Waverly Street Foundation

What Waverly Street Foundation does

Waverley Street Foundation is a private spend-down foundation established in 2020 with a $3.5 billion endowment dedicated to community-led climate solutions. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, the foundation deploys capital through grants, impact investments, and convenings to support climate work in food systems, clean energy, land stewardship, and environmental justice — with geographic focus on the US (particularly California, Arizona, and New Mexico), Indonesia, India, Brazil, and Mexico. In 2024 alone, the foundation approved over $330 million in grants to nearly 100 organizations and catalyzed an additional $1.7 billion in follow-on funding from other funders.

The foundation's business model is endowment deployment rather than commercial revenue generation. It commits to spending its entire endowment by 2035, operating on a compressed timeframe relative to perpetual foundations. Its core "product" is grant capital paired with convening power (e.g., 225 leaders from 22 countries gathered in Mexico City in 2024) and narrative support through storytelling and learning resources. The foundation supplements traditional grantmaking with impact investing (led by Peter Kelly, formerly of Goldman Sachs Asset Management) designed to earn financial returns while funding climate solutions.

The foundation is led by Interim President Anne Marie Burgoyne (formerly Managing Director of Philanthropy at Emerson Collective), with a senior team drawn from Emerson Collective, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Tides, and other major philanthropic institutions. Notable grantee partners include Potential Energy Coalition (Science Moms campaign with 3 billion video views), Nusantara Fund (Indigenous-led funding in Indonesia), SELCO Foundation (solar energy in India), and the Tribal Solar Accelerator Fund (65+ US tribal partnerships).

Name

Waverly Street Foundation

Legal name

Waverley Street Foundation LLC

Website

https://waverleystreet.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Waverley Street Foundation is a Palo Alto-based private spend-down foundation with a $3.5 billion endowment, deploying capital through grants and convenings to support community-led climate solutions across the US, Indonesia, India, Brazil, and Mexico through 2035.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Climate Philanthropy

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Environment, Conservation and Wildlife Organizations (813312)

akta.pro primary industry

Environmental & Climate Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Private Foundations (BPAGAKAA), Grantmaking & Philanthropic Funds (Institutional Donors) (BPADAOAB)

Keywords

• Climate philanthropy grants
• Community-led climate solutions
• Regenerative agriculture funding
• Renewable energy access grants
• Environmental justice philanthropy

Headquarters

HQ city

Palo Alto

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Grantmaking/Spend-down Foundation: Waverley Street Foundation is a spend-down foundation that deploys its endowment through grants to community-led climate organizations. The foundation plans to dedicate the entirety of its endowment (currently over $3 billion) by 2035 to champion groundbreaking work being done in communities across the globe. Revenue is generated from the foundation's endowment, not from commercial products or services.

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Waverley Street Foundation is a private spend-down foundation that deploys a roughly $3.5 billion endowment through grants, impact investments, and convenings in support of community-led climate solutions. It funds nonprofits working on regenerative agriculture, clean energy access, land stewardship, and environmental justice across the United States, Indonesia, India, Brazil, and Mexico, with the entire endowment planned to be deployed by 2035. The foundation does not sell commercial products or services; its "offerings" are grant funding, capacity building, narrative support, and grantee convenings delivered through an internal team.

Product overview

Waverly Street Foundation is a philanthropic organization, not a product company. It does not offer products or services for sale. The foundation's work consists of grantmaking and funding community-led climate solutions across focus areas including regenerative agriculture, renewable energy, and community resilience. The organization operates as a spend-down foundation committed to deploying its endowment to support climate and community initiatives.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Community Climate Grantmaking Programs Multi-year grant funding delivered to vetted nonprofit and community organizations implementing climate solutions in the United States and four Global South geographies (Indonesia, India, Brazil, Mexico); in 2024 alone the foundation approved over $330 million in grants to nearly 100 organizations. This is the foundation's primary programmatic offering, supporting food systems, renewable energy, land stewardship, and environmental justice work.
• Grantee Convenings and Knowledge-Sharing Events In-person and regional convenings that bring grantees, peer funders, artists, and community leaders together for connection, learning, and strategy. The 2024 Mexico City convening gathered 225 leaders from 22 countries, and Global Artivism (a grantee partner) convened 1,000 participants from 86 countries in 2025.
• Mission-Aligned Impact Investing Program of sourcing and diligencing investments that fund climate solutions while earning a financial return, integrating climate impact with endowment preservation and spend-down obligations.
• Learning Hub and Public Funder Knowledge Resources Online Learning Hub and regular News updates that share the foundation's reflections, lessons, and grantee stories with peer funders and partners, formalizing the foundation's commitment to share learnings from its spend-down model.

