Global Grants & Fiscal Sponsorships
Beyond our hunger and climate research and advocacy, our programs facilitate funding for other mission-aligned organizations, especially smaller groups working on the ground in their own communities.
Global Grants is our umbrella program that includes our direct grants, fiscal sponsorships & Plants-4-Hunger.
In 2023… we are thrilled to have distributed 260 grants to 163 grantees (117 in the U.S. and 46 internationally) totalling more than $1.6 million (coincidently about half in direct and Plants-4-Hunger grants and half in fiscal sponsorships).
Since 2009… we have distributed 3,000+ grants totalling $15+ million in 95 countries, with our combined admin and fundraising expenses always less than 5%!
Check out the full 2023 grants report with graphs.
ClimateVeg & PEACE
We have focused on the climate benefits of plant-based foods since the 2006 UN report, Livestock’s Long Shadow (even before we were a program-based organization).
Slowly but surely, environmental organizations and global institutions are finally taking more action in support of plant-based solutions to global hunger and climate change. In tandem, we continue to expand our advocacy to add momentum to this progress.
United Nations: We were thrilled to be a founding partner of the Food4Climate Pavilion organized by ProVeg International at COP27 (the annual UN-led climate conference) in 2022.
The expansion continued in 2023, including increased support of the Food@COP youth coalition, and we’ll expand further in 2024 with our leadership as co-chair of the Food and Climate Alliance and wider distribution of our Climate-Friendly Food Guide.
Thanks in part to this work, we were nominated for Prince William’s prestigious 2024 Earthshot Prize!
Stay tuned as these efforts are being consolidated under our new ClimateVeg umbrella, and we’ll be expanding our role as a funding hub with our Climate PEACE Initiative (Plant-Based Education and Advocacy for Climate & Earth).
GlobalGiving & Plants-4-Hunger
In 2023, we earned a donation platform on GlobalGiving, one of the most coveted and thoroughly vetted fundraising networks for nonprofits.
#GivingTuesday (our first fundraiser on GG) raised $11,000+ for Plants-4-Hunger and earned a $3,000 GlobalGiving match!
It’s always great to get outside funding, but we’re also using the platform as advocacy to teach about the harms of live farmed animal “gifting” and the wide-ranging destruction caused by meat, dairy, and egg programs in general.
Below are a few highlights from our Plants-4-Hunger grants supported by GlobalGiving and direct donations that expand plant-based feeding programs to replace animal-based farming in low-income countries.
Cool Beans!
We love veggies (obviously), but our preference is to support high protein foods that can be used as direct replacements for meat, dairy and eggs. So, it is with great enthusiasm that in 2023 we celebrated the United Nations World Pulses Day (February 10th) by launching the Planetary Pulse Project!
This collaboration with our long-time partners at Seed Programs International provided 33,310 packets of legume seeds to growers in need in five countries. Recipients included four schools in Zimbabwe, a hospital farm in Haiti, a community of Cameroonian refugees in Nigeria, two women farmers’ cooperatives in Uganda, and multiple community gardens in 14 U.S. states. Read the full report.
What’s next? Stay tuned as we collaborate with the Beans is How campaign to double global bean consumption by 2028.
Why Pulses? Pulses (which are the edible part of legumes) are an ideal protein source with thousands of varieties of beans, peas, and lentils that provide many benefits over animal-based protein sources. They are one of the world’s most nutritious, low-cost, and planet-friendly foods that can be grown on so-called marginal land, are extremely water efficient, and even regenerate soil. They are also climate-resilient and easy to implement since they are already a staple in traditional cuisines around the world.
Want to help? Our partners report that the success of this initiative has led to increased demand for legume seeds and they would love to scale up. If you’re a fan, we’re looking for sponsors and/or you can donate here.
Soy Microbusinesses
For individuals and communities to choose plant-based foods, they need access to sufficient options. That’s one reason why we’re such big proponents of “replacement” projects that provide superior, plant-based alternatives to animal-based foods.
Through our partners Malnutrition Matters, we’ve provided support for multiple soy-based micro-enterprises for women in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. We also support Plenty International’s Soy Nutrition Program that helps women provide soymilk and soy foods to children living in poverty in Guatemala.
Why Soy Microbusinesses? These business/nonprofit hybrid projects economically empower women through provision of soy processing equipment and training to produce affordable, nutrient-dense food in communities with high rates of malnutrition and poverty. The equipment, combined with entrepreneurial mentorship, generates sustained income and improved nutrition by turning locally grown soybeans into milk, tofu, yogurt, baked goods, and other foods. An important benefit of using an income-generating business model is that the recipients do not become dependent on donations after the initial investment.
Soy microbusinesses are much more affordable, flexible, sustainable, climate-friendly, and scalable than animal-based farming projects. The success of these projects demonstrates that soy-based foods improve community wellbeing and that this model is replicable within the current countries and in new countries.
Plant-Based Protein in Africa
Even organizations that aren’t plant-based are appreciating the power of plant-based solutions. In 2023, we worked with One Acre Fund (combined with generous funding from The Greenbaum Foundation) to help launch their innovative program providing texturized vegetable protein (TVP) as a meat replacement.
Why TVP? Receptivity to TVP as a replacement in previously meat-based meals was wildly positive, as the video below shows. Based on its popularity, One Acre Fund now plans to work with smallholder farmers in Rwanda to grow climate-resilient varieties of traditional beans and peas that can be used to create locally-grown TVP.
What’s Next? Our new partners at Tailored Food are similarly having great success collaborating with UNICEF (the United Nations Children’s Fund) to invest $19 million in Burundi on their plant-based business model. This collaboration constitutes an important intervention, as the project will now focus on using indigenous crops instead of moving forward with UNICEF’s original plan to spend $19 million creating chicken and rabbit farming projects. It’s a win-win-win for people, animals, and the environment.
Why is Africa Important? While its makes sense to focus efforts on transitioning away from animal-sourced foods in countries with high per person consumption (like the U.S. and Europe) and/or large populations (like China and India), the continent of Africa is composed of 54 countries and contains almost 1.5 billion people (expected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050). This large population, combined with increasing income and urbanization, is resulting in drastic per person and aggregate total increases in the consumption of animal-sourced foods.
African Livestock Revolution: This trend is known as the African Livestock Revolution (PDF). As we approach 2050, the euphemistically termed “Livestock Revolution” is predicted to slow in Asia and other developing countries, but increase in Africa. If left unchecked, African demand for meat is predicted to triple and demand for milk is predicted to double (2015-2050), forcing more national production, foreign imports, and vast global intensification with factory farms. To make matters worse, international aid agencies are notorious for promoting (and funding) increased animal consumption as the default hunger solution in Africa, so it’s imperative to have viable alternatives and expert plant-based proponents inside Africa making the case for their own country. Want More? Here’s our critique of the original 1999 Livestock Revolution.
We hope you enjoyed our 2023 highlights and are inspired to stay connected to help advance our shared mission to create a healthy, well-fed world with plant-based foods and farming for all. Immense thanks for all the financial support and the personal recommendations that earned us Great Nonprofit Status!
