Ben Stanfield
December 06, 2023
Ben Stanfield @ Wren Climate, PBC

Introducing Wren's New Donor Community for Climate

 

Background

I'm Benjamin Stanfield, one of the founders of  Wren Climate . I founded Wren in 2019, with the simple goal of helping individuals, families, and business take real, effective climate aciton.

In the four years since, Wren has helped tens of thousands of individuals & families take climate action and leave a lasting, positive legacy on the planet.

 

Funding statistics

Now, we're looking to stretch the boundaries of what we can accomplish by finding philanthropists passionate about solving the climate crisis.  We're looking for donors willing to take big bets by funding projects that are pulling the most important levers of climate action.

Today, we're launching the tax-deductible  Wren Climate Collective   to do just that: fund the most ambitious, promising US climate non-profits that need capital to start and scale.

 

Introducing: The Wren Climate Collective

The Collective's goal is to provide Catalytic Grants , which we define as capital that is either first to reach a project, or the first to help a project scale. Philanthropy has a key advantage: It can move fast, and with few strings attached. This is exactly what is needed to fight climate change.

Once a quarter, our team of climate researchers crafts a portfolio of US non-profit climate projects to fund. We aim to provide crucial support at a project's nascent stage, helping it achieve initial success and open the floodgates for more philanthropic and institutional capital.

 

Focus areas

From our experience working with individuals and families for years, we know your time is valuable. So, the Collective is designed to be easy to contribute to, while still providing complete transparency with updates on how your donations are spent. You can be as involved as you like, but our goal is to provide you with the best "impact on autopilot" we can.

 

Maximizing donor dollars

Something else I've noticed while building Wren: Most non-profits and other initiatives are not efficient in how they collect donations. So, out of the gate, the Collective is supporting donations of non-cash assets, including stock, DAF grants, and more. This provides a dual tax savings opportunity, on both income tax and capital gains. Ultimately, acccepting non-cash, appreciated assets means more savings for you, and more money to projects.

We've even built a tool to help calculate the approximate savings on non-cash donations :

Wren Tax & Impact Calculator

 

Donate to the Wren Climate Collective this holiday season

A question I often ask donors: "Where are you on your climate journey?" Our donors come from all walks of life, and are at varying points on their own climate journeys. So, whether you're well aware, or just dipping your toes into the science and solutions of climate for the first time—we can help you take effective action.

If joining a donor community to fund climate solutions sounds interesting to you, and aligns with your philanthropic goals, you can donate now . Or, if you have questions about different ways to donate, or how the Collective works, please email me directly at  ben@wren.co .

 

 

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