The Washington-based foundation invested $1.3 million in San Francisco-based Galvanize’s decarbonization-focused public equities fund. Galvanize Global Equities focused on publicly traded companies in clean energy transition, electrification and supply-chain sustainability.
The four-year-old investment firm, which was founded by former US presidential candidate Tom Steyer, also has climate strategies in real estate, private credit, and venture capital (see ImpactAlpha’s Q&A with Steyer, who is taking a leave of absence to run for governor of California).
The Russell Family Foundation said it is the first private foundation to back the asset manager’s public equities strategy.
Climate resilience
The foundation also awarded $540,000 in grants to 20 organizations bolstering climate policy, renewable energy access and community resilience.
Grantees include the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, which is working on energy planning across 57 tribal governments; shareholder advocacy group As You Sow; and Spark Northwest, which is developing Indigenous community-owned clean energy projects. Other grantees include VC Include, which advances financing for climate and justice-focused emerging fund managers, and VertueLab, which supports and funds climate tech entrepreneurs to scale equitable solutions in the Pacific Northwest.
The grants come out of the Russell Family Foundation’s Catalytic Climate Finance program.
“Grants are a powerful companion to [the foundation’s] investments, working alongside them in alignment with the program’s principles of collaboration and promoting community resilience,” said TRFF’s Kathleen Simpson.
