A digest of news, field updates, and funding opportunities. 

The What Works Plus (WW+) funder collaborative is a partnership coordination hub across philanthropy, government, and nonprofits to advance equity and climate resilience through thoughtful implementation of historic federal infrastructure, climate, and economic development funding. WW+ is a project of Freedman Consulting, LLC, which provides strategic consulting services to foundations and nonprofit organizations.

New Report from What Works Plus: Technical Assistance And Capacity Building In the Evolving Implementation Landscape

Recognizing the need to understand how philanthropy can help communities in a new period of federal funding implementation, WW+ undertook an analysis to (1) identify new challenges and barriers to implementation on the ground and (2) surface timely opportunities for philanthropic engagement. Drawing on interviews with implementers, community members, funders, and other relevant stakeholders, this analysis highlights emerging gaps in technical assistance and capacity building — two areas of philanthropic support that have taken on outsized importance as project implementation moves forward.

Updates from Philanthropy

Have a notable investment, partnership, or event coming up? Let Max Shipman know at shipman@tfreedmanconsulting.com and we’ll feature it next month.

• The Hive Fund for Climate and Gender Justice announced that they are committing their full $25 million grantmaking budget to flexible, multiyear support in 2025. Additionally, Hive Fund is increasing support for security and wellness initiatives.

• The Climate Philanthropy Catalyst Coalition (CPCC), a group of 44 philanthropic advisors, foundations, and intermediaries, publicly launched with a mission to increase U.S. climate philanthropy. In an Inside Philanthropy article, Executive Director Randall Kempner described CPCC as an “intermediary of intermediaries” sharing strategies and best practices with existing networks. The group ultimately aims to triple U.S. climate philanthropy over the next five years.

• Renaissance Philanthropy announced Advanced Research for Climate Emergencies (ARC), a new program supporting “cutting-edge research and strategic partnerships to predict, prevent, and prepare for catastrophic climate risks.” Renaissance is welcoming (1) researchers to submit ambitious ideas, (2) organizations to partner on ARC, and (3) philanthropies to support these efforts.

Highlights from the Field

Climate and Energy:

• The Clean Energy Buyers Association released a study by NERA Economic Consulting on the impact of repealing technology-neutral tax credits. The study found that repeals of the Investment and Production Tax Credits would raise electricity and natural gas prices, lead to job losses and economic slowdown, and lower household incomes. The study includes both national and state-specific findings, showing, for example, that Arizona would see rate increases of 12.7% for households and 17% for businesses, along with losing 6,700 jobs.

• The Rhodium Group released the Q1 2025 Update of their Clean Investment Monitor, showing a total domestic investment of $67.3 billion in clean energy and transportation – a 6.9% increase from Q1 2024 but a 3.8% decrease from Q4 2024. The activity is primarily driven by retail consumer purchases and installations of clean technology. In contrast, investments in utility-scale electricity and industrial decarbonization have declined by 7.7% from Q1 2024.

• Energy Innovation and University of New Hampshire released modeling on the economic impact of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF). They found that GGRF could create 36,000-41,000 jobs annually, $52 billion in consumer energy savings over the next 20 years, $65.5 billion total investment in the US economy, and more.

• Atlas Public Policy shared a number of new resources, including:

  • The Home Energy Rebates Tracker which provides the status of $8 billion Home Energy Rebate Programs flowing to U.S. states and territories. In a backgrounder on the tracker, Atlas outlines how 54 jurisdictions across the country are implementing these programs, including which programs are currently active.

  • Analysis on the impact of the Clean Vehicle Tax Credit (30D) on domestic vehicle and battery manufacturing. Atlas found that 30D has spurred $41.7 billion in announced investment and 72,000 jobs across 18 facilities, with another $20.2 billion and 19,600 jobs planned.

Transportation

• Statecraft released an interview with former DOT Senior Advisor for BIL and Project Implementation Stephanie Pollack on the development of transit projects. They explore how the federal government allocates different types of transportation funding, the process of managing stakeholders and funding streams to develop infrastructure, and successes using more flexible procurement and project management systems. Based on her transit project experience, Pollack identifies and explains the “four Ps” that make or break a project: planning, permitting, public engagement, and procurement.

Infrastructure

• Accelerator for America (AFA) shared a letter highlighting the positive impacts of federal and private investments on cities’ economies amid May’s concurrent Infrastructure and Economic Development Weeks. AFA highlighted meaningful changes like stormwater infrastructure in Kalamazoo, MI; public transportation in Tempe, AZ; affordable broadband in Waterloo, IA; workforce training in Philadelphia, PA; and more.

Good Governance

• Federation of American Scientists Senior Fellow and Former Chief of Staff at the U.S. Economic Development Administration Maryam Janani-Flores announced the launch of an initiative to connect recently departed federal staff with emerging innovation ecosystems, including Tech Hubs and NSF Engines, that need expertise. While more information will be announced soon, interested partners can connect with Janani-Flores and outgoing federal workers can fill out this interest form.

