POSTED July 19, 2021
About Our Guest
Savitha Reddy Pathi is the Deputy Director of Climate Solutions, a nonprofit in Seattle that's focused on accelerating clean energy solutions to the climate crisis.
She spoke with Tim Yeadon, Principal & Creative Director of Clyde Golden.
References
In this Episode
Input Doc: Would you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do?
Savitha Reddy Pathi: I am the deputy director at Climate Solutions. I lead our fundraising and development efforts as well as being in charge of our organizational effectiveness and organizational culture. All of which has been an interesting challenge during these last 15 months of 2020 and COVID time.
Before COVID did personal relationship building happen face to face quite a bit more than it does now?
Yeah, absolutely. Most of our interactions now with donors are over Zoom. Our events are all virtual instead of being in a big ballroom downtown. So we've had to really change the way that we've done our work.
Tell me a bit about the mission of Climate Solutions and what drew you to the mission.
Our mission is to accelerate clean energy solutions to the climate crisis. And our vision is, a thriving equitable Northwest powered by clean energy, inspiring the transition to sustainable prosperity across the nation and beyond.
What inspired me to come to Climate Solutions? I have been at Climate Solutions since 2010, over 11 years now. I started out in my professional career in the climate policy space. My first job out of college, I was an intern in DC at the headquarters office of the US Environmental Protection Agency and actually was lucky enough to be in the policy department there during the Kyoto Protocol negotiations. So I remember thinking in 1997 that some of the projections from Kyoto of, you know, things by 2020 seemed so far out. So now that I'm here at a climate policy organization working to implement real change to how much carbon that we actually use. It's been a really interesting journey to go from the policy side to now more of the fundraising and organizational side of things.
What motivates people to give? Is it similar to why people would buy a product or a service that you've found over the last 10 years or so?
I think what motivates people to give is their connection to the mission, first and foremost, that they really want to do something on climate. And that’s something I really want to emphasize to the people listening to the podcast is that everyone has a role to play on climate. I know it's a very big daunting issue, but everyone can make a difference on it. And I think for people who care about Climate Solutions as an organization that they see us doing really good work, doing very effective work, working with lots of different kinds of partners and that's something that they want to be involved with. And I think it makes them feel good too. Just like people would with buying a product that they like.
What is it that draws them to Climate Solutions specifically, and how do you identify that audience?
Our organization is a part of the advocacy shop. If you are not someone who's motivated by the policy and advocacy work that we do, you're not going to be a supporter of ours. It definitely is a particular kind of person who wants to fund policy and advocacy issues. Just like you said, there are so many different types of organizations in this space and every organization's niche and role is so important. We need the grassroots activists, we need the business leaders, we need the equity organizations, we need labor and health organizations, we need tribal nations. We need everybody involved. And I think Climate Solutions is one of the policy advocacy organizations that's very much needed in this space.
How do you identify prospective donors?
We have lots of people who give to us, we're considered a mid-sized nonprofit and you have a $4 million budget. We have about 20,000 people on our various email lists, who we communicate with and we have around 1500 donors overall. And we're a little bit different in our fundraising model in that most environmental groups that people are familiar with, whether that's, you know, the big organizations like Greenpeace or Sierra Club that have a lot of people giving at a small kind of grassroots level, they have, you know, hundreds and thousands of donors. We don't have a lot of donors. We tend to have a smaller group of people who tend to give to us at a much more significant philanthropic level. Like we are for some people, the organization that receives the most of their philanthropic support. And we have, we are kind of, our fundraising pyramid is a bit inverse from other organizations. And one thing that we are also trying to do with our fundraising is also to make it much more accessible, to be engaged with Climate Solutions. You know, especially now in this online world, trying to do events much more frequently and having those events be open to anyone and not having, necessarily, a ticket price to join things, even for our fundraising event and having it be open to everybody and just trying to increase accessibility that way as well.
One of the things too, in terms of how do we find people? A lot of the time, I'll be honest. It's people finding us or people who have long-term relationships with us. A lot of our people, a lot of our donors have been giving to us for my entire career at Climate Solutions, which has been over 10 years. Before I started working at Climate Solutions, I worked at Seattle Foundation, which is our local community foundation in both a grant-making and a philanthropic advising role. And a lot of people who gave to environmental issues through Seattle Foundation, Climate Solutions happened to be on their list. And I happened to be the person who worked with them. So it's been like 15 years of relationship with people. And I think that's what really makes a difference and makes development and fundraising and the nonprofit space a bit different than marketing in a for-profit space.
