Talk:ClimateWorks Foundation

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 18 February 2019 and 12 May 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): PR Course, Souljaslim808, Numbah9, Mmalin21.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 19:12, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Peer Review - Ariel Ridley

This is a nice Wikipedia article! I enjoyed reading it, and learning more about the non-profit ClimateWorks Foundation.

Lead: I found the lead to be informative and concise. I would recommend possibly removing or relocating the following sentence to another section of the article: “The ClimateWorks foundation has hosted a discussion on "accelerating global climate action" at Climate Week NYC.” I think that this sentence is a little vague as is and modifying it to add more detail would make the overall lead too detail heavy. The Efforts section may be a good location for this sentence instead.

I like the facts box that is to the right of the lead. It posts general facts such as founder, location, website, and more, which makes for quick and easy access to basic information. Since the nonprofit website is located in this box, I would suggest possibly removing the Official Websites link under the External Links section, to eliminate any possible repetition.

Structure: I found the structure of the overall article to be simple, and easy to follow. The section headers are all necessary to the article, and each has adequate information underneath them. The content looks to be consistent and relevant. The sections all appear to be displayed in a good order.

References: At the time of this peer review, all internal and external links were working.

The following links are not leading to an accessible article:

• "ClimateWorks Foundation Appoints New CEO; Julie Blunden, renewable energy industry veteran, to lead global climate and energy policy grantmaker; . Business Wire. Retrieved from Nexis Uni". (This source was corrected in class by professor McDowell) This source is also from Business Wire, so I would look into this more to make sure that it is not PR, and is appropriate for Wikipedia.

• The following citation had an extra unrelated link associated with it, so I fixed the citation:
  • Eilperin, Juliet (November 4, 2017). "EPA's new science advisers add more industry experts, conservatives to the mix". The Washington Post.

The following statement in the article does not have a reference: "For instance, Chinese cement production contributes to nearly 5% of carbon dioxide globally."

Overall, this was a good article!

Ari2019 (talk) 19:14, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

Peer Review-mmalin21

Overall, I think this article provides a lot of information relevant to ClimateWorks that give a very comphrensive overview of the organization. I especially like the paragraph on funding, as it is presented in a very objective manner. However, much of this information needs to be clarified and explained so the reader can get a foundational sense of who this organization is/how it works.

Lead:

• I think the clause "listed as one of the top 100 charities" could be made its own sentence somewhere else in the lead and allow the introductory sentence to stand on its own
• I don't think we can say that ClimateWorks actually slows global warming, so I think that that sentence could be reframed to discuss their goal or ambition relating to global warming
• I moved the last sentence to history because it fits as more of a historical event related to the company

History:

• I added "and Packard" to the first sentence to clarify who financed the report
• I would add more info on who Hal Harvey is/was
• please clarify what “rest of world” means. Is it every other country not in US, China, India, Europe, and Latin America? Is it just those who need extra help in climate change policy?
• A more condensed version of the original study can be put in history and expanded upon in another section
• Condensed the paragraph on Julie Blunden

Efforts:

• First sentence is confusing and is very long. Try dividing it into more digestible chunks
• Clarify what ‘upgrading’ means in second sentence if possible
• I split up the last sentences in the first paragraph so it would be clearer
• Most of the second paragraph sounds very PR-y. For example “ClimateWorks Foundation is able to offer and design the best techniques to halt global warming” is a subjective sentence and sounds like you’re advertising for their services

Partnerships/Funding

• Don’t rely so heavily on listing, instead try and mention each organization once with the information relevant to ClimateWorks to cut down on repetitiveness

Mmalin21 (talk) 19:19, 7 April 2019 (UTC)

Peer Review- Mck24

The article had a clear structure overall, which made it easy to follow while reading. It’s a great start to making the final product and was very informative. Each section also seems equally balanced in regards to the information presented in each category. I also made a few minor edits such as capitalization when needed.

