Climate: Possible, A Campaign to Build Lasting Resilience

Summary

In 2024, Mercy Corps committed to launch their $250 million Climate: Possible campaign, aiming to reach more than 12.5 million people with climate-smart solutions to better cope, adapt, and thrive into the future and an additional 20 million people through resilience-building innovations of high-impact startups. Building off the successful completion of their 2023 Commitment to Action, Mercy Corps will test and scale new ideas and expand proven solutions in thousands of communities and 40+ countries around the globe, prioritizing locally led, inclusive problem solving with community members to identify the solutions they believe can address their challenges and tailor them to meet their specific needs, bringing marginalized voices to the table, including women and girls, who are powerful agents of change. Projects will focus on proactive and rapid action to help communities cope with climate-related emergencies and will prioritize sustainable, long-term solutions to help communities adapt to climate change.

Approach

In 2023, Mercy Corps launched their Climate: Possible campaign alongside anchor donor, The Starbucks Foundation, aiming to raise $6 million in early support. As of May 2024, they secured more than $28 million from 78 donors, of Mercy Corps’ $250 million goal. Building off the successful completion of their 2023 Commitment to Action, Mercy Corps commits to launch their $250 million Climate: Possible campaign, aiming to reach more than 12.5 million people with climate-smart solutions to better cope, adapt, and thrive into the future and an additional 20 million people through resilience-building innovations of high-impact startups. Leading with evidence-based, technology, and market-driven solutions, Mercy Corps will test and scale new ideas and expand proven solutions in thousands of communities and 40+ countries around the globe where Mercy Corps has a presence and established local partners, prioritizing locally led, inclusive problem solving with community members to identify the solutions they believe can address their challenges and tailor them to meet their specific needs, bringing marginalized voices to the table, including women and girls, who are powerful agents of change.
Projects will focus on proactive and rapid action to help communities cope with climate-related emergencies. Examples of interventions include early warning systems to prepare for and avoid crises; designing cash distribution systems that notify friends, families, and donors of forecasted extreme weather events and help people get the resources they need before a disaster strikes; and deploying first responders within hours in hard-to-reach communities and delivering cash, food, water, and other critical resources immediately so people have what they need during a climate emergency. Examples of interventions include supporting regenerative, climate-smart agriculture, income-generating livelihoods, and healthy ecosystems; unlocking access to affordable, renewable energy sources that power communities and reduce emissions while creating jobs and spurring new businesses, particularly through Mercy Corps Ventures (MCV) , which invests in and support innovative startups building solutions to address climate adaptation and resilience for underserved communities in emerging markets

Action Plan

Identification, qualification, and prioritization of prospects will be an ongoing process. Processes for tracking proposals, awards, revenue, and other fundraising metrics established by July 2024. Donor advisory group structure and strategy is developed by July 2024. Engagement with Mercy Corps board members for campaign fundraising efforts is ongoing. Mercy Corps will follow the standardized internal process for project identification and grant disbursement according to strategic priorities and needs, including:
1) Test innovative solutions: Projects and collaborations that surface new solutions and innovations, support local actors to test and refine them in low income and fragile contexts, and help accelerate pathways to scale through civil society, national governments, and private sector actors.
2) Scale proven solutions: Mercy Corps has existing programs, platforms, and models that are successfully supporting climate resilience and demonstrating impact, and there is potential to scale them to reach more people, have a larger impact, and/or adapt and replicate them in new geographies.
3) Evidence, learning and influence: Projects that fill knowledge gaps and influence implementers, policy makers, and funders. Mercy Corps’ strongest, most influential evidence often comes from analysis embedded within programs, such as impact evaluations, technical assessments, or analysis of policy enablers and barriers to taking a solution to scale.
Process established, indicators identified, and tracking system in place allowing for impact measurement for Climate: Possible by end of 2024. Campaign-wide reporting system established by July 2024. Donor reporting delivered via existing protocol, ongoing.
Content, materials, and collateral were developed in February 2024 and will be updated on a semi-annual basis, or more frequently as needed. Annual communications strategy and plan defined by June 2024. The event calendar and priorities are updated quarterly.
Stakeholder meetings occur regularly with established leadership and working groups and the work plan is continuously updated. Ongoing throughout the life of the campaign. Internal communications and training related to the campaign, ongoing.

Background

Around the world, people are facing a climate emergency and the people least responsible for it are the ones most harmed by its impacts. Extreme weather, climate-related disasters, and dire environmental conditions such as severe drought, flooding, and unexpected changes in rainfall patterns are devastating communities, weakening crucial infrastructure, threatening lives and livelihoods, and forcing millions of people to leave their homes in search of safety and better opportunities.

In the wake of a disaster, a community’s most urgent challenge is accessing necessities — food, water, shelter, and hygiene. But as the climate crisis intensifies by the day, with more frequent and more serious disasters, communities dealing with climate emergencies are more and more likely to be hit again before they can recover and prepare for the future. This vicious cycle makes it nearly impossible for communities to maintain any progress they have achieved toward building lasting resilience. Every new shock and stressor has lasting ripple effects, making it harder for people to earn stable incomes, provide nutritious food and clean water for their families, and build peace and better governance within their communities.

While innovative, effective solutions exist, too often, the people who need them most aren’t benefiting from them because of inadequate investment in efforts to scale programs and bring them to hard-hit and hard-to-reach communities.

Progress Update

Partnership Opportunities

Identifying and funding solutions to help communities around the world cope, adapt, and thrive in the face of the climate crisis will require unprecedented commitment, creativity, and collaboration. Private philanthropy has a unique and crucial role to play in helping address the climate crisis. Private and unrestricted giving creates the flexibility we need to take bigger, bolder action, going beyond the limitations of government intervention and investment to try new ideas, replicate innovative solutions, and reach millions more people., Mercy Corps will be publishing thought leadership pieces that peers in the sector may benefit from. On a case by case basis, there may also be opportunities for cross-promotion with implementing partners of Mercy Corps’ climate initiatives.