Less than 2% of all charitable giving goes to efforts to solve the twin crises that the world currently faces - biodiversity loss and climate change. And just a fraction of those dollars reach on-the-ground projects and communities on the frontlines.
One Earth is on a mission to change this.
Our mission is to rapidly scale climate philanthropy by democratizing access to innovative and impactful climate solution projects around the world, enabling donors at all levels to contribute directly to communities and grassroots leaders who are driving change from the ground up, but who are largely under-resourced and unseen.
The One Earth Project Marketplace is a first-of-its-kind global database of vetted, place-based projects, organized by our bioregional framework and categorized by the three pillars of action to solve the climate crisis: transitioning to 100% renewable energy, protecting and restoring 50% of nature, and shifting to regenerative agriculture. Our interactive navigator platform allows donors to quickly view, search, and donate to a diverse selection of impactful climate solutions in every part of the world.
One hundred percent of online donations go to the selected project.
Projects are sourced from a global network of trusted partners and vetted by the One Earth team, which has many decades of collective experience in environmental grantmaking, communications, and fundraising. One Earth is deeply committed to working in partnership with grassroots, community-driven partners because we believe that supporting change from the ground up is key to solving the climate crisis.
On-the-ground climate solutions are key to solving the climate crisis, but they’re critically underfunded. The traditional models of conservation and philanthropy are simply not working fast enough to properly address the environmental issues that we face today.
So, we set out to reimagine both.
Reimagining Conservation
We first posed the question, "If nature drew a map of the world, what would it look like?" We’ve grown accustomed to seeing the world divided into countries, but there is another way to see and better understand the planet we call home. in 2020, One Earth developed and launched a novel biogeographical framework called Bioregions 2020, which divides the world into 185 unique bioregions defined by ecological boundaries rather than economic or political boundaries. The bioregions can be explored on our interactive navigator sphere of the Earth.
Bioregions 2020 provides a framework to support more holistic and effective conservation efforts that bypass country lines and focus on groups of interrelated ecosystems and biodiversity.
Reimagining Philanthropy
At One Earth, we believe that everyone can be a philanthropist and play a crucial role in solving climate change. In an effort to rapidly scale climate philanthropy and drive those dollars to where they are most effective, and make funding climate solutions more accessible to the average person, we launched the Project Marketplace database, a crowdfunding platform that disrupts the traditional philanthropy model by enabling individuals and donors at all levels to directly support specific climate solutions projects (versus organizations).
The database filters allow donors to search projects by category, region, funding level, status, partner organization, and more.
Integrating the Tools
Earlier this year, we launched an upgraded version of the One Earth Navigator. This new version of the interactive sphere seamlessly integrates the bioregion 2020 framework and the project market database into one simple-to-use tool. The blue pins on the sphere represent climate solution projects in need of funding. You can quickly search through the 100+ project database using the filter dropdown in the side panel. Click on the title of the project in the side panel or the blue pin on the sphere to read more and donate directly to support the project.
To explore the bioregions and ecoregions in more depth—including local biodiversity features, protected areas, overarching threats, priority conservation actions, and iconic species—simply click the toggle button to update the side panel.
At One Earth, we are committed to catalyzing a new resource paradigm—it’s an opportunity we cannot afford to miss. We call our unique approach to climate philanthropy philanthro-activism. Guided by the science of a 1.5°C pathway, philanthro-activism directs the resources of philanthropy to the activism of the communities on the frontlines of climate change.
Through the Project Marketplace, we are democratizing philanthropy and driving dollars to critically underfunded climate solution projects on every continent.
The solutions to the climate crisis already exist, and there are millions of changemakers and everyday heroes around the globe working to protect Earth’s biodiversity and stabilize our global climate system.
All they need is your support.
One Earth is committed to generating opportunities for all Marketplace projects. We actively engage major donors, corporate partners, and the general public to help get the projects funded. The One Earth team works collaboratively with our partners to create clear, inspiring storytelling assets that help to communicate the desired outcomes and long-term vision of their projects.
This includes producing short-form videos designed for social media to tell a quick but compelling story of the project, encouraging viewers to want to learn more. These videos have quickly become pivotal assets in introducing new audiences and potential donors to the amazing work of the projects. The One Earth team produces these videos in-house in various formats (including vertical, landscape, text over video, voice-over, and more) so that they can be utilized by our partners across multiple social media platforms.
All Marketplace projects are showcased across One Earth’s digital ecosystem, including our websites, social media channels, newsletters, and through exclusive events. Our goal is to help our partners reach a broader audience of potential climate funders.
To date, One Earth has facilitated $1.7 million in grants to 35 Marketplace projects, providing direct funding to critical climate solutions and conservation projects. Our Interactive Navigator features over 100+ climate solution projects from 72 partner organizations in 42 countries. We’ve produced 50+ video assets showcasing projects in the Project Marketplace. The Navigator also features 185 unique bioregion profiles and 844 ecoregion pages, contributed by our network of leading biodiversity scientists and world experts in conservation.
