1.5°Climate Strategies Group Projects - Member View

Contribution Info

Project Narrative

Rural Youth Voter Fund

$1,171,600 Raised | Fundraising Goal Achieved!

The Rural Youth Voter Fund (RYVF) supports and expands civic engagement and power-building efforts that nurture the extraordinary promise of young rural voters to protect and strengthen democracy. Launched in 2023 by the Rural Democracy Initiative (RDI), Movement Voter Project, and Clean and Prosperous America, RYVF is building a network of grassroots organizations working to mobilize the 30 million ambivalent young voters living in rural areas and small cities in key battleground states. RYVF aims to deploy at least $10 million to effective efforts focused on voter participation, leadership development, persuasive communications, and rural issues affecting young people. Camille Thompson with Collective Renaissance Georgia, a recipient of RYVF support, spoke on the call as a representative of the types of orgs supported by the RYVF.

Geography: National

Funding Type: c4c3

Contact: Sarah Jaynes, Executive Director

Presentation Date: 08/06/2024

Community Change Voters

$114,000 Raised

All data points show that hard-to-find & reach Black, Latino, Native, AAPI, women, and young voters will need additional engagement to turn out for values-aligned candidates. One way to motivate turnout is through layered canvas mail: a personalized mail touch will increase voter turnout, influence voter behavior, and decrease canvas decay. Through a partnership with WorkMoney we will be adding QR codes and pathways to connect voters to government resources that put money directly in their pockets. We know these voters feel economic anxiety and believe no one cares about their pain. The care and IRA benefits framework is an antidote to apathy so that voters can make a direct connection between their power at the voting booth and governing process. This is our opportunity to shift the political calculus -- and ensure voters aren’t isolated from the safety net.

Geography: Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Ohio, Georgia, Wisconsin

Funding Type: PACc4c3

Contact: Grecia Lima, Executive Director

Presentation Date: 07/09/2024

| Powering Up the Deployment Decade (2023/2024)

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

| Down Ballot Races

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

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

One Fair Wage

$200,000 Raised | Fundraising Goal Achieved!

One Fair Wage Action is mobilizing hundreds of thousands of new and unlikely voters, especially youth and people of color, in MI, OH and AZ using a peer-to-peer voter engagement model focused on the priority issue for those voters this election cycle: the cost of living. They are registering tens of thousands of new voters more cheaply and effectively as part of signature gathering for minimum wage ballot measures that will raise wages for 3.5 million workers and mobilize a minimum of 350,000 new, unlikely voters, with significant impact on Presidential and Senate races this fall.

Geography: Arizona

Funding Type: c4c3

Contact: Saru Jayaraman, President

Presentation Date: 04/30/2024

Citizens' Climate Education

$50,000 Raised | Fundraising Goal Achieved!

Citizens’ Climate Lobby's c3 affiliate Citizens’ Climate Education (“CCE”) is a nonpartisan grassroots network with 220,000+ supporters and 380 active chapters across the United States. For this project, CCE is partnering with WorkMoney to raise awareness about their resource center which helps consumers capture electrification and weatherization credits. CCE volunteers will deploy educational resources nationally, including in every key battleground state and district generating an economically efficient cost-per-acquisition. In these battleground areas alone, the expected impact of this $50k project is direct exposure to 57,000 supporters and the promotion of educational materials via 1,250+ tabling events and volunteer-organized presentations.

Geography: National

Funding Type: c3

Contact: Topher Anderson, Acting Director of Development

Presentation Date: 04/16/2024

Student PIRGs

$154,000 Raised | Fundraising Goal Achieved!

The Student PIRGs are a national network of student-run non-profits that have recruited, trained, and mobilized college and university students to win on public interest issues since 1971. The organization helped pass the first GHG reduction bills in the 2000s, won commitments for 100% renewable energy at the campus, city, and state level accomplished with a Boards of Directors made up entirely of current college students. This spring, the Student PIRGs aim to leverage their year-round infrastructure on campuses in Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia to educate young people about how their network and families can save money and save the environment through new programs and tax incentives created by the Inflation Reduction Act. StudentPIRGs IRA education program triages interested parties to WorkMoney's resource center to streamline each individuals enrollment process.

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

Funding Type: c4c3

Contact: Dan Xie, Political Director

Presentation Date: 02/20/2024

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

Somos Votantes

$206,500 Raised | Fundraising Goal Achieved!

