About the Project
IF4SL is a funder collaborative that explores the challenging theme of overconsumption. We bring funders together to create a pooled fund, which explores equitable ways of living within planetary boundaries. This pooled fund will support philanthropy to experiment with work on overconsumption – with shared risk, learning and due diligence.
Initiated by Oak Foundation and managed by the Hot or Cool Institute, IF4SL is now inviting other funders to join the pooled fund. We are an operational fund that undertakes projects in partnership with funders, civil society organisations and researchers, with the aim of encouraging philanthropic action to tackle overconsumption.
Our first project was a survey of foundation staff, leaders and boards, to gather baseline data on how the sector views the challenge of overconsumption.
Featured Report
Philanthropy in the Age of Excess: Survey of Funders’ Attitudes on Overconsumption
With only 1.2% of European climate philanthropic funding currently addressing overconsumption, there is a stark gap between the need to reduce consumption and the willingness to fund work in this area.
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Despite the growth in environmental philanthropy in recent years, world-wide consumption of natural resources remains completely unsustainable. Recent academic research suggests that the industrialised world needs to cut its consumption levels by 73% in order to stay within planetary boundaries.
The problem of overconsumption has largely been overlooked by many funders. For example, in Europe, the largest environmental foundations allocated just €1 million to directly tackling over-consumption in 2021, less than 0.1% of the €1.6 billion of environmental grants tracked for that year.
The IF4SL wants to change this. Philanthropy can act as a major lever for positive change through ambitious grant-making. That’s why IF4SL is exploring the theme of overconsumption in a way that opens space for philanthropy to increase ambition in this area.
Funders play a key role in socializing cutting-edge approaches – as has been the case with new economics, climate justice, movement building and more. The work of funders in legitimizing emerging approaches and raising ambition levels within the wider movement, is key to moving from incremental to systemic interventions in the field of consumption and sustainable living.
Through our regular F4SL workshops we are building a collaboration of foundation staff who are curious about deeper systems change and tackling overconsumption. Members of the F4SL network are helping to mainstream long term visions for fair and sustainable living through the funding they give, as well as the constructive conversations they lead on challenging issues, such as learning to accept limits to consumption.
To find out more about the F4SL network and / or suggest future topics for exploration, please contact Lauren Uba at f4sl@hotorcool.org
Funders
Partners
