Meet the Organizations Leading Change Through our Catalytic Climate Finance Program

Our grant partners are at the heart of The Russell Family Foundation’s (TRFF) mission, bringing their work to life in our communities. With their skills and assets, these dedicated partners are driving meaningful change in our communities, building a just and sustainable future. We are proud to support organizations that center and uplift vulnerable communities and workers, ensuring no one is left behind as the world addresses the urgent climate crisis. 

Through our Catalytic Climate Finance Program (CCF), we provide grants to several organizations that work to combat the climate crisis while bolstering marginalized communities. These organizations are advancing a just transition by cultivating clean energy, sustainable policy, and green infrastructure. Allocating grant capital is one part of our approach to advancing equitable climate solutions across all aspects of our work, which also includes investment, collaboration and convening. Meet our grant partners below. 

Advocating for Sustainable Policy

Two of TRFF’s grantees through CCF, Climate Interactive and Maritime Blue, are using grant funding to advocate for policy that motivates effective and equitable climate action. 

Climate Interactive

Climate Interactive develops and shares tools and resources to promote sustainable policy, engaging decision-makers who can take action on greenhouse gas emissions. Their programming aims to motivate policy makers, corporates, and foundations to focus on high-impact climate solutions that reduce emissions. 

For example, their Climate Ambassador program is used by hundreds to thousands of people every year to learn how to effectively engage decision-makers on climate solutions. Their Climate Solutions Events program and Insights Campaigns engage with policymakers directly to inform climate policy. Climate Interactive’s leading climate solution simulators, En-ROADS and C-ROADS, offer up-to-date information for decision-makers, facilitating high-leverage, high-impact climate policy and solutions. 

You can read our detailed case study on Climate Interactive here.

Washington Maritime Blue

Washington Maritime Blue is a strategic alliance advocating for innovation and sustainability in Washington by developing maritime business, technology, and practices that promote a sustainable future contributing to economic growth, ecological health, and thriving communities. This advances their goal of building a Blue Economy, in which ocean resources are used sustainably for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and ocean health. 

Washington Maritime Blue brings together industry, the public sector, research and training institutions, and community organizations, catalyzing its members towards a shared vision of a sustainable and equitable ocean industry. This is a national model for cluster organizing, where the various stakeholders invested in Washington’s maritime industry are collaborating to achieve common goals. 

Through collaboration with a global network of stakeholders, the organization leverages its experience to develop policy and locate funding for ocean-based climate solutions across industries. Funding from TRFF supports its Blue Ventures programs, which uplift maritime start-up companies, and helps facilitate overall operations.  

Advancing Green Energy

Ensuring that policy is not only developed but also implemented equitably is crucial to building a just transition. Three of our grantees, Clean Energy Transition Institute (CETI), Spark Northwest, and Emerald Cities Collaborative (ECC) are working to accelerate the clean energy transition in Washington while ensuring it is affordable and accessible to local communities. 

Clean Energy Transition Institute (CETI)

CETI provides holistic research on low-carbon pathways and strategies, working towards economy-wide decarbonization. Using infographics, reports, and interactive tools, CETI explains the complexities of the energy transition for a wider audience, supporting policy makers, businesses, utilities, advocates, and city, county, and state agencies as they work towards a sustainable future. 

CETI’s Community-Defined Decarbonization (CDD) project aims to understand the obstacles preventing Washington’s rural and Tribal low-income households from decarbonizing buildings and explore how clean energy could address energy inequality in these communities. Through qualitative and quantitative analysis, CETI found that advancing building decarbonization requires first addressing the inequities in Washington’s rural and Tribal housing sector and the energy burden faced by these communities, reiterating the importance of involving communities in decision-making around the energy transition.

Spark Northwest

Spark Northwest offers programming that creates access to affordable, locally controlled clean energy, as a crucial aspect to building an environmentally just society.  These programs promote community-level participation and equitable ownership, simultaneously reducing the energy burden and building wealth for marginalized communities. By continually evolving to meet community needs, Spark Northwest is facilitating energy democracy in the Pacific Northwest for local communities and organizations. 