Introduction section-

• I think the lead is written really well. It is clear and to the point of what the ClimateWorks Foundation is.

• "ClimateWorks Foundation, listed as one of the Top 100 Largest U.S. Charities by Forbes Magazine in 2016"- sounds a little too PR. Could just start with the second half of that sentence.

History-

• It is a good description about the history of the organization, how it was founded, and where it is now.

• “The ClimateWorks foundation has hosted a discussion on "accelerating global climate action" at Climate Week NYC.” – seems a little out of place in this section, could be worked into one of the above paragraphs in this section or placed in another section.

• "For example, China could save 3.5 gigatons by improving generation, while the United States could save .09 gigatons with more efficient buildings."- Seems like puffery, not sure if an example is needed here.

• "Hal Harvey, who has since then left ClimateWorks Foundation in December of 2011, is now succeed by Julie Blunden.Blunden was appointed the foundation’s new Chief Executive Officer, President and Director of ClimateWorks on May 21, 2012."- Both sentences need a citation.

Efforts-

• I think that this section does a good job of informing the reader what the organization does and specific details about how it works.

• "For instance, Chinese cement production contributes to nearly 5% of carbon dioxide globally."- Needs a citation.

Mck24 (talk) 22:02, 7 April 2019 (UTC)

CaC9 Peer Review

Overall, great work. The sections in your article are relevant, important, and clear to follow. For the most part, with the exception of some words and phrases I pointed out, your article offers neutral content. You have solid, reliable sources, but there are missing citations for some of your sentences. It would be great if you could find one or two more sources. Some suggestions you might consider for your Wikipedia are the following:

Lead: Your lead sentence reads as propaganda by adding “listed as one of the Top 100 Largest U.S. Charities by Forbes Magazine in 2016”. I think you should omit that information from your lead sentence and add it to another part of your article. Instead, focus your lead sentence on explaining what exactly ClimateWorks is and what they do. Remember that your lead sentence should give the reader a good grasp about what your article is about.

History: I think there is room to improve your description on the Sudoku plan. There might be people reading your article that do not know what Sudoku is or how it works, so you can give a brief description of Sudoku and how it applies to ClimateWorks plan. Also, do you know if the Sudoku plan remains in place after Hal Harvey left ClimateWorks? If not, you can probably add information about the plans the new President, Julie Blunden, has for the foundation. Also, your last sentence about the discussion on “accelerating global climate action” is not relevant to the rest of your section. You can move that sentence to another part of the article, perhaps your “Efforts” section, and give a brief explanation about the discussion hosted by ClimateWorks so it doesn’t seem like the sentence was added without purpose.

Efforts: Great first paragraph, but I think you should explain in more detail what you mean by “better practices”. Also, in the example you give about Chinese cement production, it is unclear when you say “in an effort to stop cement factories from upgrading”. Explain what you mean by upgrading. Additionally, be careful when you say “ClimateWorks Foundation is able to offer and design the best techniques…” because it sounds like PR. Unless it was stated by one of your sources, don’t use the word “best” to refer to their techniques. As I mentioned earlier, instead explain what those “best practices” are.

Partnerships/Funding: Great section overall. The only suggestion I have is to describe what some of the partnered organizations are to give the audience a better idea of how a certain partnership with an organization is important and relevant to your article.

CaC9 (talk) 01:44, 8 April 2019 (UTC)

Feedback

Hi! I wanted to give my feedback on this draft. Tagging Mmalin21, Numbah9, PR Course, Souljaslim808.

• I moved the information about the Forbes list to the lead. Putting it into the history section felt a little odd since it didn't really fit into the timeline. It could be seen as a little promotional, but I think that the main issue is that it just interrupted the flow of the section.

• In the same section you put down Hewlett and Packard, however the foundation that was part of it was actually the Hewlett Foundation. While the foundation was created by the Hewletts, who also co-founded the company, it's not exactly the same thing. Be careful of small details like that. (In all fairness, I thought the same thing for the longest time myself!)