We, you know, we really focus on the individual relationships that we have with the people who are supporting us and really trying to keep them cultivated and engaged in our work. And not only communicating with them when we're asking them for a donation, you know. Our kind of general rule of thumb is that we need to thank people and talk to people at least three to five times before we ask them for a gift. Again, we really want them to feel part of the organization and part of, part of Climate Solutions and part of us to do this work together.
It's fascinating that you'll chat with a donor three to five times before making the ask. What are these conversations like? Are they just pulling them into the community, having them attend things?
Yes, it could be that, it could be like attending a webinar that we're doing. It could be updating them on, you know, the latest of what's happening in Olympia or Salem for the Washington and Oregon legislative sessions, you know, it could be, Oh, like, have you seen, you know, this new information that just came out from the Biden administration or this new thing that Microsoft may be doing on climate policy or here's, you know, there's a new network called Donors of Color Network that are doing this thing called the Climate Funders Justice Pledge. They are trying to get the big foundations to commit to giving at least 30% of their grant-making dollars to organizations that serve or are led by BIPOC leaders. You know, so trying to get out information about what's happening in the climate movement overall.
That methodology doesn't sound profoundly different from, top of the funnel marketing in which people come in and learn a bit about you and see what your expertise is and decide this Yeadon guy seems normal enough. I think we should chat with them and see what happens.
So three to five conversations go by, and then what is the ask? How does that work?
It really depends on the individual person or couple, or if it's a foundation. You know, the program officer or executive who we're talking to about what engages them on this issue, right? It is a, is it a specific policy? Is it some of the campaign related work that we're doing and really trying to figure out what motivates them and also sharing with them, like, where our critical need is? Like, you know, it's most important for us to get general operating support, because that's what we need for our organization to be functioning. As an organization, to be able to do the work that we're doing. So it really varies, for some people they may want a formal proposal, for some people it's a lot more casual than that. Like we've had people say to us in these COVID times “we're good,” you know? like “we don't want to do another zoom. We're good. You know, don't worry about checking us off the list. Like, you know, we're committed to supporting you.”
We've had donors who have given us more in 2020, because they're just committed to supporting the organizations on their list. So, and one thing too I'd like to share is, you know, our kind of fundraising philosophy at Climate Solutions is a rising tide, lifts all boats. So if we're talking to someone and they share with us an interest that they have, and we're not the organization specifically doing that, both my executive and I feel very strongly that we can say in that meeting or zoom call or whatever it is, “Oh, you know what XYZ organization is actually doing that you should go talk to them too,” you know, and helping make those connections. Because for us, obviously we want people to support Climate Solutions, but we want people to also support the overall climate movement in the ways that they want to be supporting them too.
In the lead up to making the ask, this is often the moment that someone like myself will get called in and asked to help develop themes or carve out a story. What types of tools are useful from a communication standpoint throughout this process? What materials or types of stories you have found resonated? Often, if you have this great concept or a story or an idea to tell it doesn't really matter what channel or, you know, format it goes out in, but what are you looking for along that path for stories to tell?
You know, obviously we talk about our successes that we've had, you know, whether that is specific to some of the more grassroots campaigns that we're involved in, such as Power Past Coal and Stand Up To Oil, which is trying to stop the fossil fuel infrastructure from coming across the Northwest and exporting fossil fuels to different parts of the world. Like we've had such success with those campaigns. And that's such a tangible thing that people can see if there's less coal trains and less oil trains coming through their communities. We talk about the policy successes we've had, we've talked about the successes that we've had with partners. And, you know, we also do share our challenges too. Like we do think it's important to be upfront with our supporters. And I think too, like letting them know that we still need their support even in the hard times, even, or more. So I guess in, in any hard times that we're having just, you know, really trying to figure out depending on who it is that we're talking with, like, what are the things that are going to resonate with them, right? For one person, it may really be, the work that we're doing with tribal nations. For another person, it may be, how are you engaging the business community? So really trying to gauge that in the conversation and making sure that we have examples and stories to share.
What are the top two, three, four issues people are interested in at the moment?
