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.

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 Heinz Endowments announced a commitment of $6 million to the Community Partners Fund, a special fund to support local nonprofits facing federal funding cuts. This action builds on announcements earlier this year to raise Heinz’s grantmaking budget by 15% and commit $4 million to the fund.

• Heatmap reported on an anonymous $50 million gift to the Founders Pledge’s climate fund, which was founded by Johannes Ackva in 2020. Ackva and the fund garnered attention by granting millions to right-of-center climate groups, a move they believe will help advance policy opportunities beyond the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), such as Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) reauthorization in Fall 2026.

• The Kresge Foundation announced the PathBreakers Podcast, a companion to their annual report, which highlights 12 individuals transforming urban landscapes and creating better futures. Episodes will be released weekly and include a spotlight on Deep South Center for Environmental Justice’s Dr. Beverly Wright about research, evaluation, and community engagement with those facing environmental hazards.

Highlights from the Field

Partnership Opportunities

• CDR Associates is helping 61 communities advance shovel-ready climate resilience projects by connecting them with philanthropic, state, and private sector funders. The IRA’s Community Change Program initiated the projects, yet they are now unfunded. Examples include resilience hubs, renewable energy production, and climate-ready transportation systems. For more details on the 61 projects, please reach out to Abby Hall at ahall@cdrassociates.org.

• The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) proposes to develop a Regional Innovation Playbook that would distill proven workforce development, tech transfer, innovation financing, and entrepreneurship strategies to equip regions across the country to more effectively scale what works. Based on strategies catalyzed by federal investments like Economic Development Administration Tech Hubs and National Science Foundation Engines, the Playbook would be designed for use by both broad coalitions and individual actors, regardless of whether they are part of a federally funded initiative. FAS's process for building the playbook would also serve as a community-building exercise that brings together leaders across regions and domain areas. For more information, please contact Andy Gordon at agordon@fas.org.

• Climate XChange (CXC) is launching a national initiative to help state policymakers respond to the rapid, unregulated growth of data centers – a major driver of electric demand and greenhouse gas emissions. Without smart policies, this expansion risks undermining climate targets, driving up energy costs, and straining grid reliability. Through 50-state legislative landscape scans, state leader roundtables, and a practical policy toolkit, CXC will equip policymakers with the tools and insights needed to adopt forward-looking policies that balance economic development with climate, resilience, and equity priorities. This effort builds on CXC’s State Climate Policy Dashboard and State Climate Policy Network, which connects more than 15,000 policymakers and advocates nationwide. For more information, please contact Paola Ferreira Miani at paola@climate-xchange.org.

Climate and Energy:

• S2 Strategies’ State Support Center, Lawyers for Good Government, and Government Finance Officers Association released a memo on opportunities for state agencies to use Direct Pay to cut costs (based on federal law as of June 2025). The document shares step-by-step case studies from Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Massachusetts as more states may seek to use this new, long-term opportunity.

• Several organizations released new analyses demonstrating the impacts of key IRA provisions, some of which are likely to be repealed or restricted by Congress’s budget reconciliation bill:

  • Atlas Public Policy released a brief outlining the current and potential reach of the Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit (45X). To date, the credit has contributed to $48.3 billion in investments and 62,700 jobs at operational facilities, with announcements for an additional $137.2 billion and 103,100 jobs at facilities under development. The brief also includes an analysis of which states and industries are benefiting the most from 45X.

  • Rewiring America shared analysis showing that technologies supported by the Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit (25C) and Residential Clean Energy Credit (25D) could cut residential electricity demand by nearly half in some states. They underscore that weatherization, heat pumps, and rooftop solar are key demand-side solutions to protect consumers.

  • Politico published a map of 794 planned facilities that would lose subsidies under the House’s reconciliation bill, using data from the Energy Information Administration and Atlas Public Policy. Changes made by the Senate’s version would impact the number of vulnerable facilities, but interviewees stressed that developers would struggle to meet timelines proposed in the current legislation.

Governance

• The Niskanen Center released commentary on the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)’s two recent memoranda aimed at reforming federal hiring: the Merit Hiring Plan and the Hiring and Talent Development for the Senior Executive Service. Niskanen noted that while the actions may improve skills-based hiring and hiring speed, it also poses politicization risks due to new application questions about candidates’ political views and more layers of political approval.

Semiconductors

Several leading companies supported by the CHIPS & Science Act’s (CHIPS) semiconductor investments announced updates this month:

• Texas Instruments announced plans to invest more than $60 billion across seven U.S. semiconductor fabs in Texas and Utah, supporting more than 60,000 U.S. jobs and making it the largest investment in foundational semiconductor manufacturing in American history. The investment is supported by $1.6 billion in CHIPS awards and as of December 2024, Texas Instruments estimated the Investment Tax Credit would subsidize between $6-8 billion of the project.

• Micron Technology will invest $200 billion into semiconductor manufacturing and R&D in Idaho, New York, and Virginia to expand American memory chip production. The investment is supported by $6.1B in previous CHIPS awards – resulting in a total of 90,000 jobs across Micron’s CHIPS-supported projects.

