Announcing Our Summer 2023 Partners

Over the past four years, the Honnold Foundation has supported 58 grantee Partners in 27 countries, territories, and U.S. Tribal Lands through integrated grant funding, capacity building, and storytelling strategies. Our Partners' work is increasing access to reliable and affordable electricity, building economic equity, decreasing reliance on fossil fuels, strengthening Indigenous self-determination, advancing regional conservation efforts, mobilizing healthcare resources, and bolstering climate resilience— all through solar energy.

Today, we’re ecstatic to share our first round of 2023 grantee Partners, featuring five new organizations and six returning multi-year Partners. 

Meet Our New 2023 Partners

The Honnold Foundation invests in innovative, community-centered solar energy projects around the world. In addition to unrestricted grant funding, each of the Honnold Foundation’s Partners benefits from capacity-building support, storytelling spotlights, and regional networking opportunities.

Meet Our New Multi-Year Partners

The Honnold Foundation believes that solar energy is a powerful tool for communities to build equity from the ground up. We also know that this work takes time and sustained resources, which is why, in 2023, we’re proud to announce multi-year funding for existing HF grantees.

Multi-year funding provides ongoing unrestricted support, continued capacity-building, and new storytelling opportunities for Partners whose work has the potential to scale.

Interested in getting involved? The best way to support our work at the Honnold Foundation is through a donation. After all— it takes all of us, doing whatever we can, however we can, to make this world a brighter place.

Meet Our Fall 2022 Partners

In the past three years, the Honnold Foundation has supported 48 Partners in over 20 different countries and territories, each of which uses creative solar energy solutions to build equity, increase climate resilience, and support communities’ right to self-determination.

Earlier this year, we committed to doubling our grantmaking to fund $2 million in solar energy projects. Now, we’re ecstatic to share that we’ve met our goal and are welcoming a new cohort of Honnold Foundation Partners!

We’re excited to share the Honnold Foundation’s Fall Partner cohort: 10 precedent-setting, community-led organizations from around the world. 

“For centuries our people have had to break our bodies and our mountains mining coal. Now we can begin to heal both by mining the sun.”

— Jacob Hannah, Director of Conservation at Coalfield Development

Billions of dollars are being poured into climate tech, but marginalized communities battling generations of inequity are often left out of the vast majority of these investments. At the Honnold Foundation, our goal is simple:

Power People, and the Planet

Nearly 90% of HF’s funding goes directly to our partners, and 100% of our funding comes from our donor community—people like you, who know that it takes all of us to make the world a brighter place.

Join us: donate today and support a brighter world for years to come.

Meet Our Spring 2022 Partners

In the past three years, the Honnold Foundation has supported 34 Partners in 20 different countries and territories, each of whom uses creative solar energy solutions to build equity, increase climate resilience, and support communities’ right to self-determination.

Now, we’re excited to share the Honnold Foundation’s Spring Partner cohort—  14 precedent-setting, community-led organizations from around the world. 

“Seeing an elder turn on the lights in their home for the first time is a powerful feeling.”

— Deb Tewa, Native Renewables Workforce & Education Manager

As you learn about our newest Partners, you may notice some familiar names. For the first time, the Honnold Foundation has made multi-year commitments to Partners who have expanded their initial projects and are working to scale regionally. This Fall, the Honnold Foundation will announce 12 additional Partners, raising our 2022 grant commitment to $2 million.

Billions of dollars are being poured into climate tech, but marginalized communities battling generations of inequity are often left out of the vast majority of these investments. At the Honnold Foundation, our goal is simple:

Power People, and the Planet

Nearly 90% of HF’s funding goes directly to our partners, and 100% of our funding comes from our donor community—people like you, who know that it takes all of us to make the world a brighter place.

An anonymous donor has stepped up with a generous matching gift: between today and Thursday, June 30th, 2022, all contributions up to $55,000 will be doubled! Every dollar you donate will go straight towards our work, and, if we meet our match, the full $110,000 will power two new grantees.