I would say, like, what are the real policy differences? What are the policies that will make a real difference, right? In terms of the carbon math, you know, is it too late? And the answer is no, it's not too late. You know, it's definitely not too early, but it's not too late. You know, we can all have an impact right now. I think they want to know how they can engage as individuals. They want to know how, if they work at different companies, like what they can do? You know, obviously there are things that people can do, like corporate sponsorships or workplace giving, but also anything that individuals can do to, to leverage their companies to do something that has so much more impact. And I think people really understanding that, whether that is, you know, I know that people had issues with some of the Superbowl ads that were out there with the electric car commercials. I was looking at that as this opportunity of wow, climate has become this mainstream thing that now it's one of the most expensive commercials you can buy. Right? So I think people just really want to know what are the biggest levers for change and how can they plug into it and, you know, yeah, that's, that's what's come up in conversation with our donors.
How have your donor audiences changed over the last 10 years, and have their values changed?
Our donor base has been pretty consistent over the decade that I've been at Climate Solutions, which is great. Like, I'm sure it's, you know, it's a lot more expensive to recruit new people to an organization or to your product than to retain that kind of loyal customer base or loyal donor. And so we are, we are very lucky in that way. You know, one thing that's significantly changed in the environmental movement is the conversation around equity. Like the conversation around equity, it didn't exist at this level when I started working on climate in 1997. It existed in the context of, “Oh, the poor Brown people in India,” like where I'm from, right. But it didn't exist at this level that it is now really making sure that communities of color not only are at the table, but are centered in the solutions and that their voices are the ones that are leading on the answers to the climate crisis.
Making sure that environmental organizations from the staff and the board are much more reflective of the community who is being served. And not only does that, you know, not just adding diversity for lip service, but that organizational cultures are changing as well to make organizations much more inclusive. None of these conversations were really happening at the level that they are now, even five years ago. So, and I think that is also reflected in, you know, the values that we have now as an organization at Climate Solutions. We went through a big strategic planning process in 2016, 2017, where our current mission and vision, which I shared earlier, that's where that came out of. The values, the organizational values that we have that are justice, respect, perseverance, integrity, determination, and collaboration. And also just a few years ago in 2019, we adopted leading with a racial equity lens statement.
And what that means is that's what we're going to embody internally and externally too. So in our policy work with our partners in the way that we make hiring decisions in how we kind of function inside and outside as an organization. And, you know, I think some of that has helped us attract some new donors. And I think we also have had some hard conversations with some existing donors and may have even lost some donors with our focus on, we're really trying to center equity in our work. And that's okay. Like, this is where we are on the journey. And not only, it's the right thing to do, but it is also like it's climate justice and the social justice piece of climate action is where so many of us like what draws so many of us to work on this issue.
Climate change has often felt like a global issue and yet Climate Solutions is focused locally. Does that make it easier or more difficult to tell that story?
Personally? I think it makes it a little bit easier. I mean, yes, we are local, but we also have the benefit of being on the West coast. And if you link up, you know, British Columbia all the way down to California, we're the fifth largest economy in the world, probably more so now I'm probably, you know, with California being so big, but the things that we do here can have impact across the States right? And, you know, and there have been laws that have been passed on the West coast that have rippled across the rest of the country, obviously having a federal administration that believes in the scientific validity of climate change makes a huge difference as well. Right? So the last four years were very hard for any environmental organization, because there were so many things that were happening on the national level that were potentially taking away from things that we could be doing on the state level.
And now that we have not only an administration who, you know, knows that climate change is real and knows that humans are contributing to it, but the leadership that they have, everyone from Gina McCarthy to Mike Regan, to Jennifer Granholm in these positions of kind of climates are in John Kerry, obviously international climates are, but the EPA administrator, the secretary of energy, Deb Haaland as secretary of interior, you know, first native American person to hold a cabinet position in this country. You know, these are all people who center climate justice at their, at their core in their work. and that's also going to have an impact as well. So there's going to be action on the federal level and also action on the state level too. That's one of our, one of our things is we want, we want to be able to replicate things, not just in the Northwest and some like utopia of, you know, Seattle and Portland and Vancouver, BC, but we want to be able to show people that these policies work and we don't have to rely on fossil fuel infrastructure and that we can get just as much energy from renewable sources and have that be something that can be replicated in the Midwest and other parts of the country that may have a different political bent than we do here on the West coast.
And did you even find that in the Northwest, you need to tailor your messages differently based on, are you in a, more of a red state County versus a blue state city, you know, not blue state city, but, you know?