• Powerlines shared an op-ed in Utility Dive highlighting the opportunity for outgoing federal workers to strengthen public utility commissions (PUCs), the state regulatory agencies which oversee service delivery of electricity, gas, water, and more. They underscore that many PUCs are understaffed, and these highly-skilled workers can continue making a tangible difference in consumers' lives while overseeing over $200 billion in utility spending each year.

  • Powerlines also shared their PUC job board, compiling opportunities from 52 PUCs across the country.

News Updates

A snapshot of this month’s key news.

Notable Trend: Shifting Funding Priorities

Under the new administration, agencies have begun to implement different criteria to shape the distribution of hundreds of billions in remaining funds from BIL, CHIPS and other investments. As the administration enacts its priorities, communities seeking to access and implement funds – and the philanthropies and technical assistance providers who support them – will need to navigate these new criteria.

• The Department of Transportation (DOT) approved over $3.8 billion in grants this month, as detailed in announcements on May 6 and May 14. The press releases underscored that DOT removed the previous administration’s equity, climate, and other considerations in accordance with executive orders like Unleashing American Energy and Ending DEI Programs and Preferencing. This also follows an earlier DOT directive to preference communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average.

• The Department of Commerce announced plans for the Economic Development Administration (EDA) to open a new Tech Hubs competition for Phase 2 implementation grants for hubs designated in Phase 1 of the program. As part of the announcement, Commerce said it would unselect six hubs that were previously selected for Phase 2 awards in January 2025, requiring them to reapply as part of the new competition, while 12 earlier Phase 2 recipients appear unaffected. EDA plans to draft and publish a new notice of funding opportunity which adds requirements to specify how projects will “be a bargain to taxpayers” and remove references contradicting executive orders on DEI and energy.

• The Department of Energy (DOE) announced a new policy to limit indirect (i.e. overhead) costs of new DOE awards to 10% for state and local governments, 15% for non-profit organizations, and 15% for for-profit companies. Previously, indirect costs were negotiated on a case-by-case basis, depending on the state and local government entity involved.

Federal Budget:

• The House of Representatives passed a budget reconciliation bill that would restrict or repeal most of the IRA’s climate tax credits, among many other cuts to tax rates, social safety net programs, and more. (See detailed analysis in an explainer published by Heatmap.) Starting in June, the Senate will take up this bill and consider potential changes to it. 

  • Princeton University ZERO Lab shared modeling that estimates a full repeal – a scenario “substantively similar” to the reconciliation bill's changes – would, by 2035, result in an increase in 1 billion metric tons per year of greenhouse gas emissions, raise energy expenditures by $50 billion, stifle the clean hydrogen, CO2 management, and nuclear power sectors, and more.

Funding Freeze and Scrutiny:

What Works Plus continues to track developments related to the federal funding freeze of certain Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funding streams. Key updates from May include:

• Atlas Public Policy compiled a roundup of impacted federal funding for climate and clean energy to-date, including which programs have been frozen, targeted for cancellation, proposed canceled, and confirmed canceled. Atlas continues to track this data on their Outcomes Dashboard.

• In the Rhode Island Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council v. Department of Agriculture case, E&E news reported that a U.S. District judge clarified that EPA can terminate nearly 800 grants, including many of the IRA’s Community Change awards. The judge clarified that EPA had legally terminated these awards after an individualized review process, separate from the across-the-board freeze following the January E.O.

  • At a Senate Appropriations hearing, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin mentioned openness to restarting cancelled grants with further reviews and stipulations, per Bloomberg Law and Associated Press reports. Administrator Zeldin said the agency may consider uncancelling awards if grantees remove language on environmental justice and diversity, in accordance with the administration’s executive orders.

• In the Climate United v. Citibank, N.A. case regarding $20 billion in frozen Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund awards, Politico reported that a panel of appellate judges questioned the merits of EPA’s arguments during a May 19 hearing but clarified the case “must be heard by a specialized tribunal, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.” Administrator Zeldin has indicated EPA will appeal if it loses before the D.C. Circuit. 

• In the Sustainability Institute v. Trump case, a South Carolina District Court judge ruled the administration must immediately restore $176 million across 32 grants claimed by the plaintiffs, per Inside Climate News. This includes IRA and BIL funding from DOE, EPA, USDA, and DOT for programs like Community Change and Charging and Fueling Infrastructure. However, the grantees were denied access to funding from the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program. The administration plans to appeal over jurisdictional concerns.

• DOE announced an audit of 179 grants totaling over $15 billion. DOE said the review would look at “a project’s financial health, a project’s technological and engineering viability, market conditions, compliance with award terms and conditions and compliance with legal requirements, including those related to national security.” Bloomberg and Axios reported this included $8.4 billion from the Grid Deployment Office and $7.3 billion from the Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains.

• DOE announced the cancellation of 24 Office of Clean Energy Demonstration awards totaling over $3.7 billion. The cancelled awards primarily include funding for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) and decarbonization. Utility Dive shared a list of the cancelled awards and reported that DOE is prioritizing cancellation of large-scale commercial projects that require more detailed information from awardees.

WW+ Bulletin: May Edition