If you feel overwhelmed by the climate crisis and unsure where to begin, you’re not alone. Luckily, Groundswell Giving – and their new funding collective united in the fight against climate change – is here to help.
Former human rights campaigner-turned-environmentalist Arielle Gamble’s lightbulb moment came when she realised none of the work she was doing would matter if climate change continued unabated. It was after devouring the IPCC’s (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) 2018 special report on the impacts of global warming she had what she calls her ‘penny drop’ moment.
“Everything else I care about will be so exponentially harmed [given] what’s projected in terms of global human displacement, so how can we use the finite time we have to make the biggest difference? That was my tipping point to move into the climate area.”
Rather than just talk about it, she decided to take action and in 2018 she joined forces with friends and environmental activists Anna Rose and Clare Ainsworth-Herschell; and in 2020 they launched Groundswell Giving.
An organisation that connects people with solutions to those with resources, Groundswell raises and distributes funds to strategic high-impact climate action organisations around Australia, while educating and empowering its member funders to build future climate leaders and create a culture of climate action.
A concept that is commonplace in the US and UK, collective funding bodies dedicated to climate action are new to Australia.
“If we want change, we need to fund it,” says the team behind Groundswell Giving’s new Major Giving Circle.
What began as 200 members in 2020 has now expanded to 750 members, who have distributed over $2.8 million to 80 grassroots climate organisations and advocacy groups. Today, Groundswell has three different platforms. The Major Giving Circle asks people to donate $20/week which is pooled and distributed through two grant rounds a year. Any related organisation can apply for funding, and applications are short-listed by a rotating group of members with the guidance of two strategic advisors and two First Nations members.
“A big way we’ve always wanted to approach the way we give is to take members on a learning journey about how climate action works and make sure our members are the decision-makers,” says Arielle, Groundswell’s CEO.
“Together we review all applications, around 40 to 50, [apply] evaluation criteria, score the applications then through group discussion we decide who is on the shortlist and take that to the broader membership.”
All members vote and the winners get the grants.
Now in its third year, Groundswell’s second giving platform Caring for Country funds First Nations-led groups.
“One of the earliest feedback sessions we ran [concluded] that climate action is a very white concept in many ways and didn’t encompass the holistic nature of a First Nation’s approach to caring for country,” Arielle says.
Groundswell Giving’s co-founders Clare Herschell, Anna Rose and Arielle Gamble.
Groundswell director, Lille Madden, and Caring for Country grants manager, Tishiko King, appoint a rotating First Nations advisory committee that assesses applications and selects the successful grantees, including the Karrkad Kanjdji Trust, bringing together First Nations ranger groups, communities and philanthropists to address some of our nation’s most pressing issues – including regenerating our natural environment and taking action on climate change. It received a $10,000 grant in 2023.
The third giving platform, the Major Giving Circle, has just launched and is seeking 20 members to donate a minimum $50,000 to build a critical mass of $1 million to create high-impact climate interventions by year’s end. Groundswell already has 11 committed members including board directors Hannah Skrzynski and Anna Cerneaz, with a further seven very keen to join.
Alberts has committed to join the Major Giving Circle through The Tony Foundation, with Foundation director, Ingrid Albert, noting Alberts recognises climate change as a present and significant risk to our planet and society.
“While the Foundation’s core mission is to improve the lives of young people through music, we recognise a healthy planet is essential for their future prosperity, so it’s imperative we extend our support to more environmental organisations working to solve the world’s most pressing challenges to ensure they have a sustainable world to thrive in,” Ingrid says.
In addition to its giving circles, Groundswell’s mission is to educate leaders across business, philanthropy and culture through four-day immersions into climate justice, science and solutions, a program designed to combat the overwhelm felt by many, including people with philanthropic capacity.
“I’ve continually had the feedback, ‘I’m just not sure where to put funds’,” notes Arielle. “I see a lot of people not funding at all because they’re worried about doing the wrong thing; so, we were thinking about how to create that bridging mechanism and that’s what Groundswell does. We don’t all have to be experts, but we have access to this great expertise and can tap into the existing knowledge of the climate movement.”
Groundswell has attracted the guidance of some of the nation’s brightest and most respected scientific minds including director of Climate Energy Finance, Tim Buckley; leading climate strategist and incoming CEO of the Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network, Claire O’Rourke; and co-executive director of Australian Progress and founder of Seed Mob, the nation’s first Indigenous youth-led climate network, Amelia Telford.
“Big change is necessary and will happen whether we like it or not,” Arielle says.
“It can feel really lonely worrying about climate, the big challenges and the future ahead. But when a group of people gets together, funds together, dreams together, things are exceptionally more powerful, and that’s what we really want to do with this.”
If you’d like to be part of Groundswell Giving’s new Major Giving Circle, visit: www.groundswellgiving.org/major-giving-circle
