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“Unless we come together, we can’t build it. So yeah, I’m chill,” says Jennifer Kitt on the Climate Curious podcast. If new money is moving into climate, this philanthropy aficionado knows about it. And asking people for billions to solve the crisis? Doesn’t daunt her one bit. On why raising money for the world’s best climate solutions is her idea of a dream day at the office – here’s the President of Climate Lead, Jennifer Kitt. Recorded live at The Conduit as part of London Climate Action Week, in conversation with Climate Curious co-hosts Ben Hurst and Maryam Pasha.
Enjoyed this short? Listen to the full conversation with Jennifer Kitt on Climate Curious here: https://tedxlondon.com/podcasts/why-climate-doesnt-need-better-solutions-it-needs-bigger-bets-with-jennifer-kitt/
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Created by TEDxLondon
Executive produced by Josie Colter
Produced by Ben Beheshty
Curated by Deesha Chandra
Hosted by Maryam Pasha and Ben Hurst
Communications by Tara Cooper and Issey Gladston
00:00 Quickies Intro
00:17 Meet Jennifer Kitt
00:51 When Hope Feels Real
03:10 Dreaming Beyond Increments
04:32 Unlocking Big Donor Action
05:24 Same Side of Table
06:56 Asking Boldly and Chill
08:11 Everyone Must Do Their Part
08:51 Wrap Up and Credits
Quickies Intro
[00:00:00] Ben Hurst: Welcome to Climate Curious Quickies, bite-sized nuggets of Climate. Goodness. From our TEDx experts in under 10 minutes
[00:00:10] Maryam Pasha: in this week’s climate, curious, we are pondering, how do you ask for $6 [00:00:15] billion for the climate and remain chill?
Meet Jennifer Kitt
[00:00:17] Maryam Pasha: To answer that is the fundraising aficionado who happens to be the President of Climate Lead, Jennifer Kitt.
[00:00:24] Maryam Pasha: And trust us if there’s anyone who knows about new money coming into climate. It’s this wonderful [00:00:30] human on why the climate movement doesn’t need better ideas. It needs bigger bets, and how her and her organization are moving not just millions, but billions into accelerating climate solutions. Here’s Jennifer, taken from a clip at our [00:00:45] live episode at London Climate Action Week.
[00:00:47] Maryam Pasha: Stay curious.
When Hope Feels Real
[00:00:51] Ben Hurst: So at what point do you start to believe that these things are actually possible? Because you’re talking about, you’re talking about like really big sums of [00:01:00] money that people are investing, donating. I don’t know what the correct way of saying it, but given to solve problems. And generally it sounds like we’re talking about problems that are like beyond.
[00:01:11] Ben Hurst: Solvability for the average person in day-to-day life, [00:01:15] where do you, or where does your organization hit the point where you’re like, oh, we can actually do this, or do you ever hit that point? Or does it always just feel like it’s never gonna happen?
[00:01:26] Jennifer Kitt: I mean, I see it through the people who are doing the [00:01:30] work, right?
[00:01:30] Jennifer Kitt: I, I will see the possibility when you invite many of the nonprofits who are working on. Ending the polluting tailpipe and moving to clean vehicles all around the world, or stopping deforestation [00:01:45] in Indonesia or the Congo Basin or Brazil. When those organizations start to collaborate and brainstorm with each other, and you ask them questions like, well, what actually, what would it take?
[00:01:55] Jennifer Kitt: To get all the way to an outcome or what would you need to get all the way there [00:02:00] instead of just incremental change. That’s when I start to have actual real hope. And I do think donors at all levels can be part of this. I mean, on some of the deforestation examples. You know, some of what’s happening is simple technical assistance to protect land [00:02:15] rights for native people so that they can protect it from threats.
[00:02:18] Jennifer Kitt: And these things are not expensive, especially in many of the developing world where your money can go extremely far and there’s huge opportunity and also a real scarcity of resource so people at all levels can be part of these [00:02:30] sorts of campaigns.
[00:02:33] Maryam Pasha: You, you just said something that I think is, is, is something I’ve heard you say before and I think it is.
[00:02:38] Maryam Pasha: So, um, it’s like the thing, like if I had to put my finger on the thing that is [00:02:45] transformative is working with people to ask that question. That is not bound by what can you do in three years? Yeah. What can you do with a million, you know? But actually that like, unbounded question, [00:03:00] how, what has it been like to ask groups to, to how, what has it been like to ask group that question and what impact have you seen on just their thinking?
Dreaming Beyond Increments
[00:03:10] Jennifer Kitt: So, um. I didn’t start this work when I was seven, [00:03:15] as you just told everyone. I only, I’ve only been in it seven years, and when I first entered, what I noticed was that because so little philanthropy and investing and impact investing was going into climate solutions, [00:03:30] the amazing. People who were creating those ideas, the solutions were thinking in increments.
[00:03:35] Jennifer Kitt: Yeah, what could we do with 500,000? What can we do with a hundred thousand? What can we do with a million? Because that’s how they were getting resourced. You know, [00:03:45] something less than 1% of all giving then. So what I have noticed is if you meet with them and you know, and they’re collaborating with each other, and you ask questions that are in full in increments.