Somos Votantes has initiated a field program with seven canvassers dedicated to Nevada and another seven in Arizona, with a focus on educating Latino communities about the opportunities provided by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Through a comprehensive approach involving canvassing, community events, mail programs, digital advertising, and local radio, Somos Votantes casts a wide net to inform Latinos about the economic opportunities brought to them by the Biden administration's IRA. Those who they encourage to access these financial benefits are seamlessly connected with WorkMoney, which takes the lead in facilitating their enrollment in IRA programs.

Geography: Arizona, Nevada

Funding Type: PACc4c3

Contact: Melissa Morales, Founder & President

Presentation Date: 11/07/2023

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

| Red States Investments

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

| Down Ballot Races

| Coordination, Collaboration, and Technical Assistance

Arizona Coalition for Change

$180,000 Raised | Fundraising Goal Achieved!

The Arizona Coalition for Change (C4C), a 501(c)3 Black-led community organization focuses on community empowerment and civic power-building including advocating for progressive policies like voter justice, economic and environmental justice, and youth justice in marginalized Arizona neighborhoods. Notably, they've launched the Clean Energy Clear Lungs (CECL) campaign, promoting clean energy and reducing air pollution in marginalized communities through education and resources while leveraging Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) benefits. This campaign also nurtures lifelong advocates for environmental justice at both state and federal levels. C4C's education program triages interested parties to WorkMoney's resource center to streamline each individuals enrollment process.

Geography: Arizona

Funding Type: c3

Contact: Reginald Bolding Sena Mohammed, Founder Executive Director

Presentation Date: 09/26/2023

Forward Together WI

$100,000 Raised | Fundraising Goal Achieved!

Forward Together Wisconsin (FTW) was founded to educate Wisconsinites about resources made available to them by the Biden-Harris Administration, to immediately connect community members to these resources, and to direct additional charitable dollars to aid in the implementation of these resources to make them as accessible as possible. Not only does FTW help tell the story of the positive impact progressive policy has on communities and community members, but we are a part of making this story a reality. We especially focus on engaging underserved groups, including communities of color, working class families, rural communities, and tribal communities. FTW's education program triages interested parties to WorkMoney's resource center to streamline each individuals enrollment process.

Geography: Wisconsin

Funding Type: c3

Contact: Peter Drummond, Executive Director

Presentation Date: 09/26/2023

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

| Red States Investments

Movement Labs

$540,957 Raised | Fundraising Goal Achieved!

A national texting firm which develops and delivers highly tested partisan and non-partisan GOTV messages to increase voter turnout.

Geography: National

Funding Type: PACc4c3

Contact: Yoni Landau, CEO

Presentation Date: 10/04/2022

Additional Hold the House for Climate Investments

$1,487,493 Raised | Fundraising Goal Achieved!

In addition to Hold the House for climate investments made in presenting organizations, 1.5°CSG also directed donor collaborative funds to the following investments:

$600k - Working Families Party
$450k - House Majority PAC
$109k - Vote Vets
$106.2k - Voter Participation Center
$69k - Fuse’s Voter Guides
$52.5k - Environmental Voter Project
$35.9k - Lea Webb NY Senator (52nd a nested district) Candidate Campaign
$65k - Other Candidate Campaigns

Geography: National

Funding Type: PACc4c3

Presentation Date: 10/01/2022

Additional Hold the House for Climate Investments

Working America

$342,000 Raised | Fundraising Goal Achieved!

A non-college worker focused organization that deploys a highly effective and well tested strategy for turning out voters by connecting to their core values. ($222k raised for House Races and $100k raised for Senate Races)

Geography: National

Funding Type: c3

Contact: Matt Morrison, Executive Director

Presentation Date: 09/20/2022

Contribution Info

Meeting Notes

Rural Democracy Initiative

$220,000 Raised | Fundraising Goal Achieved!

Pooled resource grant giver that supports grassroots groups organizing in small towns and rural areas. This presentation highlighted two sub-grantee of RDI: Black Male Voter Project and Progress North.

Geography: National

Funding Type: c4c3

Contact: Sara Jaynes, Executive Director

Presentation Date: 09/06/2022

Movement Voter Project

$50,000 Raised | Fundraising Goal Achieved!

A pooled resource grant maker that supports grassroots groups and has numerous state, issue, and constituency based funds to invest in. This presentation focused on BIPOC organizing and voter turnout and highlighted NM Native Vote and POWER Action Fund.

Geography: National

Funding Type: PACc4c3

Contact: Yulissa Mendez, Climate Vote Fund Director

Presentation Date: 08/30/2022