Join us: donate today and support a brighter world for years to come.

Meet Our 2021 Core Partners

The Honnold Foundation is growing, and so is the call for solar energy funding from grassroots organizations around the world. This year, we received over 400 applications for solar energy funding from our Core Fund, with applicants from every continent except Antarctica. As our team reviewed the applications, a clear theme emerged: climate change continues to widen the equity gap around the world, and communities need support now, more than ever.

Today, we’re introducing our 2021 Core Partners. In the coming year, these 10 organizations will use solar energy to reduce their communities’ impact on the environment, increase their resiliency and capacity to weather climate change, and strengthen their communities’ right to self-determination.

With the addition of this incredible slate of Partners, the Honnold Foundation is committed to giving away over one million dollars in funding to solar energy projects around the world by the end of the year.

In the face of a problem as big as climate change, one million dollars in funding for our partners isn’t going to solve everything. But it’s a start. And at the Honnold Foundation, we’re firm believers in the fact that small steps can add up to big change.

Nearly 90% of HF’s funding goes directly to our partners, and 100% of our funding comes from our donor community—people like you, who know that it takes all of us to make the world a brighter place. We’re in this for the long haul, and with your support, we can continue reaching communities on the frontlines of climate change. Join us: set up a recurring donation today to support a brighter world for years to come. 

Adjuntas: A Solar Community

Since 2019, the Honnold Foundation team has been working alongside Casa Pueblo to co-create Puerto Rico’s first cooperatively managed, community powered solar microgrid.

Earlier this year, we introduced the Community Solar Energy Association of Adjuntas (ACESA), a nonprofit led by the local business association that manages microgrid operations. Thanks to our friends at REC Group and Rivian, ACESA will own, maintain, and manage the 1,000 solar panels powering 18 small businesses in the center of the town of Adjuntas.

While 2020 has presented challenges for all of our partners worldwide, Casa Pueblo’s Associate Director Arturo Massol Deyá says, “We’re extremely happy here in Adjuntas […] through solidarity and community engagement, we’re in the middle of a significant transformation.”

Read HF Project Manager Cynthia Arellano’s latest trip report to learn more about the Adjuntas solar microgrid.

Solar Energy for Sumba Island

The KOPPESDA Foundation, a Honnold Foundation Spring 2020 Core Partner, improves farmers’ livelihoods on Sumba Island, Indonesia. KOPPESDA, Sumba Sustainable Solutions, and the Honnold Foundation have partnered to bring solar energy and upcycled battery storage systems to homes, health care providers, and schools. 

We caught up with Dr. Sarah Hobgen, co-founder of Sumba Sustainable Solutions, to learn about why it’s so hard to hand out “free stuff” and how KOPPESDA changed course to build a scalable solar-powered economy.

In the province of East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, over 600,000 households rely exclusively on kerosene, candles, and diesel for power and light. Twenty-three percent live below the poverty line— just US$17 a month per household. The KOPPESDA Foundation works with rural communities on Sumba Island, the southernmost island in East Nusa Tenggara, where poverty rates are even higher. 

 

For over 20 years, KOPPESDA has helped rural communities on Sumba Island improve livelihoods and reduce environmental impact. Over that time, KOPPESDA and other local organizations have tried to increase solar energy access, without much success. Modest government and private grants have funded small, “free” solar installations, but the community was slow to embrace new technology. In rural, tight-knit communities governed by personal relationships and handshake agreements instead of paper contracts, it’s difficult to “give away” solar panels while also supporting long term adoption and the community’s sustainable growth.  

Sarah Hobgen has spent the last 10 years living and working in rural Indonesia as a researcher and capacity-building expert, and when she got involved with KOPPESDA’s work, she realized that “free” doesn’t necessarily mean practical or scalable. 

