance, boasts a highly experienced team with a two-decade track record of effectively navigating utility-scale siting conflicts across several states, including Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Their renewable energy siting efforts are distinctly concentrated on the more conservative, rural regions within these states, acknowledging that these areas hold the greatest technical potential for renewable energy projects while concurrently harboring the lowest levels of public support for the fundamental reasons behind transitioning to carbon-free sources of electricity.

Geography: National

Funding Type: c3

Contact: Beth Soholt, Executive Director

Presentation Date: 10/10/2023

| Coordination, Collaboration, and Technical Assistance

Harambee House

$155,500 Raised | Fundraising Goal Achieved!

Harambee house is organizing the Southeast Environmental Justice Summit on June 7-11th in Atlanta, Georgia. This summit will bring together front-line community organizers with utilities, businesses, energy service companies, and federal agency representatives to prepare them to apply for new federal funding opportunities under IRA and other federal programs. An output of this summit will be a draft 10 year environmental justice plan for the 8 states in EPA Region 4 including: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

Geography: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee

Funding Type: c3

Contact: Dr. Mildred McCain, Founder

Presentation Date: 05/02/2023

| Coordination, Collaboration, and Technical Assistance

Texas Climate Jobs Project

$250,000 Raised | Fundraising Goal Achieved!

TCJP is developing and expanding NGO-led state coordinating tables focused on expanding the partnership between labor and environmental organizations to access IRA funding for climate and economic development efforts in the fossil fuel heavy State of Texas.

Geography: Texas

Funding Type: c3

Contact: Bo Delp, Executive Director

Presentation Date: 04/04/2023

| Coordination, Collaboration, and Technical Assistance

National Association of State Energy Officials

$205,000 Raised | Fundraising Goal Achieved!

NASEO, at the request of 1.5°CSG, is launching a $100k project to develop a suite of educational materials about the various federal funding opportunities, with a focus on the economic development opportunities and the need for states to allocate funds for new dedicated federal funding-focused state employees and provide matching funds to enhance grant proposals. These materials will be distributed to state energy offices, governor's offices, and other agencies and related associations across the country.

Geography: National

Funding Type: c3

Contact: David Terry, President

Presentation Date: 02/21/2023

| Coordination, Collaboration, and Technical Assistance

Future Now

$15,000 Raised | Fundraising Goal Achieved!

Future Now is looking to raise funding to elevate climate action within their seven policy priorities. They leverage their network of legislators in purple states to advance policies. In particular, they will take a c4 approach to advocate directly for additional appropriations for new state-funded staff dedicated to capturing federal funds, creating state matching funds for federal grant proposals, and ensuring the funds are deployed towards projects that achieve positive climate outcomes.

Geography: National

Funding Type: c4

Contact: Mandara Meyers, Chief Program Officer

Presentation Date: 02/21/2023

Rural Democracy Initiative

$240,000 Raised | Fundraising Goal Achieved!

Rural Democracy Initiative is launching a new $20-$40m Regional Rural Focused IRA Coordinating Hubs Project over the next four years. It will focus on setting up regional hubs which can offer coordinating, collaboration, and technical assistance to rural communities and small towns particularly in red and purple states. That's where the difference between the probable and the possible for climate action with IRA funds would be the greatest. 1.5°CSG is kickstarting this project with an aim to get he first $200k in the door.

Geography: National

Funding Type: c3

Contact: Sara Jaynes, Executive Director

Presentation Date: 02/07/2023

| Coordination, Collaboration, and Technical Assistance