SOLUTIONS PROJECT INC

→ Impact: INCREASING INSTITUTIONAL POWER OF FRONTLINE ORGANIZATIONS

→ Impact: INCREASING NARRATIVE POWER OF FRONTLINE ORGANIZATIONS

→ Impact: INCREASING DECISION-MAKING POWER OF FRONTLINE ORGANIZATIONS

Solidarity Philanthropy: TSP is at the forefront of Solidarity Philanthropy, which builds on the foundation of Trust-based Philanthropy with practices defined by grassroots organizers and racially-conscious movement work. 100% of our grant-making dollars go to neighborhood-level intersectional climate solutions in communities most impacted by pollution and climate change (overwhelmingly Black, Indigenous, Immigrant, People of Color and women). We provide multi-year general operating support for grassroots organizations working at the intersection of climate, racial, and economic justice to build their organizational capacity.

We invest in eco-systems and movement-building where communities are already working together to improve lives and sow the conditions for systems change. Amidst current and pressing climate disasters, we also invest rapid-response funds for urgent and immediate needs.

Narrative Strategy: We are a recognized leader in bold, positive, and reflective climate narratives rooted in grassroots power-building. The communications capacity we provide our grantees aims to shift the national dialogue on climate change to center just solutions to the climate crisis and increase grantee influence with critical audiences. Our team and program delivery partners provide earned publicity, communications training, digital content development, marketing services, and access to major media or brand platforms like celebrity and corporate social channels that further amplify our grantees’ work.

Cross-sector collaboration: We build cross-sector influence with our grantee network. We open opportunities for scaled resources and audiences for frontline leadership and climate justice solutions through our high-trust relationships. For example, we have relationships with established artists such as Mark Ruffalo, Don Cheadle, and Regina Hall; industry leaders like Seventh Generation, a Unilever Company; influential media outlets like TIME Magazine and TED; and allies across philanthropy and government who mobilize to support collective impact.

We are an all-female, majority women of color staff. Many of our team members grew up in under-resourced communities of color, many of which were neighborhoods dealing with environmental injustice. Many of our staff have worked directly with frontline communities for the majority of their careers and those who haven’t share our deep commitment to justice and equity that this work requires. We are connected to the climate justice movement, which explicitly fights for the liberation of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and People of Color.

Our team sees themselves in the communities who live at the intersections of climate change and social justice. And a majority of us know people who are directly impacted by poverty, violence, and structural inequities. That’s why the movement is deeply personal and our relationship to the work is different. We cannot separate the personal from the political, because these issues affect our daily lives. We see the climate crisis as the most urgent intersectional issue because we see humanity suffering, and this is an opportunity for us to come together, break generational systems, and build a more sustainable future.

Our Philanthropic Trustees, who advise us on funding strategy and grantmaking, are trusted non-profit or philanthropic leaders in our field. Members are asked to serve because of their demonstrated leadership in the climate justice movement and wisdom of the systemic barriers facing frontline communities.

Frontline Solutions, a Black-owned national consulting firm that believes in the principles of equitable evaluation and design engagements that prioritize learning in service of movement-accountable equity and impact, evaluates our grantmaking on an annual basis.

In 2022, TSP was named the #2 most innovative NGO in the world by FastCompany, and won a Gold Anthem Award for Best Strategy in Environmentalism. We are the only climate justice intermediary recognized with an Impact Award by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy. TSP’s blend of grantmaking support, technical assistance, capacity building, media muscle, and our ability to leverage celebrity reach empowers our grantees’ activism to yield successes.

In our organization’s 8-year grantmaking history, we have achieved the following:

Return on Investment: $30 million invested in 283 organizations across the U.S.These grassroots organizations then went on to win major public funding for their solutions, including one billion for solar on affordable housing in California, $400M for transition infrastructure in Miami, and $200 million for wind development in New York, a state that now boasts one of the strongest climate policies in the country. Our grantees have not only built power to influence climate justice mandates from the federal government - their innovations are setting new standards. We are the only climate justice intermediary recognized with an Impact Award by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.


Media Influence for Impact: 2000+ mainstream media stories that cover climate justice leaders advancing solutions that improve the lives of people in their communities and beyond in outlets including CBS This Morning, CNN, Jimmy Kimmel, MTV, LA Times, New York Times, NowThis, People Magazine, The Daily Show, The Today Show, and Time Magazine. We have increased the storytelling capacity and public influence of 75+ grassroots organizations and our independent media tracker has shown a major shift in positive media coverage of clean energy through an equity lens, in communities of color, and in support of 100% renewable energy since our 2017 baseline report. In 2021, 20% of clean energy news coverage referenced communities of color, up from 2% in 2019, illuminating mainstream media’s recognition of the racial reckoning, and also due in part to TSP’s narrative strategies work.

100% Renewable Energy Commitments: 150,000+ advocates have advanced our "100% for 100%" (100% Renewable Energy for 100% of the people) agenda, messaging and transition maps, including the whole of the environmental movement, countless Democratic candidates at all levels, Republican mayors, and dozens of corporate CEOs.

We co-founded the 100% NGO Network (now the Just Solutions Collective) with the Sierra Club that grew to more than 100 organizational members moving 100% campaigns across the country. As a result of this shared direction, more than 170 cities and eight states or territories have already codified commitments to 100% clean energy, largely for electricity.