Imagine being a farmer with little to no technical training who has been offered a “free” solar energy system. The only catch? You have to pay for the panels’ installation, sign a complex contract, you may owe a utility company extra monthly fees, and you’ll also need to manage the upkeep yourself with no training. The panels are older models, are unreliable, and have no battery storage capacity, so at night you do what you’ve always done: light a candle or power up your costly diesel generator. Sooner than later, you’ll stop paying the utility company. Not too long after, that solar system ends up in a landfill. During her time in Indonesia, Sarah has seen this history repeat itself more than once. 

“In the past, there was no trust, little accountability, and no stable, continuous economic improvement. The panels would just go to waste as soon as there was a technical failure,” says Sarah. “In order to really improve electricity and access to services, people need to feel like they’re invested in the service.”

In 2019, KOPPESDA launched a partnership with local solar company Sumba Sustainable Solutions to reimagine what Sumba Island’s future as a solar-powered, scalable economy. After brainstorming with the leadership teams, the majority of whom are from Sumba Island, they settled on an affordable social-enterprise model.

Gone are the days of zero accountability. Panels and batteries are newly manufactured, have an expected lifespan of over 20 years, and are all sold with a warranty. These panels are designed to stay on homes, medical centers, and small businesses, and out of the local landfill. 

With the help of the Honnold Foundation, over 1,500 people now have access to electricity, and moving forward, an estimated 100 people per year will be added to KOPPESDA’s growing list of clients. In a region where most of the community grew up relying on candlelight, the impact has been huge.

“Life is busy… in rural villages,” Sarah says. “Collecting firewood, collecting water from the river, cooking on an open fire, boiling all of the drinking water, manually processing crops and farming for food, just as their ancestors have done for hundreds of years— all of it takes time. By supplying them with quality solar lighting and mobile device charging we are adding four hours to their evening when they can weave cloth or palm mats or just take some time to keep in touch with family on the phone.”  

KOPPESDA is making stable, long term investments in the Sumbanese peoples’ future. Make a gift today to power a sustainable clean-energy economy for Indonesia and other Honnold Foundation Partners around the world.

A New Generation of Guatemalan Leaders

Asociación MAIA is the first school for indigenous girls in Central American, and a 2020 Honnold Foundation Partner. MAIA is committed to unlocking and maximizing the potential of young women to create transformational change. We spoke with Lidia Oxí, Director of Special Projects, and Jenny Dale, Coordinator of Institutional Support and Sustainability, to learn more about how girls’ education and the solutions to climate change are intertwined, in Guatemala and beyond.

In 2008, MAIA founded an afterschool program that provided Guatemalan girls with financial support for attending secondary school, and an intensive mentorship program that partnered girls and their families with supportive peers from within their communities. But by 2015, MAIA’s leadership team started to wonder if they could do even more. 

In Guatemala, 25% of girls and women attend secondary school, 10% graduate, and just 1% study at a university. Students must pass a difficult entrance exam in order to access public university, but a poor public education system creates a challenge— just 25% of high school graduates are considered proficient in reading, and only 6% proficient in math. “[In the beginning,] we were offering scholarships [to public universities], but students weren’t always able to pass the entrance exam”, explains Jenny Dale. Ultimately, poor public school education and generations of systemic poverty have created a massive gender gap in Guatemala’s leadership institutions.

How many women could be Doctors? Lawyers? Climate scientists and solar experts? With real investment and opportunity for the first time in generations, how far could she go?

MAIA’s founders envisioned a school designed specifically to meet indigenous Guatemalan girls’ holistic needs. A place where students’ cultures and identities would be recognized and celebrated. With support from donors all over the world, the MAIA Impact School opened its doors in 2017.

Rigorous academics help Girl Pioneers (MAIA’s own name for their students,) quickly surpass educational benchmarks. Classes also emphasize critical thinking skills, negotiation tactics, intercultural networking dynamics, and other crucial leadership skills, ensuring that Girl Pioneers don’t just graduate with an education— they graduate with a voice.