Named customers12 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Potential Energy CoalitioncoreOthersGrantee partner using marketing and storytelling to shift climate narratives. Their research spans 23 countries and 60,000 participants. Potential Energy Coalition creates campaigns including Science Moms that generated over 3 billion video views.
• Nusantara FundcoreOthersIndigenous-led fund providing direct and flexible funding to Indigenous peoples, local communities, and grassroots organizations in Indonesia. Created by AMAN, KPA, and WALHI.
• Global ArtivismcoreOthersGrantee partner bringing together artists and climate advocates. Convening in Salvador, Brazil gathered 1,000 participants from 86 countries in 2025.
• SELCO FoundationcoreOthersGrantee partner bringing affordable solar energy solutions to underserved communities in India. Works with farmers on cold storage solutions extending produce shelf-life.
• Chef Ann FoundationcoreOthersGrantee partner bringing scratch cooking to schools. Has brought fresh food programs to 14,000 schools serving 3 million children across all 50 US states.
• Fearless CollectivecoreOthersGrantee partner using participatory art for climate action. Revived 800-year-old wells in Rajasthan, India, providing water to over 6,000 people and 50,000 cattle.
• Thousand CurrentscoreOthersGrantee partner transforming philanthropy by empowering locally-led organizations. Partners with AMAN in Indonesia supporting 2,400 member communities reaching 20 million individuals.
• Tribal Solar Accelerator FundcoreOthersGrantee partner expanding renewable energy access for federally recognized tribes. Has partnerships with over 65 tribes across the US.
• Indigenous Resilience CentercoreOthersGrantee partner at University of Arizona collaborating with 22 tribes across the Southwest on food sovereignty, water security, and health equity.
• Community Alliance with Family FarmerscoreOthersGrantee partner supporting ecological farming in California. Works with more than 7,000 small and mid-scale family farms.
• RevolusolarcoreOthersGrantee partner democratizing solar energy in Brazil. Has installed solar capacity across 10 territories reaching more than 15,000 people.
• California Solar Canal InitiativecoreOthersGrantee partner exploring solar panels over water canals. Project Nexus shows 50-70% evaporation reduction and 85% aquatic weed reduction under solar canopies.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• William and Flora Hewlett Foundation: Major US foundation with substantial climate and clean energy funding portfolios. Operates as a perpetual foundation in the same climate/environmental niche, often co-funding the same types of grantees as Waverley.
• Emerson Collective: Philanthropic organization led by Laurene Powell Jobs that invests in climate, education, and immigration. Multiple Waverley leaders (Anne Marie Burgoyne, Rudi Navarra, Amanda Eller, Corinne Tsai) came from Emerson, and both deploy across environmental justice and community-led approaches.
• Barr Foundation: Climate-focused foundation deploying significant capital into clean energy, climate mitigation, and movement building in the US. Comparable in mission focus and in prioritizing community-led climate work, though smaller in scale than Waverley.
• Bloomberg Philanthropies: Major global foundation with deep climate, energy, and environment portfolios including the Beyond Carbon and Beyond Coal initiatives. Comparable in deploying large-scale philanthropic capital to climate solutions, including convening and grantee funding models.
• Energy Foundation: Philanthropic convener and funder focused exclusively on clean energy policy across the US and China. Highly comparable to Waverley's energy access and renewable energy grantmaking focus (Waverley's Head of Grants, Carmelita Mitchell, previously led grants there).
• David and Lucile Packard Foundation: Large US foundation with major climate, land, and ocean conservation portfolios and a dedicated Global Climate Initiative. Several Waverley staff (e.g., Kai Carter, Genora Givens) came from Packard, and both target community-led and conservation-oriented climate work.
• Bezos Earth Fund: $10B climate-focused philanthropic fund deploying capital across food systems, energy, and nature-based solutions. Direct peer given comparable scale, climate-only mandate, and similar focus on community-led and Indigenous-led grantees.
• Kresge Foundation: Large US foundation with a Climate Action portfolio focused on equitable decarbonization, clean energy, and resilient communities. Directly comparable as a perpetual climate-focused funder working with frontline and BIPOC-led organizations.

Broad incumbents

• MacArthur Foundation: Large global foundation with significant climate solutions funding in addition to its signature programs. Operates as a broader incumbent with comparable international footprint (Waverley's India country advisor previously worked at MacArthur).

Emerging players

• Chan Zuckerberg Initiative: Major philanthropic vehicle with growing climate and environmental justice work. Several Waverley staff (Jenny Mack, Emiliano Martinez) came from CZI, and it serves as a comparable in deploying scaled philanthropic capital through a lean operating team.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/waverley-street-foundation
• Instagraminstagram.com/waverleystreet

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments3 records

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Frequently asked questions about Waverly Street Foundation