Philanthropy’s 500/1500 Challenge Readout
From February to May 2024, Freedman Consulting’s What Works Plus (WW+) funder collaborative, in partnership with Invest in Our Future (IOF), led Philanthropy’s 500/1500 Challenge. The two-part Challenge was designed to track:
- 500 places: Philanthropically-funded education and awareness activities in cities, counties, regions, states, and tribal nations.
- 1500 projects: Philanthropically-funded efforts to help stand up and implement projects (e.g., technical assistance, gap/match funding, and workforce development).
The Challenge galvanized philanthropy to raise awareness about projects, increase coordination among key entities, and support communities across the country to learn about, access, and implement funds. Ultimately, the Challenge met and exceeded both of the goals by a wide margin, identifying 1,552 education and awareness activities in places across all 50 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico, and 1,888 efforts to stand up and implement projects.
In August 2024, WW+ and IOF released a readout, including highlights like:
- Analysis of key geographies and communities impacted by philanthropic investments,
- A spotlight on philanthropic and nonprofit organizations leading initiatives to increase awareness of federal climate and clean energy funding in places, and to help stand up federally funded projects, and
- Opportunities for the field to fill in resource gaps and ensure effective and equitable implementation.
Additionally, the Chronicle of Philanthropy uplifted this effort in their article “On Second Anniversary of Climate Bill, Funders Top Goals to Help Nonprofits,” available here.