Philanthropisms

Emily Teitsworth: Trust, Risk & Supporting Community-Led Climate Initiatives

• Rhodri Davies • Season 1 • Episode 109

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In this episode we talk to Emily Teitsworth, Executive Director of the Honnold Foundation (the nonprofit set up by world-famous climber Alex Honnold), about trust, risk and the foundation's work supporting community-led climate work and low-cost solar projects. Including:

  • How did the Honnold Foundation come about, and what is the organisation’s core focus ?
  • How and why was low cost solar energy chosen as an intervention? What makes this so effective?
  • What is the foundation’s operating model and where do its funds come from?
  • Has it helped to have a high-profile founder in Alex Honnold? How does his involvement in the foundation work?
  • Why is so little philanthropy currently aimed at climate issues? 
  • Do we need to stop seeing climate as a “cause area” and see it instead as a cross-cutting issue that affects all funders and civil society orgs?
  • Is it a challenge for climate philanthropy that the needs of the planet are often framed as in competition with those of people? How can climate funders overcome this?
  • What kind of due diligence do donors need to do on charities in order to fund them in a trust-based way?
  • Can funding from donors/foundations confer legitimacy on grassroots orgs as well as financial resources? Is this useful for them?
  • Is scaling about helping individual organisations to get bigger, or about growing the overall ecosystem?
  • How can funders design impact measurement approaches with their grantees to ensure they are genuinely empowering and beneficial rather than imposing a new burden?
  • Do we need a better narrative about what it means to “fail” and to “succeed” in philanthropy?
  • Does Alex Honnold’s background as a climber gives him a unique understanding of risk, and how does this play into the work of the foundation?
  • What role does storytelling and narrative have to play in addressing climate concerns? How is this reflected in Honnold Foundation’s approach? 
  • Is the current political moment posing challenges for organisations focussed on climate?

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