For example, Spark Northwest’s Supporting Rural Communities program works with rural and low-income communities to increase their access to renewable energy and efficiency upgrades. Through 130 clean energy projects with farmers and rural business owners, Spark Northwest has helped reduce costs, increase self-sufficiency, and ensure that funding opportunities and resources are available to those disproportionately impacted by climate change. 

You can read our detailed case study on CETI and Spark Northwest here.

Emerald Cities Collaborative (ECC)

ECC facilitates cross-sector collaborations to help communities build sustainable, equitable, and democratic economies, prioritizing the needs of low-income and marginalized communities. In Washington, part of ECC’s work is focused on the weatherization aspect of a clean energy transition. Weatherization uses tools like insulation, moisture control, and air sealing to make a building more energy-efficient and protect it from the elements. Lack of weatherization increases the risk of poor indoor air quality and mold and mildew, which disproportionately impact vulnerable populations and create health issues like asthma. 

To combat these issues, ECC is supporting the Washington State Weatherization Plus Health program, which offers energy and cost-efficient weatherization improvements to low-income households. ECC works to expand the program’s capacity to serve communities to ensure that these improvements are reaching scale. Through collaborations with state agencies and other nonprofits, ECC identifies barriers to the implementation of these services and improves access to them. They also advocate for access to the health components of weatherization throughout Washington, improving the health of children and adults with asthma. 

To further support marginalized communities through an equitable energy transition, ECC pioneers career entry and pre-apprenticeship programs for women and people of color in the HVAC, solar, and electrical fields. These programs aim to close the diversity gap in these industries, creating access to clean energy jobs. 

You can read our detailed case study on ECC here.

CETI, Spark Northwest, and ECC tackle different aspects of the clean energy transition, using innovative solutions and strategies to create access to clean energy for all communities. These organizations engage with environmental organizations, community leaders, governments, and other stakeholders to build a sustainable and equitable clean energy future for Washington state. 

Empowering Communities

Achieving a just transition requires the voices and leadership of vulnerable communities to shape a sustainable future. The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ANTI) and VC Include are working to advocate for Tribal and Black representation, ensuring these communities play a central role in building an equitable path forward. 

Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI)

ATNI advocates for Tribal sovereignty and self-determination and represents 57 Northwest tribal governments. ATNI acts as an information-sharing platform, allowing tribal council members and tribal citizens to collaborate on solving communal issues. ATNI has over 20 committees and subcommittees, including several dedicated to Economic Development, Energy, Natural Resources and Land, and Climate

Resilience. These committees give tribes the space to share problems and resources, learn about emerging best practices, and develop policy positions.

AS ATNI expands, its work in Energy, Climate Change, and Natural Resources continues to grow. The organization ensures member Tribes are engaged and aware of climate change programs, serves as a coordinator for tribal and intertribal efforts, encourages participation and builds capacity to become leaders in climate policy, and supports member Tribes in securing funding to build tribal resilience against climate change. 

VC Include

VC Include accelerates investment into underrepresented venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) fund managers by creating access to capital for marginalized communities. Although over $82 trillion in alternative assets are under management, less than 2% are managed by women or people of color. VC Include combats this disparity in access to capital through two programs. 

VC Include’s Fellowship program supports emerging managers from diverse backgrounds, offering technical training, practical insights into the venture industry, and continuous support. The second program, the Climate Justice Initiative, offers capital to diverse-led funds with climate change solutions in their strategies. VC Include is working with a research institution to understand how climate change affects access to opportunities to start small businesses or build wealth. Using this research, they  hope to develop a framework for sustainable and equitable investments that create long-term benefits for marginalized communities. 

You can read our interview with Milton Spied, VC Include’s Executive Director here. 

The Role  of Funding in a Just Transition 

One of the core principles of our Catalytic Climate Finance program is to promote a just transition. By partnering with organizations that share these values by centering marginalized communities in their climate work, we are working to uphold our commitment to facilitating an equitable and sustainable future for all. 

For more information on all TRFF grantees, please browse all our grants here.