Since mentorship and teaching staff are 86% indigenous and 82% women, they understand the cultural and socioeconomic barriers their students face. They know what it’s like to feel torn between helping their families earn income and prioritizing their own learning. For example, Lidia Oxi’s roots are planted firmly in the same communities she now serves. She grew up in rural Guatemala and grappled with the same barriers her students face. Eventually, she earned a scholarship to the University of Georgetown and later, received an MBA while studying in Taiwan. Now, her experience and passion to lead the Girl Pioneers on a similar path makes students’ dreams that much more concrete.

“A growing body of data shows a cascade of positive outcomes associated with girls’ education. Literally every area of development– from addressing climate change to world economic prosperity– is improved when girls participate fully in society” — MAIA 

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MAIA’s team always envisioned the Impact School as a hub for solar energy education. According to Jenny, “Sustainability [is] a core piece of MAIA’s mission. We are not only preparing Girl Pioneers to enter the workforce, we want to make sure that they are prepared to be agents of change.” With the Honnold Foundation’s help, MAIA will soon finish installing a solar array that will save $10,000 annually, eliminate 32 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year, and catalyze the community’s commitment to sustainability. 

The solar array will be incorporated into the school’s science and sustainability curriculums, including a hands-on workshop open to families and the entire community. “Just to be able to share the utility savings, the process for getting a licence, and other [logistical] pieces [...] that creates tangible, practical, learning opportunities for the students and community,” notes Lidia.

Changing centuries of intergenerational poverty takes effort, belief, and continued investment, stresses Lidia. "We’re empowering students so that they can continue empowering their community, and then the country [...] but you cannot change the life of a person with a workshop. We've spent over 5000 hours across six years with our students, and we're just now starting to see those effects. For systemic poverty in communities to change, it's about an investment of resources, including time. It's a process."

The Honnold Foundation proudly supports MAIA’s Girl Pioneers, and the process of empowering a bright new generation of Guatemalan leadership. To support MAIA’s work, and other solar community initiatives like it, make a gift today.

Donate Now

Community Engagement with Casa Pueblo

The Honnold Foundation and Casa Pueblo have been hard at work on making Puerto Rico’s newest cooperatively-managed and community-owned microgrid a reality. Soon, Rivian’s second life batteries will be used as the energy storage solution for a microgrid that powers small businesses in the town of Adjuntas— ensuring climate and disaster resilience for the heart of the community.

For the past year, the Honnold Foundation has worked side by side with the community to develop an energy solution that addresses local needs. Providing the materials and engineering expertise is just one part of establishing a community-owned microgrid.

Casa Pueblo

Adjuntas, PR

Honnold Foundation Project Manager Cynthia Arellano has spent extensive time in Puerto Rico, working with Casa Pueblo founders Tinti Deyá Díaz and Alexis Massol González, along with their son and current Associate Director, Dr. Arturo Massol-Deyá. With their support and guidance, Honnold Foundation has gotten to know the small business community in Adjuntas, and learned more about their vision for a solar-powered island.

Founders Tinti Deyá Díaz and Alexis Massol González

Dr. Arturo Massol-Deyá, Associate Director of Casa Pueblo

Cynthia Arellano, Project Manager

Arturo introduces Honnold Foundation, Rivian, and the microgrid project to the Adjuntas community.

Alex Honnold meets with community members during the team’s initial planning visit.

After a series of community meetings, it became clear that solar panels would have the greatest impact for small businesses in the center of Adjuntas. Not only are these businesses central to the Adjuntas economy, but in natural disasters, they become hubs for community services. In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, local business owners powered up diesel generators to provide families with food, cold storage for medical supplies, charging stations for cell phones, and other critical support services.

Ultimately, Adjuntas’ residents determined that the microgrid’s solar energy should be owned and distributed by the community via a newly formed nonprofit, ACESA. ACESA will provide small businesses with energy at a reduced rate. After reinvesting some profits into microgrid maintenance and repair, ACESA plans to invest earnings into social good initiatives throughout the town of Adjuntas.

Meet some of ACESA’s leadership team and Casa Pueblo’s staff, pictured below.

