Impact Fund 2021: Next Level

Let’s join forces for an even greater impact!

We’re excited to announce that we’re starting the Impact Fund 2021! After a brilliant first round, it’s now time to keep the momentum going! The future is in our hands after all. So let’s join forces once more and support further projects that work towards creating a greener world. Projects that reduce our society’s CO2 emissions, develop climate-neutral products or provide the necessary educational work to bring about such developments. Such efforts seem increasingly more important, as climate issues appear to be slipping ever lower on politicians’ and the society’s to-do lists in the wake of the corona pandemic. If this isn’t a big enough incentive already: if we achieve our goal of CHF 250,000, our partner foundation has pledged to add another CHF 250,000, meaning that we could support an impressive number of 20 green projects together.

Switzerland demonstrates sobering achievements to date: We have missed the 2020 target of reducing 1990 greenhouse gas emission rates by 20% by a staggering 25 %(!!!). Read more here. Many other countries don’t fare better when it comes to climate targets. Put in plain terms: We’re not doing enough yet! We need more visionary project initiators with clever ideas, and above all, we need you!

This time, we’re happy to announce that we have joined forces with a partner foundation. Like us, the foundation hopes for a society that acts responsibly with its own existence and gifts future generations with an environment and way of life that is balanced and worth living. The foundation is currently being set up and will first go public in early 2021. We are honoured, that at this early stage of their visionary existence, we already have the opportunity of being able to tackle a first project with them.

If we manage to reach the financing target of CHF 250,000 the foundation will pledge another CHF 250,000. You read that correctly: This adds up to half a million CHF that we can put towards saving the climate! As this is only the case if we achieve our goal, your support is literally worth double!

You have a say

As in the first round, your own and other people’s contributions go into a support fund that is reserved exclusively for climate projects at wemakeit. This time, things are a little different though, as it’s not just a jury of experts who decide on projects to be supported by the Impact Fund. You do too! To this end, the Impact Fund jury will put together a shortlist of all submitted projects, whereupon you can vote for your favourites.

These are the members of our expert jury:

• Nicola Forster, Co-President of the Grünliberale Kanton Zürich
• Nathalie Moral, Impact Investing, Director of the partner foundation
• Céline Fallet, Director of wemakeit
• Petrissa Eckle, Executive Director of sus.lab, ETH Zurich
• Ottavio Scata, Corporate Partnerships Manager at myclimate
• Christoph Birkholz, Entrepreneur

As a thank you for your support, we don’t want to send you unnecessary bits and pieces that are bound to end up in your basement. Instead, we’d like to give you some ideas on how you too can make the world a better place. Let experts give you tips on a range of aspects regarding climate neutrality, how to bring more biodiversity to your neighbourhood or how to send our parliament an express letter regarding the climate. Many thanks in advance for your help towards creating a better future!

This is the Impact Fund and this is how it works

The Impact Fund is a coalition of various companies, institutions and individual persons who are committed to protecting the climate. With the help of the crowd, it supports sustainable projects that aim to combat global warming. The Impact Fund announces a call for projects, and together with an expert jury looks over and evaluates all submitted climate projects, whereupon it presents them to all of its supporters for voting.

Participation is open to projects from a wide variety of disciplines and regions of the world, so long as they counteract climate change with proven or innovative ideas. For maximum impact, projects with a target sum of at least CHF 25,000 can be submitted. If these projects manage to reach their target amount, the Impact Fund will support them with a further CHF 25,000. In 2021 we will support a total of 20 projects. To this end we will publish all details about the Call for Projects at the beginning of 2021. Sign up here if you have a project idea and would like to receive updates.

To prove the climate is as important to us as it is to you, we are waiving our commission fee and our team of consultants will support projects free of charge during the preparation phase. To boot, the projects supported by the Impact Fund will be able to take part in a climate workshop offered by our partner foundation. This way, each supported project will be able to further increase its potential.

As part of the first Impact Fund …

• 60 pioneer farmers in Togo were given the necessary know-how and materials to switch to permaculture,
• a think tank concerned with sustainable building is in its infancy and ready to roar
• food waste was combated by pickling, drying and deep-frying Swiss vegetables that did not meet wholesalers’ beauty standards. But that’s not all: This channel will show you all other projects that were supported by the first Impact Fund.