• I changed the information about the potential in gigatons to refer to information from a specific report, so it's not as vague.

I will likely have more, but wanted to explain what I've changed so far. Shalor (Wiki Ed) (talk) 20:54, 10 April 2019 (UTC)
OK, more feedback!

• The Daily Mail is not seen as a reliable source on Wikipedia because it's a tabloid, so this needs to be replaced.
• With the partnerships/funding section, I'd avoid the list format. You can mention that they've funded or worked with various organizations or people, but you don't really need to list them out or even list each one. What's more important is that you describe the work that was created by notable partnerships or funding. This would rely on coverage in independent and reliable sources, of course. Beyond that, the individual partnerships/etc are seen as a bit too much of an indiscriminate detail for Wikipedia.
• I'm not really certain what step-by-step contributions really means, to be honest. I've changed this to just efforts, since this is a bit more straightforward, and merged it with the other sentence.
• Within the same section, some of the content is played up a little. Be careful of this, as it's easy for some things to slip by that may seem harmless elsewhere but are seen as promotional on Wikipedia. I've tweaked this section as well. I've removed the "for example" sentence in the first paragraph since it felt kind of unnecessary, since it's kind of a given that China would need to reduce their emissions given the setup earlier in the article. I've also merged some of the sentences in the second paragraph to make it more succinct.
• Avoid relying too much on a single source, like the NYT piece. This needs more independent and reliable sources. Academic and scholarly sources would definitely be helpful as well.

I hope this helps! Shalor (Wiki Ed) (talk) 21:12, 10 April 2019 (UTC)

Requesting updates

Thank you for your dedication on this fantastic article! Tagging the top editors - Mmalin21, Numbah9, PR Course, Souljaslim808 - as well as their instructors ZachMcDowell and Ian (Wiki Ed), as I would like to humbly submit some updates to the content since the last substantial edits to the article were made in 2019.

As I am tangentially affiliated with ClimateWorks Foundation, I cannot implement these changes myself. I defer to other editors about how/if to make changes. To ease the burden of this, I have made suggested changes in a draftspace version of this article in my sandbox. Please see it here, along with a detailed edit history. I understand that my edits are only suggestions and that updates to the mainspace article are entirely up to the discretion and generosity of the editors who desire to make them. Thank you for considering implementing these changes and please let me know if I can answer any questions or be of any help. – Cassiville (talk) 19:34, 29 July 2024 (UTC)

As an addendum to my note above, below is a summary of the changes I propose in the sandbox, by section. All in all, these edits would significantly expand the number of independent sources that the article cites, as well as update the majority of the information to reflect sourcing from the past 1-3 years.

Extended content

History

• This section, as it currently exists, relies heavily on a New York Times source from 2009 detailing the founding of ClimateWorks Foundation in connection to Hal Harvey. Since Harvey left the foundation in 2011, the organization has received additional, more recent independent coverage about their strategy and history. In my suggested edits, I've cited additional information from Inside Philanthropy and Devex.
• I have also added headings "Strategy" and "Leadership" to better organize the content.
• In the "Strategy" section, I've removed some of the info about the Sudoku plan, as it cites the outdated NYT article and has been given undue weight in relation to the organization's current strategy - which has gone through at least one update since 2009 (1)(2). I included a brief reference to ClimateWorks Foundation as a grantmaking body, which the later section details more thoroughly.
• In the new suggested "Leadership" section, I would add current and recent leaders, plus new references. I would also add these names to the infobox.

Efforts

• I propose renaming this section "Programs and reports" to better reflect its content and to follow the style of a similar organization's article, i.e. the Hewlett Foundation.
• This section as it currently exists also heavily cites the outdated New York Times source. In my suggested edits, I have updated the programmatic areas based on an Inside Philanthropy source from 2024.
• Three of these programmatic areas have received significant news coverage in the past two years, so I have included a summary of these areas, as well, under "Examples of program-specific efforts", along with citations.
• In the past 4-5 years, the majority of independent coverage on ClimateWorks Foundation focuses on a report they release annually that details foundation funding for climate change mitigation. I propose referencing this report in this section and have added some sentences and references to the sandbox draft that do that.