Gustavo Irizarry, Lucy's Pizza Owner (Copy)

Jose Colon, Digital Point Owner (Copy)

Abraham Gonzalez, Hospice Center Owner (Copy)

Wanda Vasquez, Hardware Store Owner (Copy)

Tommy Barcelo II, Property Owner (Copy)

Walter Acevedo, Bakery Owner (Copy)

Rebecca, Casa Pueblo Staff (Copy)

Jorgie, Casa Pueblo Staff (Copy)

We’re delighted to play a role in building a brighter future for Adjuntas, and immensely proud to work alongside the talented teams at Casa Pueblo and Rivian. Check out a few more photos from our time in Puerto Rico, and make a gift today to support Casa Pueblo, the city of Adjuntas, and future Honnold Foundation community partners.

Donate Now

Photos by Ben Moon and the Honnold Foundation

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Exploring Solar in Angola

by Maury Birdwell, former Executive Director & Board chair

Angola is a stark, harsh country in many ways. Like much of the developing world it lacks the infrastructure - both technologically and democratically - to provide equal opportunity across its vast social and physical geography. The capital of Luanda grants a striking visual metaphor: gazing from the rooftops at night one sees mud-brick hovels next door to ostentatious night clubs and five star hotels. The countryside is ravaged of any wildlife, and everywhere we drove it was ablaze with field clearance burning. At first blush its easy to greet this with despondence and pessimism; however, when viewed in the context of a country barely a decade free from thirty four years of civil war things take on a rosier glow.

Pause on that for a second: many Angolans lived a practical lifetime in a constant state of unrest, wherein the present state of peace has become the exception to their existence. For those of us in the western world we cannot and will not ever know what that really means. Our de facto team leader Stacy Bare had spent nearly a year clearing land mines, simply aiming to return the countryside to a basic state of usability. How many times have you scouted what looks to be a promising climbing destination only to abandon it because the approach was too threatened by the possibility of land mines?

On August 30, Alex Honnold, Stacy Bare, Ted Hesser, and myself boarded flights to Luanda with some audacious goals for a two week trip: we sought to sample the climbing, see the state of affairs 10 years after Stacy's last visit, and initiate a pilot program for off grid solar entrepreneurship. Ted in particular (with what help I could offer) had been pushing hard and fast on the latter goal for the better part of six months. We had made great strides but hit many roadblocks - in fact our solar products were still stuck in customs when we arrived in country. Nonetheless, we had come as far as we could from our computer screens and Skype, the only thing left to do was get on the ground and figure out if all the other off grid solar companies who refused to enter Angola thus far were right after all.

This is where the horizon begins to look bright. Not only did we establish a handful of routes from 5.7 to 5.13c, we learned that the HALO Trust (Stacy's former employer) and other similar organizations just passed the halfway mark to clearing the roughly 1,500 documented minefields across the country, and it appears that by importing just 100 home solar systems we've convinced the Energy Minister to order another 3,000 units as part of a broader market test. It is far too early to say whether Angola will see the type of micro-grid solar explosion that is sweeping East Africa, but it's heartening to know that a country with a traditional mono-economy of oil and gas is investigating these kinds of alternatives. Our partners at organizations like SolarAid and Elephant Energy have been eyeing Angola for years, perhaps our devil-may-care effort will remove the mystique and enable them to come in equipped for success.

These last two weeks were a blur of climbing rocks, spontaneous dance battles with the locals, and late night debates about the efficacy and approaches of bridging the energy gap. There were ups and downs, setbacks, and triumphs. Just like everywhere in the world we learned that at its most basic level Angola is full of good, decent people who see and strive for a better future for their country; except these people are starting the race 10 meters back and without the starting blocks available to many of us. While our impact may be minor in scale, we at the Honnold Foundation believe that only by refusing to accept current realities can we bridge those gaps. More than anything, we hope that you believe the same thing, too.

Huge thanks to partners The North Face, VICE Sports, and Goal Zero for believing in and supporting this trip.

