Celebrating 5 Years of Crowdsourcing Sustainability! | Crowdsourcing Sustainability

I wrote Crowdsourcing Sustainability’s first newsletter in May 2018 for 91 people. Five years and 200+ newsletters later, over 200,000 people in 150+ countries are subscribed.

As I was reflecting on the last five years to figure out what to write to you today, one emotion in particular kept coming up, over and over again: gratitude.

There aren’t really words to describe how grateful I am to everyone who has been a part of this journey and supported this work.

Whether you’ve sparked conversations based on what you read in the newsletter, shared the newsletter with your friends or network, took the time to reply to one, filled out a survey, joined the Crowdsourcing Sustainability Community, or even just taken the time to read them because you want to learn more or make the world better – thank you.

I especially want to thank my wonderful teammates, all the volunteers who have supported Crowdsourcing Sustainability, everyone who has donated to sustain this work financially, everyone who has written to me to share how our work has impacted you, and everyone who takes this work and turns it into positive action in the real world. None of this would be possible without you.

Thank you all for being partners in moving us closer to a safe, healthy, and just world, and for stepping up to act on climate in all the ways that you do.

Finally, thank you for giving me hope.

When I started this work, it felt lonely. Given the latest science, it can be pretty scary to take an honest look at the future, especially when it feels like nobody else is talking or thinking about the greatest challenge facing humanity. But over the years I’ve gained a lot of hope by seeing just how many incredible people there are working to solve this problem from SO many different angles and SO many different parts of the world. I see you. And thank you for all of your efforts. They matter.

In the last five years, the climate movement has grown significantly. Together, all of our efforts are truly starting to move the needle. Let’s keep that going – one step at a time, together. We may be closer than you think to reaching a social tipping point for positive change.

Who We Are, What We Do, and the Impact We Make

Since we’ve made it to this 5-year landmark and I don’t really talk about our nonprofit that brings you this newsletter that often, I want to take a minute to step back and share a high-level overview of Crowdsourcing Sustainability:

WHO WE ARE

Crowdsourcing Sustainability is a grassroots, movement-building nonprofit committed to reversing global heating as quickly and equitably as possible and co-creating a just world where all life thrives.

WHAT WE DO

We build the climate movement’s power, drive cultural change, and mobilize people everywhere to accelerate the implementation of climate solutions in homes, schools, cities, and companies around the world.

HOW WE DO IT

With our newsletter read by 200,000+ people in 150+ countries, our podcast, and our online community, we consistently inform minds, touch hearts, and inspire action. We strengthen existing climate champions and onboard new ones into the movement by connecting people to resources, hope, climate experts, peer organizations, and each other so they can make the policy and investment decisions within their spheres of influence science-based and justice-centered.

Our Impact

According to our latest Community Impact Survey:

• 23% of newsletter readers say that, because of Crowdsourcing Sustainability, at least in part, they are now taking actions on a more systemic level.
• 33% have shifted their worldview.
• 35% are investing more time into climate action.
• 40% feel less alone.
• 49% are talking about climate more with others.
• 50% feel more hopeful.
• 67% are more knowledgeable about the climate crisis and what they can do about it.

Given the scale of our newsletter, most of these statistics translate to tens of thousands of people.

The work we do can be highly intangible and hard to measure but by our estimates, we have directly empowered 10,000 people to take more systemic action and helped eliminate over 6 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. This translates into helping save more than 2,500 people’s lives in the future by reducing deaths due to air pollution and heat waves alone. And these numbers grow with each passing year. We’re on track to triple our impact in the next five years.

I know we’re doing impactful work. But the reality is it’s hard to sustain an early-stage nonprofit. So to keep our impact going and growing, we really need support from people like you!

Ways to Support Crowdsourcing Sustainability

We know our work of educating, inspiring, and empowering tens of thousands of people around the world to act on climate is super important. And we really want to keep doing it – we want to continue on this journey with you. But we need your help to make that possible!

If you believe this work is valuable, here are a few ways you can help us:

1. Give a Warm Introduction

To make it through 2023, we need to receive a major grant or several smaller ones. If you know someone who works at a mission-aligned foundation, a warm introduction would be deeply appreciated. (This type of ask is how we got connected with the Woka Foundation!)

If you’re not sure, you can check out our evolving list of climate foundations that we would love to connect with. We believe our deep alignment could make us great partners and would really appreciate a warm introduction to someone who works there.

If you’re able to connect us, email me at ryan@crowdsourcingsustainability.org!

2. Donate

We’ve raised $67,000 so far this year. But Crowdsourcing Sustainability’s budget for 2023 is $210,000, so we’ve got a long way to go!

If you donate soon, your donation will be doubled!

(The Woka Foundation is matching the next $20,000 that people donate)

Donations support our three programs: this Crowdsourcing Sustainability Newsletter, the CS podcast, and the CS Community. We have two people working on this full-time and three people working part-time to bring all of this educational and empowering sustainability work to life 🙂

3. Tell us how CS has impacted you and your climate action!

Your stories are powerful. Not only do they motivate us, but they also help us tell our story, show our impact, and inspire other people in the CS community to act.

We know our work helps people in all sorts of different ways and that its impact is rippling through homes, towns, schools, states, organizations, and companies around the world thanks to people like you stepping up and taking action.

For example, people have shared their stories with us about how Crowdsourcing Sustainability has helped inspire or empower them to:

• Find the courage to finally face the climate crisis. And figure out what to do about it.
• Change careers to work on climate.
• Change majors.
• Make improvements to local government climate action plans.
• Integrate climate solutions into the DNA of their consulting work.
• Divest from fossil fuels.
• Present to their co-workers about the climate crisis and solutions.
• Organize co-workers to make their company offer sustainable retirement funds.
• Present to their town, local groups, and religious communities. And begin organizing them to implement solutions and affect change.
• Establish a green revolving fund for their college.
• Create climate-focused groups within their industry.
• Publish climate comic books.
• Get out the vote for climate champions.
• Turn anxiety and depression into activism.

Hearing your stories also helps us to better understand what kinds of newsletters, podcasts, and events are most effective and useful for you.

So whether it’s in big ways or small, please do take the time to share how our work at Crowdsourcing Sustainability impacts you. We really appreciate it!

Thank you again!

Okay, that’s all I’ve got for you today. Thank you for taking the time to reflect, celebrate, and look ahead with me.

And thank you SO MUCH again for reading and for all the ways you support Crowdsourcing Sustainability and are making a positive difference in the world.

The next five years are extremely important when it comes to whether we will move society onto the path of a safe, healthy, and just world. So here’s to another five years of accelerating climate action in homes, schools, companies, and communities around the world!

 

All the best,

Ryan