Partnerships and donors

• The content in this section also relies on sources that are 6-10 years old. The updates I suggest in my sandbox include sourcing from the past two years, as well as an updated list of partners and major funders.

Lede

• The current lede section relies heavily on the New York Times article as well. As media coverage of ClimateWorks Foundation shows, the organization has updated their mission since the NYT article was published in 2009. In my suggested edits, I cite more recent sources that outline this updated mission.
• I've also updated a few sentences to reflect other changes I propose throughout the article, like the info about grantmaking and their annual funding trends report. The Hewlett Foundation article also specifies funding dollars early on and throughout the article. That content is missing in the current ClimateWorks Foundation article and I propose adding it in, both in the lede section and the "History" section.

Infobox

• I would update the funders to include the full list of initial funders (as outlined in the Inside Philanthropy source that I suggest citing in the article body).
• I would suggest adding 'legal status' and 'purpose', and adjusting 'location' to 'headquarters' - as the foundation has regional offices in Southeast Asia and China, as well as the United States. I also suggest expanding 'Key People' to including the VP - a scientist who would even meet notability criteria for her own article IMO, and therefore could warrant a mention in the infobox here.

– Cassiville (talk) 20:51, 29 July 2024 (UTC)

Requesting infobox edits

Hi, this is a request that I'm making as an employee of ClimateWorks Foundation, acting on the organization's behalf.

Starting small, I want to suggest two additions to the infobox table that seem to be commonly included in other non-profit organization Wikipedia articles:

• Legal status: 501(c)(3) organization
• Type: Non-profit, foundation

Also, the logo in the infobox is our old logo. Our new logo file is here: https://www.climateworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/cw-logo-white-bg.svg

Could someone review and make these updates? If there's anything I can do to help, let me know. I'm planning more requests to help add better sourcing to this article and correct and update information about the organization, so if editors have any pointers, that would be appreciated. TDM for ClimateWorks (talk) 18:50, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

Hello! I've  Implemented the infobox changes, though for the new logo, you will need to upload it to Commons first via the upload wizard, and file a VRT ticket (the upload wizard will provide instructions for how to do so.) monkey_smashing^keyboards (talk) 18:55, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

Thanks, User:MSK! Can I ask: is it possible to add "foundation" in the Type, as well as "non-profit"? Also, I was able to upload the logo on Wikimedia Commons, here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ClimateWorks_Logo_2026.svg

Would you mind adding this to the infobox now? Thanks! TDM for ClimateWorks (talk) 22:24, 9 March 2026 (UTC)

 Done monkey_smashing^keyboards (talk) 23:48, 9 March 2026 (UTC)

Thanks, User:MSK! If you're around, I hope you'll be able to look at my future requests. TDM for ClimateWorks (talk) 18:06, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

Requesting Organization addition and changes to Partnerships and donors

Hi, this is another request that I'm making as an employee of ClimateWorks Foundation, acting on the organization's behalf.

For this request, I suggest adding a section that provides an overview of how the foundation is organized. I suggest keeping a short summary about leadership within this section and removing the overly detailed paragraph about past leadership from the History. I also suggest putting the section about donors as a subsection within this one. In short, the draft below includes:

• A summary of how the foundation is organized and the geographic split of its work
• Summary of leadership (allowing the details about leadership from the History to be cut, since they seem too in the weeds about those individuals’ past and future roles)
• Moved the section about donors to be a subsection of this suggested new section
• Retitled "Partnerships and donors" to "Donors and grantees"; the current content and my suggested update don't include any actual "partnerships", so it feels more accurate and less confusing to title this "Donors and grantees"
• Rewritten content about donors, to summarize major donors
• A paragraph summarizing regional grantees, which would replace the sentences about Greenpeace India (which feels more appropriate for that organization's article; the funding was not a major grant for ClimateWorks) and Energy Foundation and Green Tech, since that one is flagged as not having a reliable source, and is less recent

Organization & Donors and grantees

Organization

ClimateWorks is organized as a non-profit foundation that provides grants to grantees globally that focus on climate change. As of 2020, work supported by the foundation's grants was split as approximately 56% global, 12% within the United States, and 32% in other countries.

