Grants in Action
real world impact
At Climate Ride, we believe that joyful collective movement can fuel systemic change. On every event, our participants become passionate ambassadors for our grantee network—raising funds that directly sustain the organizations shaping a healthier, more resilient world.
Combined across thousands of miles and years of effort, these funds yield extraordinary results. Our grantees are protecting vulnerable public lands, expanding safe cycling infrastructure, amplifying diverse voices in outdoor spaces, and advancing clean energy access across the country.
Energizing our Grantee Network
Since 2008, this collective effort has channeled millions of dollars to more than 400 nonprofit agents of change. For many of these organizations, the deep relationships built with Climate Riders over the years yield their largest single donation of the year—providing crucial, flexible funding right when they need it most.
Below, we’re spotlighting a few of these extraordinary grants in action and the bold work they make possible. Get ready to be inspired!
National Parks Conservation Association
Total Climate Ride Grant: $333,534
Mission
For more than 100 years, the National Parks Conservation Association has been fearless and outspoken defenders of America’s national parks ― the people’s parks ― your parks.
Activities
Land & Habitat Defense – Guarding national parks and wildlife corridors from extractive development and habitat loss.
Climate Action & Clean Air – Fighting for clean energy transitions, reduced industrial emissions, and park resilience against climate impacts.
Watershed Restoration – Restoring freshwater ecosystems, wetlands, and coastal buffer zones across park networks.
Grassroots Mobilization – Connecting everyday park visitors, local communities, and Tribal partners directly to legislative advocacy on Capitol Hill.
Find them here: npca.org
Climate One
“Cycling is more than just a way to get around. It’s a powerful tool that can promote a healthier planet, while also serving as a source of joy for individual riders. At Climate One, we are proud to share Climate Ride’s commitment to protecting the health of the planet. Their support of our program has been invaluable in driving the climate conversation forward, and we are deeply grateful for their partnership. We also want to thank the riders, whose dedication and passion inspire us all. We are honored to have them on our team.”
-Wency Shaida, Development Manager
Total Climate Ride Grant: $972,172
Mission
Climate One from The Commonwealth Club is the premier platform for the conversation about the climate emergency. Through our podcast, national radio show and live convenings for thought leaders and concerned members of the public, we create opportunities for dialogue and inspire a more complete understanding of the current crisis.
Activities
Weekly Podcast | In our weekly podcast and public radio program, Climate One from The Commonwealth Club engages advocates, influencers and policymakers in empowering conversations that connect all aspects of the climate emergency the individual and the systemic, the scary and the exciting – to deepen your understanding of the most critical issue of our time.
Live Programming |Moderated by host Greg Dalton, Climate One’s live programs offer opportunities for candid and meaningful discussions with diverse voices, while also offering the opportunity to build connections and community with an engaged audience.
Stephen H. Schneider Award | Since 2011, Climate One has presented the Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication, which is an annual award for a prominent climate scientist with an outstanding record as a communicator and mentor.
Find them here: climateone.org
San francisco Bicycle Coalition
“The Climate Ride grant is helping us create pedestrian- and bike-prioritized streets directly in front of San Francisco schools, reducing vehicle use, emissions, and related ambient air pollution.”
– Christopher White, Executive Director
Total Climate Ride Grant: $292,590
Mission
For over 50 years, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition has been transforming San Francisco streets and neighborhoods into more livable and safe places by promoting the bicycle for everyday transportation. They are one of the largest and most effective bicycle advocacy groups in the country. Through their day-to-day advocacy, education and working partnerships with City and community agencies, the SF Bicycle Coalition creates safer streets and more livable communities for all San Franciscans.
Activities
Protected Bikeways & Safe Street Advocacy | Spearheading campaigns to transform city corridors with car-free spaces, protected bike lanes, and safer intersections that protect everyday commuters.
Bike Equity & Community Distribution | Operating the Bike It Forward program to refurbish donated bicycles and distribute them directly to low-income residents and underserved San Francisco communities.
Citywide Bike Safety & Education | Offering free urban cycling workshops, youth safety courses, and family riding resources that empower thousands of residents to ride with confidence.
Find them here: sfbike.org
Earthjustice
Total Climate Ride Grant: $102,700
Mission
Earthjustice is the premier nonprofit environmental law organization. We wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people’s health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change. We are here because the earth needs a good lawyer.
Activities
The Wild | Earthjustice uses the law to preserve a rich, sustainable and diverse natural heritage for current and future generations. They select cases that will protect endangered species, sensitive habitats and threatened wildlands, reduce human impacts on ecosystems, and hold accountable those who damage them.
Healthy Communities | Earthjustice has been at the forefront of safeguarding the fundamentals of human health—the air we breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink. They are fighting for a future where children can breathe clean air, no matter where they live, where the food we feed our families and the products we use in our homes are free of toxic chemicals, and where communities everywhere are safer, healthier places to live and work.
Climate and Energy | Earthjustice is committed to ending the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels and working to secure a clean energy future. Climate change is the single greatest environmental threat facing the world today. At stake is nothing less than our children’s—and our planet’s—future.
Find them here: www.earthjustice.org.
Glacier National Park Conservancy
“Our partnership with Climate Ride has literally transformed Glacier National Park. In just the past couple of years, the contributions from Climate Riders funded the conversion of the Apgar Visitor Center to sustainable solar power, and fully funded the expansion of spring shuttle services to improve biker access to the iconic Going to the Sun Road. It’s truly incredible to see the combined power people brought together for passion and purpose.”
-Doug Mitchell, Executive Director
Total Climate Ride Grant: $870,130
Mission
The Glacier National Park Conservancy assures the Glacier National Park experience by providing support for preservation, education, and research through philanthropy and outreach.
