Our Genesis
In the summer of 2015, the increasing urgency and complexities of climate change prompted the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to commission a report to identify gaps in climate philanthropy efforts. The report found two major challenges.
Firstly, the incentives for funders and grantees heavily favored incremental work over transformative work. Not enough funders took leaps of faith with social innovators who proposed ideas with ambitious targets or unconventional approaches because those might be harder to measure, were outside the funder’s area of expertise, or were more likely to be met with skepticism by a board of trustees. In turn, grantees would propose and pursue only ideas they thought would align with what donors wanted. Secondly, only a small number of large funders accounted for a disproportionate share of climate philanthropy. And most of them were based in North America and Europe. This limited the diversity of people and ideas receiving philanthropic investment.
This was a call to action. We knew that if we were to confront the scale of climate change, philanthropy needed to adapt. We turned our attention to fields where institutions had long been systematically designed to foster large-scale ambition and transformation. We examined US government agencies such as DARPA and ARPA-E, known for their pursuit of breakthrough technologies. We also looked at the private sector’s ecosystem of angel investors, venture capital firms, incubators, and accelerators that existed to spur new business models.
Fueled by this vision, Packard partnered with the Oak Foundation and the Good Energies Foundation to create the Climate Strategies Accelerator. The mission was clear: build a philanthropic support system that gives leaders the resources, space, and trust to take risks, break conventions, and pursue ambitious climate goals.
In 2016, we began selecting individuals for the program. Two years later, we rebranded as “the Climate Breakthrough Project” with the program renamed the “Climate Breakthrough Award.” In 2023, we became “Climate Breakthrough.”
our Guiding values
1. Boldness and Ambition
Approach our mission with unapologetic boldness and the ambition to transform our world. We believe that the severity and urgency of the climate crisis and the hope of mitigating it necessitate nothing less than our most audacious effort to create impact. We are committed to courageously supporting bold ideas that others won’t for the chance of achieving breakthroughs.
2. Faith in People
Trust our people and their ingenuity, care, and power to effect change. We believe deeply in the power of individuals and strive to empower those in our community with the trust, transparency, and confidence to create their greatest impact. We seek always to engender mutual care, to meet people holistically with compassion and kindness to support their full lives.
3. Justice in Equity
The desire to make the world a better home for all is foundational to our mission. Unjust, extractive, inequitable, and oppressive systems have contributed directly and significantly to causing our current climate crisis and pose major barriers to solutions. We must be aware of these systems and deep roots of injustice in order not to exacerbate them and ultimately to work against them. We recognize that embedding a commitment to advancing justice and equity into the fabric of who we are requires long term commitment to growth and learning, continuous self-reflection, an understanding of power dynamics, a willingness to acknowledge the mistakes we will inevitably make, and a genuine pledge to build and maintain collaborative partnerships. This is a responsibility it is our privilege to commit to.
4. Openness and Flexibility
Maintain an open mind and flexible approach, and a firm belief that transformative solutions are possible. Every brilliant breakthrough was once considered an impossible dream. Doubt has killed more dreams—and strategies—than failure ever will. We choose hope. We are open to boundary pushing ideas and invest in potential. We believe flexible support grants people the freedom and confidence to do their best work. We trust in the vision of our awardees and our team and recognize that a breakthrough may lie at the end of a winding path.
5. Community of Trust
Steward a community of deep trust and collaboration. It is our great privilege to foster a global community where trust is the foundation of our relationships and actions. Our awardees, staff, board members, and partners come from a vast diversity of backgrounds and are pursuing a wide array of potential solutions to climate change. Our perspectives and beliefs are not and should not always be aligned. We embrace that diversity and engage each other with respect, curiosity, and faith in one another’s goodwill.
6. Failing Forward
Embrace the potential for failure with willingness, support, humility, and learning. We recognize that innovation and transformation are processes that include failure as an ingredient on the way to success and growth. We expect failures along the way and embrace their occurrence as opportunities for learning that increase the likelihood of future success. We celebrate trying.