The organization is led by Helen Mountford, who became the foundation's president and chief executive officer in 2022. Past leadership has included Hal Harvey, Charlotte Pera, and Chris DeCardy.

Donors and grantees

The foundation's donors have included the Hewlett Foundation, the Packard Foundation, and the McKnight Foundation, which were its initial funders and the largest donors as of 2009, the year following ClimateWorks' founding. Other donors have included Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Bezos Earth Fund, the Ford Foundation, the Oak Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation.

The organization's grantees include regional non-profits such as the African Climate Foundation, the European Climate Foundation, Instituto Clima e Sociedade in Brazil and ViriyaENB in Indonesia.

References

Current content this would replace

From History: Hal Harvey left ClimateWorks Foundation in December 2011. Harvey is now serving as the new CEO of Energy Innovation and is also a published author of Designing Climate Solutions: A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy. He was succeeded by Julie Blunden as the foundation's new chief executive officer, president, and director of ClimateWorks on May 21, 2012. Blunden has 25 years of experience in the energy industry and is a well-known energy policy expert with a background in both the industrial and nonprofit sectors.

Partnerships and donors

ClimateWorks Foundation has partnered with other organizations through one-time donations and continued sponsorship. For example, the Oak Foundation has funded ClimateWorks Foundation with $75 million for the development of "responsible global and local governance mechanisms, which will have important ramifications socially as well as environmentally."

ClimateWorks Foundation is funded mainly by the Hewlett Foundation, Packard Foundation, and the McKnight Foundation located in Minnesota.

ClimateWorks Foundation has provided funding to Greenpeace India, along with funding from Greenpeace international. ClimateWorks Foundation grants composed about 30% of the organization's funding in June 2015.

The organization also funded around $170 million to the Energy Foundation and $1,520,000 to Green Tech.

References

Could someone review the draft and make these changes? Let me know if I can answer any questions or help with anything. TDM for ClimateWorks (talk) 17:48, 27 April 2026 (UTC)

Hi User:MSK, would you be willing to review this request too? Thanks! TDM for ClimateWorks (talk) 22:24, 5 May 2026 (UTC)

Hello! A question, is ClimateWorks is organized as a non-profit foundation [...] intentional? If it isn't, then ClimateWorks is a non-profit foundation [...] is more grammatical. msk 22:40, 5 May 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for replying so soon, User:MSK! Yes, it was intentional as a formal way to state that the foundation is officially registered as a non-profit, but either phrasing is fine. If you think it's better to say "is a non-profit" that works just as well. Do you have any other feedback about the request? TDM for ClimateWorks (talk) 03:43, 7 May 2026 (UTC)

I think "is a non-profit" probably is enough, since the infobox and lead make it clear enough that ClimateWorks isn't some kind of unregistered non-profit (which iirc the guidelines disallows anyways). I'll hopefully finish reviewing and implementing your suggested edits tomorrow. Cheers! msk 04:03, 7 May 2026 (UTC)

Should be  Done. msk 19:52, 7 May 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for the review, User:MSK, it looks great! TDM for ClimateWorks (talk) 23:36, 7 May 2026 (UTC)

Requesting History changes

Hi, this is my next request that I'm making as an employee of ClimateWorks Foundation representing the organization.

