Your paycheck just hit the bank, and you have some extra money to spend this month. Or maybe it’s the festive holiday season—the season of giving, and you want to donate to an environmental charity on behalf of friends and family. Or perhaps you just purchased airfare and want to offset your trip’s emissions.
Regardless, donating to environmental charities is a profound way to contribute to the climate action movement. Whether you live a sustainable lifestyle or not, you can make a difference with your money.
You may have heard of the well-known green charities like Greenpeace Fund, Environmental Working Group, Giving Green, Rainforest Alliance, Natural Resources Defense Council, The Wildlife Trust, and others. However, if you’re new to green giving, you might not know which organizations have a track record for making the most of their endowments.
Below, we outline a list of the best environmental charities doing critical work for our planet—any of whom would be a worthy beneficiary of your hard-earned funds. From giving to indigenous land trusts to investing in ocean conservation to supporting sustainable business ideas, this list has something for every environmentalist.
#1 Crypto Climate Accord
The Crypto Climate Accord is a forward-thinking, decarbonization-focused organization fighting to make the cryptocurrency industry climate-neutral in record time.
Primarily, it seeks to give crypto stakeholders the tools they need to provide crypto miners, exchange platforms, and investors the means to:
- Calculate the energy use and greenhouse gas impacts of various cryptocurrencies
- Digitize renewables and carbon offset exchanges
- Provide and seek proof of green operations verification
This is one of the few climate charities doing critical work in a brand new sector, teaming up with experts and crypto newcomers to keep new currencies sustainable.
#2 Planet Impact Fund
The organization 1% For The Planet has created avenues for sustainable investment since 2002. Their Planet Impact Fund serves two crucial purposes:
- Resourcing nonprofit organizations working to address the most urgent environmental issues
- Powering investments in a sustainable, healthy world
Funds donated to the Planet Impact Fund reach a variety of environmentalist causes, including:
- Climate action
- Environmental justice
- Conservation efforts
- Clean energy technologies, advancement, and innovation
When you contribute to the Planet Impact Fund, 1% For The Planet directs your tax-deductible donation to climate-focused investment products. As these investments grow, the Fund allocates the profits to various grants and delivers them to nonprofit organizations making significant environmental impacts.
#3 1t.org
Among all the climate change charities listed here, 1t.org embodies the roots of the environmentalist movement: its mission is to conserve, restore, and plant trees worldwide.
To accomplish this, they focus on three efforts:
- Mobilizing the private sector to monetarily and social invest in climate action
- Facilitating partnerships between workers, organizations, and world governments
- Supporting green innovators and entrepreneurs in developing their sustainable systems to scale
With help from donors, peer organizations, and environmental stakeholders, 1t.org aims to conserve, restore, and grow 1 trillion trees by 2030.
#4 Project Drawdown
Project Drawdown is a world leader in climate-focused sustainable innovation, knowledge, and action strategies. It builds evidence-based resources to help governments, individuals, and other entities reach the drawdown—the threshold when emissions begin to decline instead of steadily increasing.
The organization provides climate action implementation resources for numerous sectors, including:
- Electricity and energy
- Food, agriculture, and land use
- Transportation
- Industry and manufacturing
- Buildings and construction
- Education
- Habitat and resource sinks such as:
- Land sinks
- Coastal and ocean sinks
- Engineered sinks
Because Project Drawdown views climate change as a global issue demanding global action, its resources are available to people worldwide.
#5 Founders Pledge
Founders Pledge is an environmentalist organization connecting climate innovators and sustainable entrepreneurs with four essential resources:
- Funding
- Investment infrastructure
- A network of climate professionals with whom to consult
- Evidence-based environmental knowledge and data
But the organization’s information isn’t just available to innovators seeking funding—anyone can access its knowledge base to get educated on the climate crisis, current climate solutions, and evidence-based approaches to environmental action.
Founders Pledge has facilitated the investment of over $770 million since its inception, and 100% of all donated funds are sent to climate projects.
#6 Cool Earth
Cool Earth is a nonprofit organization leveraging one of the most important resources we have to fight climate change: Indigenous peoples’ intimate, firsthand knowledge of land stewardship, nature conservancy, and environmental protection.
As one of the numerous green charities empowering Indigenous communities worldwide, Cool Earth seeks to plant and protect trees, initiate projects that help Indigenous peoples protect their homelands, and capture carbon.
So far, the organization has:
- Planted over 100 million trees
- Powered 40 Indigenous-centered projects
- Stored 117 million tons of carbon emissions
#7 Indigenous Land Trusts
Like Cool Earth, Indigenous land trust organizations understand and seek to promote the centuries-long cultural connection between Indigenous peoples and their land stewardship methods.
Numerous types of land trust organizations exist, and they fall into one of two categories:
- Entities that support specific tribes
- Organizations that connect tribes with resources, information, and financial support
One such organization is the Amah Mutsun Land Trust. It connects the Amah Mutsun tribe in the North American West with the resources they need to restore their role as environmental protectors and stewards.