Activities
Preservation | The Conservancy funds projects and programs that preserve Glacier’s heritage for future generations.
Education | The Conservancy funds education initiatives to engage current and future park stewards of all ages.
Research | The Conservancy supports world-class research and science exploring the park’s wildlife and alpine landscapes.
Find them here: www.glacier.org.
350.org
“Climate Ride is a long-time partner of 350.org‘s grassroots work fighting the climate crisis. Their grant helps us keep fossil fuels in the ground, divest trillions from the fossil fuel industry, and empowers our organizing. 350.org is lucky to have passionate climate riders and hikers like you with us in this fight.”
– May Boeve, Executive Director
Total Climate Ride Grant: $365,602
Mission
350.org is building the global grassroots climate movement that can hold our leaders accountable to science and justice.
Activities
Online Campaigns | 350.org distributes online resources in the form of organizing and training workshops and education, videos, education materials, memes, images, and other media to encourage people to: 1) keep carbon in the ground; 2) help build a new, more equitable low-carbon economy; and 3) pressure governments into limiting emissions.
Grassroots Organizing | 350.org has created local groups around the globe in over 188 countries who work in coordination with one another to create demonstrations and international days of action.
Mass Public Actions | 350.org acknowledges that world leaders are incapable of solving climate change on their own. They create opportunities for supporters to get out in the streets and make their voices heard — that is how they demonstrate our power as a movement, and that is how they force governments to make the right decisions.
Find them here: 350.org.
The Climate Center
“With Climate Ride’s grant, we’ve been working to pass policy in California that reorients our state’s electricity grid around local clean energy resources – like rooftop solar and bidirectional electric vehicles.”
– Gabe Rosenstein, Foundation Relations Manager
Total Climate Ride Grant: $435,361
Mission
Since 2001, The Climate Center has been a leader in making climate solutions a reality in California at speed and scale. They are a think-tank, do-tank working to turn bold ideas into action for a climate-safe future.
Activities
Phasing Out Fossil Fuels | The Climate Center is creating a California free from the toxic impacts of fossil fuels. One where Californians power their homes and cars with clean energy, live in walkable communities and have access to clean public transport and bike-friendly streets.
Clean Energy | Advocating for California to invest in clean, distributed, resilient energy systems. By building distributed energy and storage, California can meet its energy needs with clean and reliable sources while creating hundreds of thousands of family-sustaining jobs.
Natural Carbon Sequestration | Supporting practices that draw down past climate pollution from the atmosphere through proper soil and vegetation management. This can happen on both our natural lands (forests, grasslands, deserts, wetlands, riverbeds, coastal areas, parks, and more), as well as our working lands (farms, ranches, and more). Projects that naturally sequester carbon include applying compost to soils, planting cover crops, planned grazing, urban greening, riverbed restoration, reforestation, and wetland preservation, among others.
Find them here: theclimatecenter.org
Wild tomorrow
“We have been blown away by Climate Ride and are so very excited about our partnership and all of their hard work to support environmental causes like ours.”
– Wendy Hapgood, Co-founder and COO
Total Climate Ride Grant: $463,790
Mission
We face the extinction of one million species in our lifetimes. But there is still hope. The solution to the extinction crisis lies in the expansion of natural habitats in threatened wild places. We must enlarge and protect the spaces devoted to the natural world in order to save the amazing variety of life on our planet – called biodiversity.
Activities
Saving Wild Spaces | Wild Tomorrow Fund is working to protect, restore and re-wild a critically important wildlife corridor in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Helping Communities | Everyone must benefit from conserving wild spaces. This includes the people living in the poor rural communities that surround their protected areas.
Saving Wildlife | Helping wild animals in Southern Africa by creating wildlife corridors and providing supplies on the ground, supporting in-field conservation and research.
Find them here: wildtomorrow.org
Alliance for the Great Lakes
Total Climate Ride Grant: $106,960
Mission
The Alliance for the Great Lakes works to protect the Great Lakes for today and tomorrow.
Activities
Adopt-a-Beach | For more than 25 years, Alliance for the Great Lakes Adopt-a-Beach volunteers have worked to keep Great Lakes shorelines healthy, safe, and beautiful.
Saving Lake Erie | Massive, bright green toxic algal blooms cover large parts of Lake Erie each summer. This is an unacceptable threat to drinking water for more than 11 million people. The Alliance for the Great Lakes works to regulate runoff pollution from large farms that cause this bloom.
Fighting Plastic Pollution | As plastic pollution breaks down in the Great Lakes, microscopic pieces of plastic are found in the lakes and even treated drinking water. We’re fighting for plastic-free water.
Find them here: greatlakes.org
Bike East Bay
“Climate Riders are the ultimate active activists: building community and fundraising for a better future. Bike East Bay is grateful and inspired by the Climate Ride team who fundraise for streets that put people first: your support makes a better future possible!“
– Eileen Rice, Communications Director
Total Climate Ride Grant: $250,460
Mission
Bike East Bay promotes healthy, sustainable communities by making bicycling safe, fun and accessible. They improve cycling through advocacy, education, and fun events.
Because of Bike East Bay, the East Bay is a leader for innovative and accessible bikeways and streets that meet the needs of all users. They ensure cycling stays a mainstream, comfortable and safe choice for people of all cultures, ages, abilities, and backgrounds and that bicycles are well integrated into the transportation system and are a key part of thriving communities.
Activities
Advocacy | Increase the number and diversity of people biking.
Education | Overcome barriers to bicycling via programs educating all road users.
Community Engagement | Build strong and collaborative relationships with representation from all East Bay communities.
Find them here: www.bikeeastbay.org.