For this new request, I suggest updating the History for a full summary of the organization. Right now, the History heavily focuses on the founders and gives a lot of weight to details that could be summarized or even trimmed. In short, the draft below:

• Summarizes the founding history, removing the overly detailed explanation of the initial strategy
• Removes the paragraph about two former leaders sourced from a press release and a profile page
• Removes the sentence about a discussion at Climate Week in 2018 since this seems like a minor/non encyclopedic detail
• Adds sources and details about the foundation's developments to present day

History

ClimateWorks Foundation was founded in 2008 by the Hewlett Foundation, McKnight Foundation, and Packard Foundation. The three organizations collectively pledged $1 billion over the following five years to combat climate change, focusing on reducing carbon emissions, and established ClimateWorks to lead that effort.

The foundation was created after a report called "Design to Win", financed by the three founders of ClimateWorks and three other charitable foundations, examined how philanthropists could combat global warming. The study outlined the zones that produced the most carbon emissions and laid out an approach to the "30 by 30" goal of reducing 30 gigatons of annual heat emissions by the year 2030. The foundation, led by CEO Hal Harvey at the time, based its initial strategy on this 2007 report.

In 2010, the foundation created the Climate and Land Use Alliance, a funding group that supports efforts related to forest conservation and land use.

In 2012, Charlotte Pera became the foundation's president and CEO. The organization shifted its approach to supporting multinational initiatives and created programs in areas such as carbon dioxide removal, cooling, and road transportation. For example, in 2015, the foundation established an initiative focused on zero-emission transportation and electric vehicles. The organization also provided resources for donors such as funder learning communities.

In 2016 the nonprofit was listed in Forbes Magazine as one of the 100 largest U.S. charities.

Around 2020, the foundation began to focus more on people and the impact of climate change. It continued to provide funds to grantees and support for funders.

In the early 2020s, the organization was criticized for its "technocratic" and "rigid" approach with a focus on major advocacy work rather than supporting grassroots organizations and smaller-scale initiatives that can benefit communities. According to The Chronicle of Philanthropy, ClimateWorks had begun to change its approach and incorporate more support for grassroots organizations and efforts as of 2022. Also in 2022, Inside Philanthropy noted that the foundation had increased decentralized grantmaking for community impact in response to critiques.

The foundation then established the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program, later known as the Clean Cooling Collaborative. The joint-action fund aims to reduce the use of refrigerants and supports changes to help people access cooling. In 2021, the foundation launched the Drive Electric Campaign, an initiative aimed at broader adoption of electric vehicles.

The organization appointed Chris DeCardy as interim CEO in 2021, who was then succeeded by Helen Mountford as CEO in January 2022. By 2022, the foundation had distributed $1.3 billion in funding to grantees.

In late 2023 and early 2024, the foundation was part of two groups of funders that signed calls to action to commit more funding for climate change adaptation. The December 2023 call to action called for a "tenfold increase" in funding for climate adaptation and resilience.

As of 2026, the foundation had made around $2 billion in grants to organizations and initiatives globally.

References

Current content this would replace

ClimateWorks Foundation was conceptualized and founded by Hal Harvey for a 2007 “Design to Win” report financed by the Hewlett Foundation and other foundations to examine how philanthropists can fight against global warming. Hal Harvey's plan behind ClimateWorks Foundation is a sketched "Sudoku" plan divided into 5 economic sectors: Power, Industry, Buildings, Transport, and Forest. The plan is meant to address emissions of the world's six heaviest CO₂ consuming regions; such as: the United States, China, India, Europe, and Latin America.

The study outlines the zones that produce the most carbon emissions in the planet and systematically approaches the “30 by 30” goal of reducing 30 gigatons of annual heat emissions by the year 2030. Each square from the "Sudoku" plan depicts how many gigatons of carbon could be saved by nation. Dubbed the “ClimateWorks Sudoku”, the Foundation uses this plan in their annual reports and in 2011, reported that China had the potential to save 9.6 gigatons by 2030, while the United States had the potential to save 3.6 gigatons.

