Local Trust alongside some of the biggest names in charity funding have made a public commitment to play their part in tackling climate change.
The fifteen strong group includes some of the biggest names in UK philanthropy, who have put themselves forward to encourage action on climate change, including a commitment to public reporting on progress.
The Funder Commitment on Climate Change is being launched at the annual conference of the Association of Charitable Foundations, the trade body for UK charity funders, where climate change is a key theme. Current signatories are calling for other funders to join them in pledging their support.
Signatories include:
Arcadia (a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin), Barrow Cadbury Trust, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Frederick Mulder Foundation, Friends Provident Foundation, Gower St, JA Clark Trust, Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, Lankelly Chase Foundation, Local Trust, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Solberga Foundation, The Blagrave Trust, Thirty Percy and Zennström Philanthropies.
The Funder Commitment recognises that the growing climate emergency is a serious risk to the pursuit of charitable goals and that funders have a responsibility to ensure they are managing and distributing resources in a way that recognises and responds to this threat. The signatories include not just environmental funders, but also those focussed on local communities, the arts, and poverty.
All signatories must consider how their investments, operations and existing funding programmes can contribute to a fair and lasting transition to a post carbon society.
Moira Sinclair, Chief Executive, Paul Hamlyn Foundation said: “Increasingly, we feel we need to respond more to climate change, especially given our grant-making focus on young people, and the degree to which they see this as the defining challenge of their generation. We are already taking action in some areas, but in others we know that we have a long way to go, so we welcome the framework and stretch target that being a signatory to the Funder Commitment on Climate Change will create. Staff and trustee engagement will help as we shape our response, and we look forward to reporting on our progress next year.”
Matt Leach, Chief Executive of Local Trust, who deliver the National Lottery Community Funded Big Local programme across 150 areas in England, added: “As a place-based funder, we know the potential communities hold to overcome some of the biggest challenges of our time, of which climate change is indisputably one.
“By signing this commitment we’re recognising the part we must play in being a responsible funder, but also the role that communities can play in creating a more environmentally sustainable future and how we can support them to do so.”
Nick Perks, co-ordinator of the Funder Commitment, says that support for this initiative has been strong. “Like the British public as a whole, people in charity funders want to see bold, positive action on climate change. This Funder Commitment gives a framework for all funders, whatever their mission, to play their part. We hope that many more funders will sign up in the coming months”.
For further information or to add your organisation to the Funder Commitment on Climate Change visit fundercommitmentclimatechange.org.uk
ENDS
Notes for editors:
The 15 founding signatories of the Funder Commitment on Climate Change are: Arcadia (a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin), Barrow Cadbury Trust, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Frederick Mulder Foundation, Friends Provident Foundation, Gower St, JA Clark Trust, Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, Lankelly Chase Foundation, Local Trust, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Solberga Foundation, The Blagrave Trust, Thirty Percy and Zennström Philanthropies.
More signatories will be added over time.
The text of the Funder Commitment on Climate Change, and a current list of signatories, can be viewed at fundercommitmentclimatechange.org
For interviews or further comment Nick Perks, co-ordinator of the Funder Commitment on Climate Change, can be reached at contact@nickperks.org.uk or 07970 787699.