Be sure to tune in to VICE Sports this fall for the feature on Alex, Stacy, and the Honnold Foundation's trip to Angola.

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A New Partnership with Northern Navajo Solar Entrepreneurs

An estimated 18,000 homes on the Navajo Nation in the four corners region of the United States lack access to electricity. Many elders and families use dangerous and polluting kerosene and propane lanterns for light in their homes, trapping in harmful fumes and posing serious fire and health risks. Families spend $20–$40 each month on these inefficient fuel sources–a huge price considering that many survive only on $700 each month. Families are paying up to 6% of their income for a light source that is slowly killing them. Since 2010, Elephant Energy has worked to provide energy access for Navajo elders, families and school children through the distribution and sale of affordable and efficient small-scale solar technologies.

This spring the Honnold Foundation is partnering with GoalZero, The North Face, and Clif Bar to expand Elephant’s efforts and initiate a solar entrepreneurs project in the Kayenta Region of the Navajo Nation. Through generous solar product donations from GoalZero, fundraising matching from The North Face, and support from Clif Bar, we’ll be able to help bring Elephant’s proven strategy to a whole new area!

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What are the needs?

Access to solar light is life-changing for the elders and families that receive solar energy systems. For example, Bessie Wilson lives in a small Hogan in Bodaway/Gap Chapter with no running water and an outhouse nearly 50 yards away. Bessie has a young daughter and a 15-year-old son who travels to school over 40 miles away during the week. Prior to receiving a Goal Zero home solar system from Elephant Energy, Bessie and her family used expensive batteries to power a flashlight, or went without light at night. In March 2013, Elephant Energy installed a Goal Zero Escape 150 system in Bessie’s home, and additional lights outside her house and on her outhouse. Now, at night, Bessie can weave Navajo rugs to sell to support her family, and with the ability to study at night, her son has started getting A’s and B’s in school, instead of C’s and D’s.

What does Elephant Energy do?

Entrepreneurs Program
Solar entrepreneurs form the backbone of the Northern Navajo Solar Entrepreneurs Project. Elephant Energy believes that entrepreneurs must “learn by doing,” and as such, entrepreneurs participate in on-location trainings about pricing, marketing, and sales. This training allows entrepreneurs who are attuned to the cultural norms of the area to make informed business decisions. Trained solar entrepreneurs receive small-scale solar products to sell and generate income for their families. This program increases community economic development in the Navajo Nation and increases engagement in business.

Solar Schools Initiative
Through this Initiative, Elephant Energy partners with the Northern Arizona University to develop and teach a “solar schools curriculum” to community schools, and to provide study lamps that kids can check out from the library, just like they would check out a book. Kids can use these lights to study at home, while sharing knowledge about solar technology with their families.

Elder Installation Program
Elephant Energy partners with Community Health Representatives throughout the Navajo Nation to identify the highest risk members of each community. Through this program, Elephant Energy provides supplies to install solar products pro bono into the homes of sick and elderly community members, reducing dependence on costly and dangerous kerosene for light.

What are the impacts?

Elephant Energy’s Northern Navajo Solar Entrepreneurs Project will:

1. Eradicate kerosene use for lighting in the Navajo Nation

2. Establish clean energy technologies as viable and accessible alternatives to grid-based electricity from coal-fired power plants

3. Facilitate rural economic development by creating job opportunities on the Navajo Nation

How can you help?

Donate to help support the Northern Navajo Solar Entrepreneurs Project! Curious what your money will go towards?

$25 loans a solar-powered light and cell phone charger to a solar entrepreneur
$50 provides three solar lights in the home of a Navajo family
$100 eliminates kerosene use in the homes of two Navajo elders
$250 provides a solar system to light an entire home
$500 provides kid-friendly solar products for the Solar Schools Initiative

The North Face will be matching donations up to the first $5,000, after which the Honnold Foundation will match up to an additional $10,000; for a total of $15,000 in matching funds!

Donate Now

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