The CO2 Foundation has created a summary of its 2022 Annual Report, which is available as a PDF and in short form below.
In 2022, the CO2 Foundation completed its formation as a private grantmaking foundation and successfully initiated its first grantmaking program. The CO2 Foundation welcomed its third Executive Director in 2022: Karen Wolfgang took the reins in October. During the calendar year, the CO2 Foundation endowment changed significantly in value, due to stock market fluctuations.
The Foundation’s inaugural funding opportunity was titled Recognizing and responding to the threat of climate-amplified extreme weather. The CO2 Foundation received 43 Letters of Inquiry (LOIs) and 19 full proposals under this funding opportunity. Eleven projects were selected for funding, for a total of $435,934 committed; $335,137 was released in 2022. The following projects received grant funding under this initial funding opportunity; each has its own update post on the Foundation’s News & Updates page.
- Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (Advocacy)
- Climate Central (Scholarship)
- Conservation Biology Institute (Scholarship)
- EcoAdapt (Conferences)
- Foundation for Water and Energy Education (Education)
- Knee Deep Times (Journalism)
- Preventable Surprises (Conferences)
- Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (Journalism)
- WGBH (Journalism)
Here are some notable statistics from the initial year of grantmaking:
- The range of funding per project selected in 2022 was $10,000-$50,000.
- The average grant size was $39,630.
- The Foundation did not receive any applications within its Awards or Legislative and Regulatory Frameworks categories.
- The categories with the highest success rates were Conferences and Journalism.
2022 brought many changes to the CO2 Foundation, and the organization has taken them in stride. Staff and trustees are currently working to develop a second funding opportunity, which will be released as early as late spring 2023.