Waverley Street Foundation
ActivePhilanthropy & VoluntarismFunds Individuals
About Waverley Street Foundation
Waverley Street Foundation is a major climate-focused funder that channels very large gifts to intermediaries, coalitions and advocacy organizations to accelerate decarbonization, policy change, and equitable clean-energy deployment. They prioritize capacity-building, communications, and networks that amplify climate governance and community-centered climate solutions, often funding national and international initiatives from bases in California, DC and New York. Their grants favor pooled funds and fiscal sponsors as a way to scale campaigns and programmatic work rather than direct service delivery.
Focus Areas
Coalition-building and grantmaking intermediaries for climate philanthropy (e.g., pooled funds, donor-advised vehicles, and public foundations)Decarbonization and clean energy deployment (building decarbonization, tribal and community solar, clean energy pilots)Climate policy, governance and campaigns (national/international advocacy, Renew2030/ReNew projects, Clean Future Forum)Climate justice and frontline capacity-building (support for hubs, southern U.S. environmental justice groups, equitable procurement/Climate Corps)Strategic communications and storytelling for climate action (communications support, elevating climate narratives and campaigns)
About Waverley Street Foundation
Waverley Street Foundation’s largest recent gift in the data set is a $36,000,000 grant to Climate Imperative Foundation for general charitable purpose, a sign of how heavily the foundation relies on intermediaries to move climate capital at scale. The pattern continues across multiple years: it backs pooled funds, fiscal sponsors, and coalition vehicles that can channel resources into decarbonization, policy work, and climate justice organizing. Among the most visible recipients is Climate Imperative Foundation, which appears repeatedly with gifts of $18,000,000 in both 2024 and 2025, alongside earlier support at the $36,000,000 level. The foundation also funds organizations that translate climate goals into campaign infrastructure and deployment capacity. Clean Future Forum received $8,000,000 in 2023 and again in 2024, while Thousand Currents was awarded $20,000,000 in 2025 for general operating support after a $10,000,000 grant in 2024. Waverley Street Foundation’s grants commonly support the organizational platforms behind climate action rather than one-off local projects, with recurring funding for national and international initiatives.
What Waverley Street Foundation Funds
A major strand of Waverley Street Foundation’s giving is climate-policy infrastructure. The foundation gave $10,000,000 to Stichting European Climate Foundation in 2025 for the ReNew 2030 Project, and another $10,000,000 in 2024 for Renew2030 Project. It also funded Clean Future Forum with $8,000,000 in both 2023 and 2024 for general charitable purpose, showing sustained support for policy and campaign capacity. Community-level climate deployment is another focus. Grid Alternatives received $8,000,000 in 2024 and $8,000,000 in 2025 for the Tribal Solar Accelerator Fund, tying the foundation to tribal solar work. The foundation also backed California Volunteers Fund with $5,000,000 in 2025 for Climate Corps expansion. Communications and narrative work appear in the portfolio as well. Potential Energy Coalition Inc. received $7,000,000 in 2025 for communications support, while Earth Island Institute received $6,000,000 in 2024 for the Fossil FUEL Nonproliferation Treaty Initiative.
How Waverley Street Foundation Gives
Typical grants are large: the p25 size is $600,000, the median is $1,000,000, and the p75 is $2,100,000. The recent grant list also shows a heavy tail of very large awards, including multiple grants at $5,000,000, $7,000,000, $8,000,000, $10,000,000, $18,000,000, and $20,000,000. Recurring support is common, with several recipients appearing across multiple years and in some cases receiving repeated grants in consecutive years. Waverley Street Foundation is a regular funder, not a DAF, and it funds individuals. The pattern in the data favors operating support, general charitable purpose, and project support through intermediary organizations rather than direct-service grants.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$282.1M
Total Assets
$2.7B
Total Revenue
$290.1M
Total Expenses
$335.9M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $600K and $2.1M, with a median of $1M.
25th Percentile
$600K
Median
$1M
75th Percentile
$2.1M
Geographic Reach
National24 states funded
About 30% of grants go to recipients in CA.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
JARED BLUMENFELD
PRESIDENT
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Where Waverley Street Foundation Funds
Top 10 recipient countries by grant volume for Waverley Street Foundation.
| Rank | Country | Grants | Total | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United StatesDomestic | 265 | $601.4M | 84.4% |
| 2 | United Kingdom |
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