The Sunrise Project takes a ‘directed network’ approach to campaigning that builds the power of social movements to win large-scale change that would not be possible by individual organisations acting alone.
In order to achieve our charitable purpose, The Sunrise Project acts as a hybrid campaigning and funding organisation. We raise funds from donors who share our mission and we then grant funds to other non-government organisations and community groups in line with our objectives. Our small team of skilled organisers and analysts support these organisations to work effectively together for greater impact.
We take a system-wide view of the issues we work on, and encourage and support collaboration between the various different stakeholders – including frontline communities and small community groups, big NGOs, academics, religious groups, investors, analysts, indigenous groups, farmers, scientists, politicians, philanthropists, lawyers, economists and environmental campaigners, each of which is focussed on their own part of the puzzle.
Our approach recognises that many of society’s most difficult problems are so complex that they cannot be addressed by any single organisation acting alone. As is widely acknowledged, the climate crisis requires a society-wide response from governments, business and the community alike. Our experience is that governments and the business community tend to follow the community, rather than lead, and that organised social movements have a long history of changing the world for the better by pushing governments and business to act.
In this context, we support social movements to build their power and to apply pressure where it counts, whilst also working with regulators and parts of the business community that are committed to climate action. As well as supporting community organisations and NGOs to work together around shared goals, we also collaborate with other philanthropists for greater collective impact.
