This year the CO2 Foundation made a truly monumental effort to execute its mission and contributed generously to effective projects in a constrained funding environment with many external pressures on climate work.

Karen Wolfgang continued as Executive Director, alongside the Foundation’s three trustees: Drs. Stephanie Moret, William Calvin, and Katherine Graubard. The Foundation completed a full funding opportunity during the year and released $2,319,770 in grants and gifts.

The CO2 Foundation completed its third funding opportunity in 2025: Reducing the Threats of Extreme Weather Events (6/26/25-7/31/25). This generated $970,731 in new commitments, out of the Foundation’s lifetime total of $3,485,587 committed to projects started by the end of 2025. (Projects with a January 1, 2026 start date totaled another $701,760.)

As of this writing, the Foundation has received over $24 million in requests, and applicants have experienced a 32% success rate overall.

The application process held steady through the year. Quite a lot of positive feedback was received about the infographic developed last year, which lays out the process. Applicants and grantees share that they find the Foundation to be unique in the philanthropic space. They often voice their appreciation for the opportunities to engage directly with staff and trustees, especially when we offer opportunities to discuss why their applications were not funded. This is very unusual, and generally described as extremely helpful.

The second Grantee Summit was held in November. Like the first instance of this event, it was very well-attended and -received. This year, a pre-Summit Teaser was sent out with the agenda, sharing out work that grantees registered for the Summit had requested be shared; the outcome of the Summit was a 2025 Grantee Directory. In subsequent conversations, the Foundation has been asked to convene the whole group and/or subgroups more often.

In 2025, Executive Director Karen Wolfgang attended the Communicating Climate Solutions Symposium, and had a session proposal accepted at the 2026 National Adaptation Forum with grantee America Adapts. The Foundation’s website showcases its grantmaking program and gives news updates about each of the projects the Foundation has supported. The news updates published this year are HERE.

The report can be viewed as a PDF HERE.