• Intel announced it will lay off 15% to 20% of its factory workers around the world next month as they face declining sales and struggle to catch up with advanced chips in the AI market. Intel received nearly $7.9 billion in CHIPS awards, $3 billion in CHIPS Secure Enclave funding, and anticipated using the Investment Tax Credit.

News Updates

A snapshot of this month’s key news.

Federal Budget:

The Senate is nearing a vote on its version of the budget reconciliation bill. If the Senate passes it, the bill will go back to the House of Representatives for a final vote.

• Axios shared a summary of the Senate bill’s impacts to the IRA tax credits, noting deep cuts for wind and solar incentives and, compared to the House’s version of the bill, fewer cuts to geothermal, hydrogen, hydropower, and nuclear.

• The Wall Street Journal reported on the bill’s new proposed tax on wind and solar projects using a certain percentage of components from China after 2027. Companies are arguing such considerations would raise energy prices and lead to job losses.

• Heatmap reported on a domestic content provision restricting access to Direct Pay in 2026 on projects larger than 1 MW. The Senate legislation removed the House bill’s exceptions “where domestic components were not available in sufficient quantity or quality, or would increase costs by more than 25%.”

Notable Trend: Navigating Federal Uncertainty

Amidst budget reconciliation, tariffs, and recent award cancellations, the market faces growing uncertainty over its ability to leverage federal funding going forward. Recent reporting on the sector’s responses include:

• A CTVC and Elemental Impact investor pulse check named policy uncertainty as the biggest concern for climate tech this year, especially due to tariffs and changes to the IRA.

• Canary Media reported that clean energy companies are considering shifting production overseas following last month’s $3.7 billion cancellation of federal awards from the Department of Energy (DOE) for clean heat and decarbonization. An American Council for Energy-Efficient Economy representative noted that other countries will step in to meet industry demands as industry loses trust in federal contracts. 

• Heatmap reported that many developers are rushing to order solar panels and transformers to qualify for IRA tax credits under the more stringent timelines being proposed by Congress. The bill stipulates that, in order to qualify for investment and production tax credits, renewables projects would have to begin construction within 60 days of its passage and be fully running by the end of 2028. 

• Heatmap covered concerns in the rooftop solar market that many leasing models could become financially unviable, and may cause companies to go under, if rooftop solar tax credits for homeowners and the subsidies for companies who lease the systems are eliminated. A Solar United Neighbors representative warned that a major risk posed by the closure of rooftop solar companies would be a lack of system maintenance, although if the system is installed correctly, it should ideally not require maintenance.

• Grist reported that battery recycling plants may scale back plans for future operations as they face supply chain disruptions and uncertainty stemming from new tariffs and changes to IRA incentives. The plants rely on an ability to process used resources from the clean energy sector like electric vehicles, and disruptions to the sector threaten their economic viability.

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 June include:

• In the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative, Inc. v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) case, Politico reported that a federal judge ruled that the EPA unlawfully cancelled $600 million from the Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program, violating the Administrative Procedure Act. Philanthropic organizations involved in the case, including the Minneapolis Foundation and Philanthropy Northwest, praised the decision.

• In the State of Washington v. Department of Transportation (DOT) case, the Associated Press reported that a federal judge ruled the DOT unlawfully withheld billions from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Program. The judge argued that 3 of the 17 plaintiffs did provide enough evidence of "irreparable harm” to have their funding released.

Energy

• DOE launched a pilot program to fast-track testing of advanced nuclear designs outside of the national laboratories. The department will consider authorizing reactors that demonstrate technological readiness, financial viability, and the ability to operate by July 4, 2026.

• New York Gov. Kathy Hochul directed the New York Power Authority to build a zero-emission advanced nuclear power plant in upstate New York, marking the state’s first new nuclear project in over a decade, according to the Associated Press. A specific location has not been chosen yet. 

  • Emphasizing the connection between electricity and advanced manufacturing, Micron President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra – whose semiconductor company is investing $100 billion in Clay, New York – emphasized “a critical factor in the success of the semiconductor ecosystem is access to affordable, reliable energy.”

Transportation

• DOT approved 529 grants totaling $2.9 billion, with most projects funded by BIL for airports, highways, rail, transit, ports, and safety initiatives. Examples include $200 million for Chicago Transit Authority’s Railcar Purchase, $110 million for a North Carolina bridge to the Outer Banks, $47 million for the Port of Baltimore, $38 million for Alaska Marine Highway System Operations, and more.

• DOT announced a partnership between Texas Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for the state to own more of the environmental permitting process, including more responsibility with NEPA, excluding FHWA from project agreements, and removing several reporting and regulation requirements. This builds on last month’s agreement with Connecticut and is a priority of DOT.

Broadband

• The National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced the ‘Benefit of the Bargain’ BEAD Program which issued new guidance eliminating labor standards, climate considerations, and rate regulations and instituting a tech-neutral approach for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. This follows a March 5 announcement outlining the Department of Commerce’s initial intent.

  • Statescoop reported mixed reactions, including opinions that the changes will broaden the digital divide and others saying the changes could accelerate connectivity by allowing non-fiber technologies. 

WW+ Bulletin: June Edition