What We Fund

The urgency of dealing with unsustainable consumption, the climate crisis, and their consequential impacts to our natural systems are the overall themes for the V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation. The complexity surrounding the impacts of climate change and scaling of our collective mitigation efforts are primary concerns.

We work primarily on international-level issues. When they support international learning tools and resources for meaningful action, we engage with a few national and place-based local projects.

We favor projects that:

consider all life equally important
use a systems approach to address root causes and achieve change
take stock of and tell the truth about the scale, complexity, and urgency of dealing with environmental problems
are based on original thinking, creative ideas, and experimentation
alter power dynamics related to decision-making and influence
have international significance and perspective, even if they are locally based

Our typical grantees are small or midsize organizations with demonstrated leadership in developing specialized strategies, communicating their vision, and effective project performance.

Applications are by invitation only. Currently, we only engage with projects that fall within one of the following four themes:

Cultural Resilience and Global Leadership under the Conditions of Environmental Breakdown

Development of systems-level responses to ecological, economic, and social stresses/destabilization/collapse
Furtherance of research related to our psychological and social capacities for dealing with serious climate change, tipping points, and the collapse of natural systems
Exploration of sociocultural transformations and strategic planning frameworks that can enhance mitigation under the conditions of environmental breakdown
Development of leadership tools and practices that can be widely and rapidly adopted under the conditions of environmental breakdown

Infrastructure and Communications Support to the Climate Movement

Support of young advocates to become future movement leaders
Network-building, coordination, and knowledge sharing across disciplines and movements
Tools to ensure the widest public communication and understanding of climate science

Petrochemicals and Climate

Analysis of data and auditing of life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions originating from the production of petrochemicals and the manufacturing of products from them

The Need for Governance of Climate Geoengineering

In addition, the foundation has a number of ongoing multiyear grants that relate to the urgent need for governance and legal frameworks related to research and deployment of climate geoengineering.

Your questions and concerns are important to us. If you have reviewed “What We Fund” and “Applying for Funding” and you still have questions, please email grants@vkrf.org or call 212-812-4271. Please note we cannot respond to commercial solicitations or to funding inquiries that clearly fall outside the foundation’s stated program areas.