Our Vetting Process For Platform Nonprofits

Our current list of environmental nonprofit beneficiaries represents both established and grassroots organizations across a variety of impact areas. This provides a balanced mix of influence, impact, and innovative solutions to solving the climate crisis, the biodiversity crisis, the waste crisis, and addressing the health of our communities. Our methodology leverages existing evaluation tools, studies, scientific research, and publicly available information, such as 990’s and information from a nonprofit’s website. We also factor in qualitative research from our own observations in the field, and conversations with the nonprofits themselves.

We set a high bar, looking for integrity, proven solutions, innovative ideas, and real impact from a global scale to the local level, because it’s all important. Determining impact is an art and a science, and we will continually evolve our approach. At the end of the day, we aim to curate a well-thought-out, manageable selection of high impact orgs so that you can feel good about supporting them.

Some Basics

Organizations must be registered as 501(c)(3) US charities in good standing, or fiscally sponsored projects of a 501(c)(3) US charity.

Must be dedicated to Environmental issues and Climate Change.

We look to have coverage across a spectrum of Cause Areas: Climate Change, Climate Justice, Land & Forests, Water & Oceans, Wildlife & Endangered Species, Clean Energy, Science & Research, Plastics, Food Systems, Education & Advocacy, and Communities.

Evaluators

We use industry leading charity evaluators and databases like Charity Navigator, CharityWatch, and GuideStar to leverage the due diligence they conduct on an organization’s transparency, accountability, governance, and financial efficiency, when available. We look for ratings in the top two evaluation tiers: Charity Navigator: 3-4 stars, CharityWatch: B+-A+, GuideStar: Platinum/Gold.

Additionally, we look to a newer crop of evaluators doing deeper dives on cause areas, like Giving Green, which specifically evaluates climate-focused nonprofits. Founders Pledge uses methodology keenly focused on impact, effectiveness, and outcomes, and their deeply researched studies inform our list.

The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of the UN) reports are foundational scientific studies that help guide the focus and urgency of our work.

The Science & Solutions

We use Project Drawdown’s comprehensive research on climate solutions, and seek organizations working on these innovative solutions to sequester and/or reduce greenhouse gas emissions, particularly through nature-based methods.

Focused on grassroots solutions, the Soil to Sky: Climate Solutions That Work report highlights the need to fund community-led initiatives that reduce emissions, create economic empowerment, advance public health, and improve human rights.

Community Consensus

We look for good people doing good things for their communities, nature, and wildlife, led by passion, integrity, curiosity, and fairness.

We tap into the knowledge base of our environmental and climate networks across sectors, whose collective experience in frontline work, coalition building, education, business, activism, and public policy provide insight beyond the data.

An open invitation to you, and our Gen E Community: if you know of an amazing, impactful environmental nonprofit that could use support from the Gen E Community, pitch us on why you think they should be on our platform.