Trust-Based Giving for Climate with Skyline Foundation & Trust-Based Philanthropy Project, Ep #125

Trust-Based Giving for Climate with Skyline Foundation & Trust-Based Philanthropy Project, Ep #125

From Invested In Climate by Jason Rissman

December 11, 2025 · 41 min · Episode 125

About this episode

The episode discusses trust-based philanthropy and its role in funding climate action with insights from Shereen D’Souza and Shaady Salehi.

Philanthropy plays a uniquely critical role in climate action—it can fund the bold, early-stage, community-led, and systems-changing work that markets and governments too often overlook. And with the federal government cutting funding to a wide range of climate, energy and conservation efforts, philanthropy plays a more important role than ever before. That’s why we’re teaming up with the Skyline Foundation and their Climate Lead, Shereen D’Souza on a series of conversations on climate philanthropy . Over the coming episodes, we’ll explore how philanthropy can accelerate climate solutions—not just by moving more money, but by moving it differently and to high impact topics and geographies. We’ll talk to leaders who are rethinking power, reimagining partnerships, and reshaping the way resources flow. Today, we’re starting with a conversation that sets the tone for the entire series: trust-based philanthropy. What does it look like to fund climate work in ways that are long-term, rooted in real relationships, and prioritize the expertise of grantee organizations? How can funders shift from control to collaboration, and what happens when they do? Shereen and I are joined by Shaady…

People in this episode

Host: Jason Rissman

Guests: Shereen D’Souza, Shaady Salehi

Topics covered

  • climate philanthropy
  • trust-based philanthropy
  • funding climate solutions
  • community-led initiatives
  • collaboration in philanthropy

Keywords

  • philanthropy
  • climate action
  • funding
  • trust-based
  • collaboration
  • community-led
  • transparency

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Skyline Foundation, Trust-Based Philanthropy Project

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