Hal Harvey left ClimateWorks Foundation in December 2011. Harvey is now serving as the new CEO of Energy Innovation and is also a published author of Designing Climate Solutions: A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy. He was succeeded by Julie Blunden as the foundation's new chief executive officer, president, and director of ClimateWorks on May 21, 2012. Blunden has 25 years of experience in the energy industry and is a well-known energy policy expert with a background in both the industrial and nonprofit sectors.

ClimateWorks Foundation hosted a discussion on "accelerating global climate action" in 2018 at Climate Week NYC.

References

I've tried to keep this succinct to help reviewers. Please let me know if there are additional details I can share. TDM for ClimateWorks (talk) 18:39, 20 May 2026 (UTC)

Hi there, User:MSK and thanks again for the help so far. Would you be able to review this update, too? Thanks in advance! TDM for ClimateWorks (talk) 18:20, 28 May 2026 (UTC)

I'm a bit busy right now with other (some of it onwiki) stuff right now so I won't be able to fully review this in the near future, however some at first glance suggestions.

• first 3 sentences are all about the founding of CW and are a bit redundant to each other
• There might be too much detail on the Design to Win report, some of it could probably be trimmed
• The sentence on criticism in the 2020s could probably be expanded to explain the explicit rationale behind the criticism.
• The "By XXXX, the organization had _____ billion in grants" might do better moved to the donors and grantees section.

Cheers, msk 18:59, 28 May 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for the quick reply, User:MSK. I'll work on making some updates to the draft with this feedback and get back to you soon. Appreciate your help. TDM for ClimateWorks (talk) 23:39, 28 May 2026 (UTC)

Thanks again for that initial feedback, User:MSK. Below is an updated version that:

• Trims down the first few sentences to make it less repetitive
• Reduce details about the Design to Win report. I had included more because of the article's current level of detail, but it's fine to briefly mention the report if you think that’s best.
• Added a line to explain the 2020 critiques
• Removed the sentences about the amount of grants awarded. Could this sentence be added to Donors and grantees? As of 2026, the foundation had made around $2 billion in grants to organizations and initiatives globally.

Thanks! TDM for ClimateWorks (talk) 19:18, 2 June 2026 (UTC)

History v2

ClimateWorks Foundation was founded in 2008 by the Hewlett Foundation, McKnight Foundation, and Packard Foundation. The three organizations collectively pledged $1 billion over the following five years to combat climate change, focusing on reducing carbon emissions. These founders had financed a report called "Design to Win" that laid out an approach for reducing 30 gigatons of annual heat emissions by the year 2030. The foundation, led by CEO Hal Harvey at the time, based its initial strategy on this 2007 report.

In 2010, the foundation created the Climate and Land Use Alliance, a funding group that supports efforts related to forest conservation and land use.

In 2012, Charlotte Pera became the foundation's president and CEO. The organization shifted its approach to supporting multinational initiatives and created programs in areas such as carbon dioxide removal, cooling, and road transportation. For example, in 2015, the foundation established an initiative focused on zero-emission transportation and electric vehicles. The organization also provided resources for donors such as funder learning communities.

In 2016 the nonprofit was listed in Forbes Magazine as one of the 100 largest U.S. charities.

Around 2020, the foundation began to focus more on people and the impact of climate change. It continued to provide funds to grantees and support for funders.

In the early 2020s, the organization was criticized for its "technocratic" and "rigid" approach that focused on major advocacy work rather than supporting grassroots organizations and smaller-scale initiatives that can benefit communities. Critics argued that the organization often gave to the same large organizations and didn't provide enough support to smaller community-based organizations. According to The Chronicle of Philanthropy, ClimateWorks had begun to change its approach and incorporate more support for grassroots organizations and efforts as of 2022. Also in 2022, Inside Philanthropy noted that the foundation had increased decentralized grantmaking for community impact in response to critiques.

