About Collectrify
Collectrify was started by environmental, housing, and climate justice leaders who came together in 2019 with other community-based housing, energy, and consumer protection advocates and members of philanthropy, because low-income communities and communities of color were being left out of conversations about building decarbonization.
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Initial conversations among Carmelita Miller, Michelle Martinez, Cecil Corbin-Mark, isaac sevier, and Jen Somers began to coalesce around how to build a national community space that could support our mutual learning; protect collective ideas, strategies, and the knowledge economy coming from the environmental and climate justice community; and grow community capacity to lead on the topic of building electrification. We began to form the first version of the Governance Assembly with Jacqui Patterson, Logan Burke, Melissa Gavin, and Jackson Koeppel, and invited trusted members of philanthropy - Jessica Boehland, Laura Wisland, and Darryl Young - to collaborate on the development of Collectrify. The philanthropic and community practitioners who started Collectrify collaboratively developed Principles of Transformative Partnership and a Governance Structure to meet that intent, along with a Knowledge Economy Grievance and Restoration Process to protect the knowledge economy of environmental justice communities.
​These conversations led to the creation of a pooled participatory grant-making fund and a learning space for frontline, grassroots, and base building organizations and leaders in communities of color and limited-wealth communities. ​
Collectrify centers equity and people in the removal of fossil fuels from buildings and communities by giving resources to grassroots, frontline, and base-building organizations and leaders in communities of color and low-income communities to support their self-determined priorities. We seek solutions that can transform the balance of power in the ownership and distribution of energy production, energy infrastructure, and housing.
Environmental justice principles are the foundation upon which all of our work is built. They are the basis for our organizing and for building community and collective power. These values and principles served as the north star for the climate, environmental, and housing justice leaders who founded Collectrify because they elevate what we know and believe to be true: the pathway to equitable building electrification starts with strategies that serve our most vulnerable community members and center their leadership and self-determination.
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Collectrify provides resources to local partners to create pathways to move beyond our current fossil-fuel based economy, and to develop healthy, livable housing; family-sustaining, clean-energy jobs; and community-driven, equitable economic opportunities.
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Collectrify is a fiscally sponsored project of the Windward Fund.
Creating a More Just, Climate & Housing Future
Founded by climate and housing justice leaders, Collectrify grew out of shared recognition that low-income communities and communities of color are often left out of conversations about building decarbonization, despite being disproportionately
affected by climate change and systemic inequities. This exclusion is significant given that energy consumed in buildings contributes more than 40% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions each year, in addition to causing harmful indoor air pollution, especially in poorly ventilated structures. An equitable transition away from fossil fuels to electricity in buildings is a crucial climate solution—one that must prioritize historically underserved communities.
Collectrify’s mission is to accelerate equitable building electrification in a way that secures benefits—including healthy housing, family-sustaining clean-energy jobs, and community-driven economic opportunities—for the most vulnerable communities. We operate a trust-based fund that provides philanthropic and technical resources to frontline, grassroots, and base-building organizations and leaders working to eliminate fossil fuels from buildings. We also support a learning community where funder and grantee partners build collaborative relationships, develop shared learning priorities, and expand their equitable building electrification leadership capacities.
Meeting the Moment
Low-income communities and communities of color especially lack access to resources to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change, which exacerbates racial, economic, and environmental inequalities. Harmful pollutants and greenhouse gases from fossil fuel use in homes—particularly for heating, cooling, and cooking—not only contribute to climate change but also lead to poor indoor air quality, exacerbating health issues and leading to increased emergency department visits, higher healthcare costs, and reduced quality of life. These risks are particularly severe in historically underserved neighborhoods, where residents often already experience substandard housing and additional environmental hazards.
This moment calls on us to address historic harms and invest in true community leadership to guide the transition off of fossil fuels toward safe, healthy housing and economic prosperity.
Collectrify remains steadfastly committed to community-led decarbonization solutions, even amid federal shifts away from renewable solutions toward fossil fuels. Despite this deeply troubling trend, we are actively working with our partners and allies to advance concrete opportunities at the state, local, and grassroots levels and to amplify the innovative, intersectional climate justice solutions communities are already implementing that deliver lasting results. We collaborate with leaders across the energy, housing, public health, climate, and economic justice communities to build relationships that support community leadership and drive equitable climate action regardless of the federal landscape.
Collaboration in Action
Collectrify acts on its commitment to community-based solutions through four interconnected
approaches that build power, develop leadership, and drive equitable building electrification
from the ground up.
Connections for targeted investments
We help funders connect and foster trusting relationships with place-based organizations and position their investments to drive the long-term change needed to fully decarbonize homes and community-serving facilities at scale. Our approach ensures that these investments address the compounding climate and economic crises and center frontline community leadership.
Trusted partnerships with communities
Through our focus on relationship and trust building with frontline leaders, we connect to the very communities that philanthropic dollars are intended to reach—and that receive few federal and state resources.
Catalytic investments in leadership
The intentional support we provide through our investments and learning community helps community-based organizations develop new leadership, cultivate organizational capacity, and create economic opportunity for limited-wealth communities to lead in the clean energy transition. In other words, we help create the conditions for thriving, resilient organizations.
Power building across movements
Collectrify brings established, long-standing community groups into the equitable building electrification and climate movements by breaking down silos, facilitating conversations to help people see themselves in this intersectional space, and creating connections to advance lasting systemic change. This work, in addition to investing in leadership development, broadens the base of advocates essential for building the power needed to win on climate action.