[00:03:58] Jennifer Kitt: If there’s a reason for [00:04:00] them to dream that big. They will begin to do it right. If the, if the possibility of enough resource for them to scale, to meet the needs, to get to the outcomes we need is possible, they will begin to imagine it. And if you just help them by whiteboarding it, [00:04:15] they will get there.
[00:04:16] Jennifer Kitt: And, um, if we limit ourselves to what we think is possible to bring resources to, we will never find this, the, the abilities that we have to move quickly. So just the power of a [00:04:30] question actually has been pretty transformative, I think.
Unlocking Big Donor Action
[00:04:32] Jennifer Kitt: And of course, think about it from the donor perspective. If I have great wealth and I can give a great deal of money, one of the hardest barriers for me is actually knowing what to give it to.
[00:04:42] Jennifer Kitt: That could be useful. Like I feel [00:04:45] stuck. I may have my grown daughter telling me she’s not going to have children. I’ve heard this story multiple times because of climate and I wanna do something and I can do something large. But until those. People dream [00:05:00] to a real outcome. Maybe I can only give in small numbers.
[00:05:04] Jennifer Kitt: So it’s a reciprocal relationship where the, the doers, imagine what’s possible, write it down in a business plan, and the donors can now be part of what they’re dreaming. [00:05:15]
[00:05:16] Maryam Pasha: Okay. I’m gonna, I’m gonna say something shameless, but it’s going somewhere. Okay. So I.
Same Side of Table
[00:05:24] Maryam Pasha: Um, I interviewed you for my book, that’s the shameless bit, and um, [00:05:30] you said something there, which is. Kind of aligned to this, and I wanna highlight it because I think that it would, is really important for people to hear. But this idea of, you said I asked like about fundraising, ’cause obviously you have this wealth of, of experience of, of fundraising and working with families and [00:05:45] philanthropy and you said this great thing of like, instead of seeing you on one side of the table and the, and the kind of donor or philanthropist or foundation on the other, you need to find a way to be on the same side of the table.
[00:05:57] Maryam Pasha: Looking at the problem, and I just wondered if you [00:06:00] might share a bit more about that and also like how
[00:06:04] Jennifer Kitt: I, um, you know, can you just imagine as a donor what a privilege it is to be able to have impact through the ideas of others who [00:06:15] know how to solve things when movement leaders, you know. Engage their community because they wanna breathe clean air and they ask for the kinds of changes that they deserve of their government.
[00:06:26] Jennifer Kitt: And that makes change. But they, but in order for them to do that, [00:06:30] they needed resources. And now the donor gets to be part of it. I mean, that’s a huge privilege. So starting in a, a stance of partnership, when you are thinking about bringing a donor on. I I, it just seems to me the way that we should invite people to [00:06:45] give, and that’s that image of being on the same side of the table.
[00:06:47] Jennifer Kitt: I’m not, we’re not pitching, we are inviting you to be part of something that matters. It’s an invitation.
[00:06:56] Ben Hurst: Yeah.
Asking Boldly and Chill
[00:06:56] Ben Hurst: Does it actually work? No. Does it actually, well obviously it works ’cause you’ve literally got 6 billion. But, um, but does that, because in my mind, I’m putting myself into my third sector. Hat. See, I dunno.
[00:07:10] Ben Hurst: Position and thinking if I was to go into a, a meeting to pitch [00:07:15] for funding, I would be so anxious to say to someone, let me give you an opportunity to, to make some impact here. I’m like, oh, so this is what we do and this is, this is the business plan and these are, but it feels like it’s almost like a very [00:07:30] bold position to take.
[00:07:31] Ben Hurst: Do you not feel weird about it or is it just chill for you?
[00:07:37] Jennifer Kitt: Um, chill. Was chill. Well, I, I guess it’s chill. I think it’s chill. Yeah, but my, my, [00:07:45] but my favorite Ben Deer is doing it on behalf of other people. Right? Like I’m never asking for, for myself. Right. We don’t fundraise for ourselves. Right. We are this incredible, we were dreamt up by the experienced climate funders who were super [00:08:00] lonely because there was.
[00:08:01] Jennifer Kitt: So little money coming into this space, and we are free to help bring in new donors, which is really amazing. And so, uh, it’s pretty chill to be able to ask this on behalf of other people.
Everyone Must Do Their Part
[00:08:11] Jennifer Kitt: But I do think, I do think embodying a place of. Everybody in the whole wide world should be doing their part for this.
[00:08:21] Jennifer Kitt: Cause you, you guys are doing what you know, you are preparing people who go out and try and tell their story. With your book and with your coaching. [00:08:30] Both of you are telling stories on climate curious like. Every one of us needs to figure out, and this is a room where everybody is already probably doing that.
[00:08:38] Jennifer Kitt: It’s Linden Climate Week, but every one of us needs to bring the skills and talents and resources and money that we have because it’s [00:08:45] that big. And unless we come together, we can’t build it. So ya.
Wrap Up and Credits
[00:08:51] Ben Hurst: Thanks for listening to this quickie.
[00:08:53] Maryam Pasha: This episode was created by our superstar podcast team at TEDxLondon.
[00:08:57] Maryam Pasha: Until next time,
[00:08:58] Ben Hurst: stay curious.[00:09:00]
