Reflecting on 2022
It’s hard to believe we are already coming to the end of our second year at Greenbridge! As with most things in life, it’s hard to accomplish everything you hope for in a year or two, but with the leadership of Kim Plewes, our amazing executive director, we have made great strides in building a foundation for significant impact over the next decade. We look back on 2022 as a year with a lot of ups and downs, both professionally and personally, but we exit the year with more strength, clarity, and gratitude for the opportunities we have to make a difference. We’d be remiss if we didn’t take a moment to acknowledge the continued challenges being faced by so many in our own community, across the United States, and around the world. The world continues to be a challenging, unpredictable and harsh place for so many. Our hope is we can do our part to help catalyze opportunities for others and to make a dent in some of the most pressing issues of our time.
We will focus this blog on highlighting just some of the amazing people, organizations, and ideas that have shaped our work over the past 12 months. It is these people and their efforts that leave us hopeful for the future and that motivate us to continue our work. We also would like to update you on the evolving process and systems that we have invested in this past year to keep our organization lean, nimble, efficient and impactful.
We continue to be so impressed with the remarkable leaders driving change across our areas of focus. We pride ourselves on being willing to take risks to back ambitious entrepreneurs with early projects that have great potential. Jason Wang of Freeworld is a great example. Freeworld’s work in helping create second chance employment opportunities for the formerly incarcerated is a meaningful step in the goal of ending mass incarceration. We are proud to have served as a founding board member and supporter. Matt Weiner of US MegaFire is helping solve the crisis around megafires and the enormous negative impact on people’s lives and the environment. We are proud to be founding supporters of Matt’s. Lucia Coulter has started a fascinating organization called the Lead Exposure Elimination Project (LEEP) which has single-handedly been able to dramatically reduce the use of lead paints in multiple countries around the world saving thousands of children’s lives for something totally preventable. We are proud to be one of Lucia’s earliest supporters. These are just a few of the many, many projects we are so excited to have identified and supported. We hope you’ll take the time to explore these and our many other Impact Partners, each featured within a portfolio area on our Initiatives page. We also want to thank and recognize the teams at Schmidt Futures,Founder’s Pledge, Greenlight Fund, and Tipping Point for being extremely generous with their insights, deal flow, and expertise.
Second, we are proud to have hosted our first annual Summit back in June. We were excited to meet many of our Impact Partners in person for the first time. Doug Landis, a leading sales executive, spoke to the group about narrative storytelling and we had small group practice sessions in which two participants presented their story and the listener had to recite it to the group. Most importantly, the summit gave those present the opportunity to make new connections with each other and some of our friends in the community with similar philanthropic interests. We wrote at length about the magic of this gathering and can’t wait to host our second gathering in the Summer of 2023.
Third, Jason, as a Founding Partner of Emergence is excited to bring his venture experience to invest in and support the next generation of diverse venture capital leaders. Greenbridge Capital has invested in over 16 emerging venture managers, all from diverse backgrounds, who are investing in diverse founders trying to create opportunities for all. Jason created a community around the leaders of these firms and he hosts quarterly “Ask Me Anything” sessions in addition to 1:1 mentoring. He believes venture capital and entrepreneurship are some of the most powerful agents of change in our society and having venture firms led by people of color and women will help ensure this engine of opportunity is available to a more inclusive community. We have also made several investments in venture funds dedicated to innovation on climate-related issues. Again, we believe entrepreneurship and innovation are fundamental agents of change for solving the climate crisis and accelerating the de-carbonization of industry.
Finally, while it isn’t as outwardly exciting, we are proud of the continued refinement of our internal systems and processes. We are committed to building an organization that efficiently invests money in leaders and organizations that are generating meaningful results. This was our first year of assessing past grants and creating a process to assess which Impact Partners will have their grants renewed. We intend to create space for new Impact Partners and to deepen the relationship we have with our existing Partners creating the most measurable change.
There is much to be excited about as we look ahead to 2023. We are launching a new internal CRM system with Fluxx, launching a new website, and hosting our second annual Greenbridge Summit. We’ll be looking critically at the question of how we assess and communicate the impact of our grants through the lens of the activities and outcomes of our Impact Partners.
In order to keep us focused and efficient with our time and resources, we’ve decided a theme for 2023 will be to ‘simplify and deepen’. We expect the amazing work of our Impact Partners will continue to show some amazing results in 2023 and beyond. We look forward to continuing to share our journey with you.
Onward and Upward,
Jason and Ann
2022 at a glance
Grants issued: 40+
BIPOC or women-led organizations: 26
Grants by size:
Pebbles (under $50K): 31
Rocks (between $50K and $250K): 10
Boulders ($250K+): 1
Grants distributed by each of our primary areas of focus:
Climate change: 25%
Bridging the education divide: 16%
Civic engagement & US democracy protection: 14%
Criminal justice innovation and second chance employment: 25%
Empowering women and children: 17%
Effective altruism: 3%