While the organization relies on monetary resources to operate, members also promote:
- Reinvigoration of Indigenous culture within Native communities
- Restoration of traditional ecological knowledge and land protection practices
- Recovery resources for intergenerational trauma, which can adversely impact land stewardship capabilities
#8 Ocean Conservancy
Ocean Conservancy is one of the most well-known charities for environmental action. They support marine conservation, advocacy, and education, fighting the biggest threats to the world’s oceans through evidence-based, science-endorsed solutions.
As a broad-scale organization with a long track record for building conservation solutions at scale, Ocean Conservancy steers financial resources, professional expertise, and its devoted cadre of volunteers toward seven major projects:
- Confronting Climate Change
- Government Relations
- Protecting Florida
- Protecting the Arctic
- Smart Ocean Planning
- Sustainable Fisheries
- Trash Free Seas
Each of these initiatives operates at the intersection of marine health, climate action, and human relationships with the natural world.
Because of their focus on empirical, science-driven solutions, Ocean Conservancy projects have engendered milestone results, including policy changes, plastic pollution mitigation, and significant upticks in public awareness, environmental concern, and response.
#9 Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide
Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide or ELAW is a collective of attorneys, climate advocates, and scientists. Their mission is to empower everyday people and world leaders alike with the empirical evidence they need to advocate for environmentalist policies in a legal setting.
ELAW was founded in 1989 in North America by a team of lawyers representing ten different countries around the globe. Using a combination of strategic counsel, legal support, and scientific information, they pressure decision-makers to push forward climate-progressive policies in their home countries and beyond.
Today, donations made to ELAW are used to:
- Connect attorneys, environmental advocates, and scientists who are working to ensure climate policies accord with sustainability goals
- Provide legal resources to organizations devoted to environmental justice and stewardship
- Subsidize educational initiatives like research fellowships, webinars, and online panels
- Ensure environmental advocates and lawyers are protected while pursuing policy change through legal action
#10 Community Forests International
Community Forests International works to connect sustainability initiatives in three forest ecosystems in geographically disparate states: Canada, Mozambique, and Zanzibar.
This organization is dedicated to pursuing “natural climate solutions.” Experts and advocates from each nation share three main goals:
- Restore and protect regional forests and wildlife
- Help communities adapt and adjust to the impacts of climate change and global warming
- Develop local economies centered around sustainable problem-solving
Since its inception in 2006, the ecological organization has protected over 3,000 acres of forestland, developed 375 acres of agroforests, and planted 3.2 million trees.
Above all, Community Forests International seeks to bridge the gap between economics and environmentalism. From their perspective, true climate action isn’t solely about preserving the biosphere—it’s about creating tangible opportunities so its inhabitants can thrive.
#11 Clean Air Task Force
Named one of the most cost-effective environmental organizations by Founders Pledge, the Clean Air Task Force has one mission: to reduce air pollution by decarbonizing global energy systems by 2050.
The CATF is governed by a summit of scientists, engineers, lawyers, business, and policy experts. Together, they’re focused on reducing impact in four key sectors:
- Electricity
- Transportation
- Industry
- Infrastructure
CATF proposes various solutions to change global infrastructure from the ground up, ranging from eradicating obstacles to clean energy access to developing research in nuclear technology. A donation to this organization is an investment in developing a panoply of solutions to unique global ecological challenges.
Aspiration: Integrating Climate Action and Money Management
This list of the best charities for environmental impact represents a community of organizations far and wide, large and small, and young and old, who are working in tandem towards a cleaner, greener future.
As part of our mission, Aspiration is proud to support several organizations above. We do our own to support each facet of climate progress, from helping members offset their carbon emissions at the gas pump to managing sustainable investment portfolios.
Whatever cause you want to put your dollar towards, we’re here to help you navigate the complexities of eco-friendly personal finance. To learn more about what a climate-forward approach to managing your money looks like, explore Aspiration’s sustainable financial services today. From an eco-friendly debit card to a sustainable investment fund, we make it easy for you to put your money where your values are.
Sources:
Crypto Climate Accord. POWERING CRYPTO WITH 100% RENEWABLES. https://cryptoclimate.org/solutions/
1% For The Planet. Planet Impact Fund. https://onepercentfortheplanet.org/planet-impact-fund?hsLang=en
1t.org. Our mission. https://www.1t.org/about-us
Project Drawdown. Programs. https://drawdown.org/programs
Founders Pledge. Our Approach. https://founderspledge.com/high-impact-giving
Cool Earth. Act Now. https://www.coolearth.org/act-now/
Amah Mutsun Land Trust. The Native Stewardship Corps. https://www.amahmutsunlandtrust.org/native-stewardship-corps
Ocean Conservancy. Programs. https://oceanconservancy.org/programs/
Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide. Mission and History. https://elaw.org/about
Community Forests International. What We Do. https://forestsinternational.org/homepage/about/what-we-do/
Founders Pledge. Climate Change Cause Area Report. https://founderspledge.com/research/fp-climate-change
Clean Air Task Force. Join Us. catf.us/join/