A little bit, you know, most people, I think now, especially these last few summers, with the forest fires, that's something I think that has changed is that more people in the United States and more people in the Northwest have seen with their own eyes, the impacts of climate. And so they may not call it climate change right? Like we may have to approach it from using different words, but they've seen the impact and they want things to change. They know their land, right? So, yeah, I would say we don't tailor it too much. And luckily, you know, most people in the Pacific Northwest think that climate change is an issue that needs to be dealt with.
I've been interested for a long time in the difference between distrust of large national things, but then trusting the same thing locally. And I would imagine that you run into this.
It depends who the messenger is, right? If it's, is it a local farmer or a labor leader or, you know, someone who you know? Versus, I don't know, someone like Vice President Gore, who you may not know, and you're just like, “Oh, he's who he is.” And, that's another thing too, and communicating about climate is, you know, when kids talk to their parents, that this is an issue it's with, what's going to sway that parent should possibly vote a different way right? So, this next, this next generation really, really, really inspires me. It was really cool to be part of the Youth March that happened in September of 2019. And it was phenomenal to be in that crowd of young people.
Tell me about the first time you did a large campaign ask. What was your first big success and what was that like?
I'm trying to think of an example that I can share without revealing who the person is. I would say like my first big ask, you know, and for me it was vague. It was a six-figure gift and very nervous and was very prepared for my meeting, with all the information and the materials and everything that I was going to do. And, sat down with the donor and they were just like, “Just tell me your number.” Like, “I just want to get this part over with, and then we can just talk because then you won't be nervous anymore,” you know? And the person was like, “I'm in, just tell me your number.” I'm like, okay. And so I said the number, and then one of the rules of fundraising is like you say the number and then you don't say anything cause you don't want to talk yourself out of it either, right?
Like, “Oh, is that too much?” So I said the number and she said, okay. And she's like, “You should have asked for more.” I'm like, okay, well next time, you know, and she just wrote the check fan in there and handed me the biggest check I've ever seen in my life. And I didn't even know how you write the number out. And then we just talked about what Climate Solutions was doing. I think she is such a, she's just someone who's been in this, in the philanthropy space for so long. She just knew that I was nervous for the thing that was going to happen at the end. So she was like, let's just flip it and have it be at the beginning. And then we can just talk. And that part is over with, you know, and, and sharing too, like I'm committed to this organization. And I know that you're meeting with me to ask me to make a much bigger gift. So, and I know that doesn't happen for every, but I know sometimes, other development professionals experience meetings that don't go as well.
I would imagine there have been a number of disappointing no's along the way as well.
Yes. From people who publicly state that they're very much interested in supporting solutions to the climate crisis and who make you go through years, not just months, but years and years of meetings and pie charts and what other, whatever other information they may need. And then they don't give you anything.
There's just a cost that is sometimes demoralizing for a small business. I know what no sounds like. Well, I know what not yes sounds like.
Exactly. You know, the people who, that “maybe” is more like a yes. And then “maybe”a where it's like, they're just being too polite right now to say no. And just say no, because then I can just take it off the list of things to think about. So because sometimes when someone dangles that maybe it's like, this could potentially be millions of dollars, so I should still be cultivating them. Right. And I wish, you know, some people who we had tried to ask in 2018 when we were part of this campaign called the “Yes, On 1631,” it was a big ballot initiative around putting a price on carbon pollution here in Washington state. It would have set a precedent around the country that for the first time people in the state voted in such a great climate policy and, you know, we were taking on the fossil fuel industry head on, right? So we needed, you know, they overnight raised like over $30 million. You know, and we worked very, very hard. There was a huge collective effort of over 400 organizations, and we all worked very hard to raise $15 million, you know? And some of the people who we thought would give to that effort didn't, you know, and, or gave much later than when we had originally asked them and it made a difference.
I'm always surprised when I give, not that I give, but usually I'll get an ask, a letter will show up or something will happen. And I didn't see it coming and I give, but it's never, it never feels particularly planned in any way. I tend to give to food banks and then there's a few other things that are just like near and dear to my heart, and Kara, my wife, has a long list of people she gives to as well. And we're small donors. We're not major donors. We are, we're not even the ones that put you over the top at the very end of the campaign. We're just sort of those sort of random trickles that come in because something caught our attention. Is there a commonality in that?
