Empowering future generations: How funders can support young climate changemakers
By Aruna Bahia, Asimina Vergou, and Laura Evans from the Co-op Foundation and Daniel Newton and Eli Manderson from the Blagrave Trust
Trusting and funding young people is one of the most powerful ways to generate change when it comes to the climate emergency.
That’s why last month we joined forces as funders to run a collaborative workshop at the 2024 Association for Charitable Foundations (ACF) Leaders Forum focused on Climate and Nature Emergency.
Co-curated by us – Co-op Foundation and Blagrave Trust – the ‘Empowering Future Generations’ workshop brought together philanthropic leaders to discuss how funders can and should support young climate activists.
The session was inspired by our common strategic priorities, which have a strong focus on sustainability and supporting youth activism. We wanted to spark meaningful conversations on the challenges, opportunities, and collective actions funders can take to empower young climate leaders.
Before we get into what we learned from these conversations, here are some reflections from Eli, CEO of the Blagrave Trust:
“I often think about what it means for us as an organisation, as a team, as a sector and as individuals to be good ancestors for future generations. What it means to leave a better world behind than we inherited. Working with Co-op Foundation to co-design and deliver this session it felt clear that in the current reality of climate emergency we must use our positions to deliver our missions within the confines of our organisations. But, we also have our own unique position in society and call for greater collaboration and a release of much bigger resources to support and enable young people to create change in the climate arena.
“We used this event as a launch pad for further plotting to work in deeper partnership and to centre the needs of young changemakers seeking to change the course of climate breakdown and build a more hopeful future. We are at a pivotal moment in the story of humanity and I hope we can yet collectively become good ancestors to future generations. Business as usual will just not suffice.”
Keep reading to see what we learned through our collaborative workshop at ACF Leaders Forum and what funders can do right now to support youth-led climate action!
Challenges for funders supporting young climate activists
Funders identified several barriers to investing in youth-led climate initiatives:
Operational and Capacity Issues: Many funders lack the capacity to fully understand the climate justice movement. They also lack experience investing in young people and youth-led initiatives, as well as the processes and policies for funding individuals.
Governance Challenges: Many funders don’t have young trustees on boards, which can result in overlooking youth-led efforts. Also, collective decision-making and getting consensus can create barriers.
Attitudes and Perceptions: Some funders expressed concerns about trustees’ risk aversion and cultural biases, which create a disconnect between funders and young changemakers. Negative perceptions of young people as less capable or reliable contribute to this disconnect, despite clear evidence of youth leadership potential. Other funders said that they lack confidence about working with young people, including safeguarding.
Strategic priorities: Aligning funding with climate justice
We explored how funders can better integrate youth climate activism into our current strategic priorities. Here’s what we said:
Thematic Areas: Funders can embed climate justice work into existing strategic themes like mental health, housing, the arts, education, employability and community engagement.
Funding Approaches: Funders can use existing funding mechanisms they have to better support youth climate action – such as small grants, core, unrestricted, long term and place-based funding, participatory grantmaking and listening and learning from community.
Additional Support: Beyond financial resources, attendees highlighted the importance of intergenerational collaboration and creating spaces for young people to participate in decision-making, particularly at the board level. There’s a role for everyone – young people bring vision and action, while older people can bring wisdom and support. Funding care and wellbeing activities to avoid burnout of the young changemakers is also important.
Collaborative action: Breaking down barriers together
Key ideas from our discussions on how funder collaboration can support young climate changemakers more effectively:
Partnerships and Collective Action: Funders suggested pooled funding models where organisations contribute to shared funds. Pooling resources reduces individual risk and amplifies collective impact.
Knowledge Sharing: Attendees agreed that funders should share knowledge and resources across sectors through existing funder networks.
Addressing Risk: Risk is a major barrier, but funders can collectively de-risk youth-led initiatives through shared learning, trustee education, and pooled funding pots. By working together, funders can create a safer environment for investing in youth-led movements.
Developing guidance and policies: Attendees ended the session with a proposal to develop a charter that funders could adopt to support youth-led initiatives. This could include advocating for policy changes within the Charity Commission to enable more flexible, youth-centred funding models and provide relevant guidance to funders.
Moving forward: What funders can do right now
Here are the steps funders can take right now to move beyond a conversation, to start supporting youth-led climate action:
- Join a Pooled Fund: We invite funders to join us in exploring a pooled fund to support youth-led climate initiatives. Email Daniel@blagravetrust.org to express your interest.
- Seek Expert Guidance: Organisations like Impatience Earth offer guidance for funders looking to develop youth-centred climate funding strategies.
- Join the Environmental Funders Network (EFN): By becoming members of EFN, you can engage in a community dedicated to systemic environmental change, sharing best practices and data.
- Invest in the Youth Climate Justice Fund: By deciding to contribute to this fund – designed and delivered by young people for young people – funders can start their journey in this space, supporting and learning from young people in an authentic way.
- Sign the Funder Commitment on Climate Change: By signing this commitment, funders can align their grantmaking and internal operations with the urgency of the climate crisis.
- Participate in NPC’s Everyone’s Environment Programme: This initiative encourages collaboration on environmental issues through an inclusive lens that ensures climate action benefits all communities.
- Reflect on your role: We encourage funders to take time for internal reflection. What part can your foundation play in addressing the climate and nature emergencies? This involves evaluating existing funding strategies, governance structures, and opportunities for growth in supporting youth-led climate action.
Want to continue the conversation? Contact us!
Aruna Bahia aruna.bahia@coop.co.uk
Daniel Newton Daniel@blagravetrust.org