ATLANTA, GA (May 21, 2024) – On May 21, 2024, the third round of funding for Drawdown Georgia Climate Solutions & Equity Grants opens, bringing the total investment in climate initiatives that also seek to address entrenched inequities to $3 million. 

The grants are provided by a unique partnership between family foundations that have pooled funding to accelerate community-based climate solutions including composting, electric vehicles, energy efficiency improvements, food waste reduction, plant-based diets, and rooftop solar. Applications for up to five two-year grants of up to $100,000 per year are available; Letters of Introduction are due July 26th.

“The Drawdown Georgia theory of change is to lift up solutions which have the best opportunity to lower emissions while at the same time giving all Georgians access to the economic, environmental, and health benefits that can come from these efforts,” said John Lanier, executive director of the Ray C. Anderson Foundation, one of the five funders associated with the 2025-2026 grants cycle. Other funders include the Ghanta Family Foundation, the Reilly Family Fund, and the Wilbur and Hilda Glenn Family Foundation – all Georgia-based family funds.

Launched in 2022, the Climate Solutions & Equity Grants empower BIPOC communities across Georgia to grow partnerships and programs that bring those who are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate to the table to lead, and benefit from, outcomes like new jobs, neighborhood investments, environmental benefits and improved public health. 

Currently funded programs include delivering home repair, weatherization, and energy efficiency improvements, expanding workforce development; and building community leadership capacity through Neighborhood Advisory Boards in Athens; creation of a Climate-Smart Farmer Cohort in Southeast Georgia with a focus on conservation agriculture and rooftop solar; and upgrading and expanding a community compost lab while training residents of Atlanta’s Westside to engage their neighbors in composting and growing new urban growers.

The inaugural cohort of five grantees was announced in December 2022 for work to be completed in 2023-24, and the 2024-25 cohort was announced in November 2023. Grantees each received two-year grants of up to $100,000 per year. 

Drawdown Georgia is a statewide initiative working to scale climate solutions in Georgia in ways that reduce greenhouse gas emissions while advancing other societal priorities, including equity. The research underpinning the initiative identified 20 climate solutions that are ready to make a big impact in Georgia today and are tailored to our state’s unique natural, economic, and social resources. The Drawdown Georgia Climate Solutions + Equity Grants focus specifically on 10 of these solutions that best fit the capabilities, budgets, and social capital of the nonprofit organizations and networks that these grants support.

An expert panel of Georgia-based equity advisors will work with the funders throughout the application and judging process; Hermina Glass-Hill, Senior Field Representative, Oceana, and executive director of the Susie King Taylor Women's Institute and Ecology Center; Tamara Jones, Co-Executive Director, Clean Energy Works, and Eriqah Vincent, Consultant, Environment, Climate and Social Justice.

For more information about the Drawdown Georgia Climate Solutions & Equity Grant, visit www.drawdownga.org/grants.

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About Drawdown Georgia
Drawdown Georgia is a statewide research-based initiative launched in 2020 that was born from a multi-university collaboration, funded by the Ray C. Anderson Foundation. Taking inspiration from Project Drawdown®, the world’s leading resource for taking action on climate change, Drawdown Georgia localized that work by identifying the 20 highest-impact solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our state over the next decade. 

This framework focuses on climate solutions in five sectors: transportation, buildings & materials, food & agriculture, electricity, and land sinks. It considers how these solutions can reduce emissions and advance “beyond carbon” priorities, including equity, economic development, public health, and nurturing the larger environment. 

Drawdown Georgia has grown into a “leader-full” movement, bringing together many organizations, universities, companies, leaders, and funders who are working to advance climate solutions in Georgia, including members of the Drawdown Georgia Business Compact, Drawdown Georgia Congregations, and Drawdown Georgia Higher Education. Learn more at drawdownga.org