Oh, absolutely. I think, you know, the people who have their own foundations, you know, usually have a staff person helping them figure out their overall giving strategy, but that most of us, like, we're all doing the same thing. We, maybe, we'll give her Alma Mater, we'll give to our, the thing that our best friend cares about, right? And they give to the thing that we care about, right? And we have our list of what we give to around the year end holidays, you know, food banks, et cetera. But I think most people don't necessarily have some organized kind of way, you know, they, they kind of have their list of groups and they kind of add to it and it changes depending on who asks and, you know, so yeah. I mean, I would put myself in that same category too. And I used to be a philanthropic advisor. Like I should know, to be much more organized with my philanthropy, right? But a lot of it, a lot of it is reactive, right? To what's going on, like in the city or in the country, right?
I get a letter from Old Dog Haven and I sent him $25. It just works like that. And then on you go. And then later you mentioned it on a podcast, but you don't tell anybody else apparently. What are the strategies of, I'm not sure what to call this, it’s not crowdsourcing, it's sort of a long tail donation pool, I guess, or just small donors. What, what is the strategy for working with this group, if you, if they're coming in randomly, it's like raindrops.
We have, you know, so we do a couple of big fundraising events over the course of the year. And so what we used to do was we had a big breakfast event in Seattle at the Westin that anywhere from like 750 people to 1000 would attend. So, you know, recruited sponsors and table captains to help fill those tables. And we will do an equivalent thing in Portland at the end of the year, a really nice dinner with like 400 people. And that was a way, you know, to get different kinds of people into the room, right? People who care about climate, but who may not give at a big level to, just to get them engaged in the work. Because in addition to, to fundraising, like we also need people contacting their elected officials and, you know, and legislators that, you know, the policies that we are trying to help get past me to be passed, right?
So we want grassroots activists in the room and other kinds of people, and, you know, so mostly we've done that. We do some grassroots, some email fundraising. We try to do more fundraising asks on social media. We used to, before I joined as development director, we did do like the direct mail pieces that you were just referring to in your last question. We don't do that. So our, you know, the main ways that we fundraise are, face to face or over zoom now asks, we do the big events that we do and try to get people that way. And now we have this opportunity where, because our events are virtual, people from all around the country can join too, right? Our donor base isn't only limited necessarily to the people who could physically get to a breakfast event in Seattle or a dinner event in Portland. And we also, have grants, you know, foundation support to like obviously lots of local foundations, but some national foundations as well, that fund on climate and also corporate, you know, lots of companies sponsor our events or give us donations as well, or their employees are engaging them to, to be a supporter of Climate Solutions.
I feel like at the very beginning we covered what led you to this today. Was there anything, sort of key moments in life that were formative that led you towards what you do today? Or was it just a question of, this is what I do and who I am? Sometimes we're just, this is who we are. And there wasn't some moment that turned us into.
Yeah. You know, like it really is just as something as simple as the values that my parents raised me with. Part of that too, I think is, you know, my parents and I were some of the first people from our families in India to come to the United States. And there was just this expectation that you're being given a different life, and you're expected to do things with the opportunity that you've been given. And there was never really a question that I was going to focus on something, justice-related and also something that was about the environment. Like those were just values that I was raised with. And, you know, went to college and got a degree in environmental studies and government and thought really thought I was going to be a policy person. I'm going to like move to Washington DC and just be a policy wonk. And that was my, you know, interned in that, and then it's just been full circle to come to Climate Solutions and in you know, originally in a fundraising role and also from the previous work I had done at Seattle Foundation in a philanthropic advising role on environmental organizations and really just be able to engage with people on really having, you know, the philanthropy that they want to do, like really having that match their values and the change that they want to make in the world.
What's the website or a place online where people could learn more about Climate Solutions or your work?
So we're on the web we're at climatesolutions.org all one word, we're on Twitter, @climatesolution, no last S in that. And then we're also on Facebook as well.
And if there is anything you wanted people to Google and read about climate change or anything in that realm, what would you ask them to go read?
I would say, the Donors Of Color Network. See what they're really trying to do to change where the money is going on, climate justice issues. It's so critical right now. If you go on our website at climatesolutions.org, you will see that there is a tab on our website that says Climate Leaders Live. And if you click on that link, you'll see all the previous webinars that we've done this past year.
And I guess I just want to just really want to emphasize that, you know, everyone has a role to play in solving this issue and in the climate crisis. And, I just want to encourage everybody to get engaged in whatever way you want to get engaged on climate.