Climate Philanthropy Catalyst Coalition (CPCC): Grantee Spotlight (Q2 2026)

Grantee spotlight: Climate Philanthropy Catalyst Coalition (CPCC)

The Giving Green Fund plans to award a grant of $50,000 to the Climate Philanthropy Catalyst Coalition (CPCC), a U.S.-based peer network of foundations, philanthropic advisory firms, and philanthropy networks working to grow the pool of climate philanthropy in the United States. This grant provides general operating support.

CPCC’s work sits outside of our core philanthropic strategies and is funded through our Discretionary Grants program, which supports high-impact work that does not align neatly with any of Giving Green’s prioritized strategies. 

Last updated: May 2026

What Is CPCC?

Founded in 2024, CPCC is a U.S.-based coalition focused on growing climate philanthropy. Its mission is to radically increase the amount of climate philanthropy provided by U.S. foundations, family offices, and individuals, with an initial target of tripling U.S. climate giving by 2028. CPCC pays particular attention to under-leveraged solutions, historically disadvantaged communities, and geographies facing the worst climate impacts.

The coalition operates as a peer network for philanthropic intermediaries—foundations, advisory firms, and philanthropy networks that are already actively catalyzing climate giving. While there are different types of coalitions in climate philanthropy, we think that CPCC is unique in its focus on increasing the total funding pie, coordination of different types of organizations, and ability to form meaningful partnerships. CPCC is led by Randall Kempner, who previously ran the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation, served as Senior Advisor at the Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Program, and was the founding executive director of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs.

What Are We Funding, and How Could It Help Address Climate Change?

This grant provides general operating support for CPCC’s core activities, which include:

• Convening its members to strategize and form partnerships
• Hosting and participating in events for the greater philanthropic community
• Actively connecting actors in the philanthropy space to move money to impactful causes

CPCC’s activities do not map directly to a specific climate intervention, but instead work to increase the overall amount of money in climate philanthropy. Climate philanthropy is less than 2% of total philanthropy globally—in the U.S., that translates to roughly $2 billion per year—and that share has not meaningfully grown despite the escalating urgency of the problem. If CPCC succeeds in shifting even a small fraction of overall U.S. philanthropic giving toward climate, the resulting flow of new dollars would exceed the size of this grant by orders of magnitude.  

CPCC is a small and new organization, and its anchor funder (which completely funded the organization in 2025) was unable to renew its funding due to internal restructuring. Therefore, we think a small grant at this juncture is meaningful for ensuring the survival of the organization. Giving Green is a member of the organization, and is one of 5 members who are stepping in to cover the funding gap. 

This grant also comes with clear uncertainties. CPCC is young (founded in 2024), and the empirical case that peer networks of philanthropic advisors can shift significant new dollars toward climate has not yet been established. We do not have a strong way to attribute future increases in climate giving to CPCC’s specific activities. We think the size of the potential upside justifies a modest discretionary bet.

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Why Do We Think CPCC Will Use This Funding Well?

We are confident in the team and are impressed with their track record so far. Randall Kempner has a strong network and track record of building philanthropic infrastructure. CPCC has established an initial membership of several influential actors in climate philanthropy, and has directly created a number of productive partnerships. CPCC is a lean organization with a small budget (one full-time equivalent of staffing, $250,000 total budget), and we think that our grant can therefore be particularly meaningful. 

Giving Green believes that additional climate donations are likely to be most impactful when directed to our Top Climate Nonprofits. For several reasons, we may choose to recommend grants to other organizations for work that we believe is at least as impactful as grants to our top recommendations. We are highlighting this grant to offer transparency to donors to the Giving Green Fund, as well as to provide a resource for donors who are particularly interested in this impact strategy. This is a nonpartisan analysis (study or research) and is provided for educational purposes.