During this period the foundation established the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program, later known as the Clean Cooling Collaborative. The joint-action fund aims to reduce the use of refrigerants and supports changes to help people access cooling. In 2021, the foundation launched the Drive Electric Campaign, an initiative aimed at broader adoption of electric vehicles.

The organization appointed Chris DeCardy as interim CEO in 2021, who was then succeeded by Helen Mountford as CEO in January 2022.

In late 2023 and early 2024, the foundation was part of two groups of funders that signed calls to action to commit more funding for climate change adaptation. The December 2023 call to action called for a "tenfold increase" in funding for climate adaptation and resilience.

References

Hi again, User:MSK. A quick note here that I'll be reaching out to WikiProject Climate Change to see if anyone has time to review this. Your review is very welcome if you have the time, but understand if you're busy. TDM for ClimateWorks (talk) 17:38, 10 June 2026 (UTC)

@TDM for ClimateWorks Thanks for going through the process, I have posted the update -- I removed a few sentences, that seem to put undo emphasis on initiatives or practices "specific to ClimeateWorks's self-identity". I did a couple of fact checks and links, but for future updates:

• it would be great to have more external coverage if you have it, especially about the impact of specific programs.

Sadads (talk) 22:21, 10 June 2026 (UTC)

 DoneSadads (talk) 22:23, 10 June 2026 (UTC)

Thank you, User:Sadads! All the changes you made make sense to me. I'll definitely keep your suggestion in mind for future updates, though I'm happy to see the page updated for now. Thanks for reviewing this. TDM for ClimateWorks (talk) 21:03, 15 June 2026 (UTC)

Requesting introduction changes and infobox correction

Hi, this is a new request that I'm making as an employee of ClimateWorks Foundation representing the organization.

Now that the rest of the article has been updated, I have a small correction for the infobox and I also suggest cleaning up the introduction and providing a straightforward overview of ClimateWorks Foundation.

For the infobox, as the History discusses and as confirmed by multiple sources, the founders of ClimateWorks are the three foundations: Hewlett Foundation, McKnight Foundation and Packard Foundation. Can the "founder" entry in the infobox be changed from Hal Harvey (who was the first CEO) to:

• Founders: Hewlett Foundation
  McKnight Foundation
  Packard Foundation

For the introduction, the draft below:

• Removes the outdated sentence about the organization's mission, replacing it with a simple statement that the foundation focuses on climate change
• Adds a sentence noting the organization's founders
• Removes sentence about the 2016 listing as a Top 100 Charity by Forbes, as this is included in the History but doesn't seem important enough for the introduction
• Removed the sentence about the Partner Circle, as while this is correct this doesn't feel important enough for the introduction and doesn't have an independent souce
• Added a simple statement to note that ClimateWorks provides grants and support to other organizations
• Added a sentence that notes the amount of grants given as of 2026

Introduction

ClimateWorks Foundation ("ClimateWorks") is a nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco that focuses on climate change. The organization was founded by the Hewlett Foundation, McKnight Foundation, and Packard Foundation in 2008.

ClimateWorks provides funding and support to U.S. and international organizations and initiatives that aim to accelerate climate efforts. As of 2026, the foundation had granted nearly $2 billion to organizations and initiatives.

References

Current content this would replace

ClimateWorks Foundation is a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization founded in 2008. ClimateWorks Foundation's mission is to slow global warming by funding other organizations internationally to help find best practice solutions to cut down on carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions.

In 2016 the nonprofit was listed as one of the Top 100 Largest U.S. Charities by Forbes Magazine. The ClimateWorks Foundation is part of the Partner Circle of the Foundations Platform F20, an international network of foundations and philanthropic organizations.

References

User:MSK or User:Sadads would either of you be able to review this request? Thanks! TDM for ClimateWorks (talk) 17:50, 29 June 2026 (UTC)

Hi User:MSK, sorry if you've already seen this, but I'm hoping that you might have time to review this as it's a smaller request? TDM for ClimateWorks (talk) 23:12, 7 July 2026 (UTC)