The majority of people understand climate change as an environmental issue; however, in addition to its clear environmental effects, climate change is also a significant livelihood and development issue. As global temperatures rise, disrupted weather patterns and natural disasters will plague agricultural lands, disrupt important ecosystems and destroy the livelihoods of already vulnerable communities of developing countries. These effects will be most strongly felt among poor rural, forest-dwelling and/or indigenous population whose livelihoods depend on the degrading base of land and biodiversity.
Donors generally approach the topic of climate change through two avenues: climate change mitigation, or climate change adaption and project proposals typically need to address one or both of these issues:
Climate change mitigation: climate change mitigation refers to the human interventions to reduce the environmental impacts of climate change. Some climate change mitigation projects may work to prevent further temperature rise by changing the sources of greenhouse gas emissions, for example, through projects promoting renewable energy production. Some climate change mitigation projects instead aim to reduce the impact of climate change through reforestation activities.
Many donors are interested in funding climate change mitigation activities and oftentimes specify the actions they support under this category. For example, the Norwegian Climate Change and Forest Initiative (NICFI) only funds climate change mitigation projects focused on reforestation.
Climate change adaptation: climate change adaptation typically focuses on projects that reduce the threats of climate change on a community’s interests and livelihood. Many climate adaptation projects build the resilience of vulnerable communities to sea-level rise, droughts, etc.; such projects may be in agriculture, sustainable development, and infrastructure.
Donors who support climate change mitigation adaptation activities will state so in their calls for proposals and will oftentimes specify the specific actions they fund under this category. For example, the Rockefeller Foundation has a program that specifically funds adaptation projects that focus on building the resilience of agriculture in Africa.
Before approaching donors, NGOs need to carefully consider how climate change is addressed in their projects and whether their work falls in line with the donor’s funding interests. We have devoted a resource entirely to writing project proposals on climate change here. As a first step to finding potential funders for climate-related projects, NGOs should look for the donor agency’s specific interest in climate change mitigation or adaptation to determine if the donor’s interests match the work for which the NGO wants funding.
Once you have identified a list of potential donors whose funding interests fall in line with yours, it is important to reach out to them by email or phone, or by making an appointment to talk in-person or though Skype. Making contact with a potential donor will provide you with an opportunity to learn more about their interest, goals and strategies as well as a chance for them to know more about your NGO and project.
