About Redwoods

Redwoods Collective is a pilot. The idea emerged from over two years of research, focus groups and demand from donors that revealed a pressing need from the philanthropic market for more vetted solutions and reliable intelligence on pathways to climate impact.

In response to these findings, Redwoods Collective was launched in 2024 in partnership with Climate Lead, ClimateWorks, and other climate leaders with the goal of lifting up the highest-impact fundable opportunities that can move the needle on climate change. Our featured solutions are vetted by leading philanthropies, backed by world class science, and presented in ways that a non-specialist audience can easily understand and fund with confidence. We have packaged up the diligence and learning materials Climate Lead and others have found to be highly effective with donors, and are making them available to a wider audience on our members-only platform - including you!

If selected to join Redwoods, you'll get access to:

  • Members Only Platform: Featuring fundable opportunities backed with written diligence and intelligence from Climate Lead and other trusted partners

  • Ways to Learn: 2x monthly Climate Briefs and Trainings with experts on climate topics

  • Direct line of support: We curate a package of opportunities that meet your clients’ interests and help you frame the pitch

Our Advisors

​​Redwoods is supported and advised by a small group of experienced funders and leaders in climate philanthropy who came together to design this new offering.

Jennifer Kitt, Climate Lead

Jennifer Kitt is president of Climate Lead, where she leads the organization’s work with philanthropists to harness their interest, passion, and generosity to increase funding for climate solutions. As an advisor to donors, their staff and advisors, and a strategic partner for organizations working to address the climate crisis, she is focused on building a community to bring new donors into the climate space to fund promising, high-impact solutions. Jennifer brings more than 20 years of experience working with philanthropists, corporations, and foundations to improve human well-being. She also brings decades of experience in community building, philanthropic collaboration and complex problem solving. As the mother of two boys, Jennifer is focused every day on the responsibility of our generation at this moment in time to heal planet Earth.

Shawn Reifsteck, ClimateWorks Foundation

Shawn Reifsteck is the Managing Director for ClimateWorks Foundation. Shawn has extensive leadership experience in the fields of philanthropy, environmental conservation, and civic engagement, and has built a reputation in the climate philanthropy community over much of the past decade as a strategic and collaborative leader. He has held numerous leadership positions with organizations over the past 20 years, including with Points of Light, Philanthropy Associates, The Ocean Foundation, and the food bank system in the U.S. Shawn earned his Masters in Nonprofit Administration from the University of San Francisco, holds a B.A. in Urban Studies from Macalester College, and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at the Wharton School—University of Pennsylvania.

Marisa de Belloy, High Tide Foundation

Marisa de Belloy is the President of High Tide Foundation. Her background includes investment banking, strategy consulting and human rights work. Marisa was previously COO of Made in a Free World, a SaaS solution for human trafficking. Before that, she created and ran a highly successful media & technology practice at investment banking firm Michel Dyens & Co., based in Paris, and co-founded and ran Fotango, an online photo sharing site funded by leading European VCs that was later sold to Canon, Inc. She has worked at Goldman Sachs and the LEK Partnership and taught finance at a French university. Marisa speaks French and English and has spent over 15 years working in Europe. She serves on several boards in the Bay Area where she resides with her husband and four children. Marisa received her MBA from Stanford University and her BA from Yale.

Marcia DeLonge, High Tide Foundation

Marcia DeLonge is the Program Director at High Tide Foundation. Marcia’s background includes research, leadership, and collaboration in the climate, environmental, and agricultural sciences. Prior to joining High Tide in 2022, Marcia was the Research Director and Senior Scientist in the Food & Environment program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a member-supported non-profit organization. Previously, she was a Postdoctoral Scholar at University of California, Berkeley, where she contributed to research on opportunities to manage grazed grasslands for climate change adaptation and mitigation. Her prior work included scientific research on storms in Senegal and dry tropical forests in Mexico. She received her MS and PhD in Environmental Science from the University of Virginia and her BA from Northwestern University.

Tom Steinbach, Rainier Climate

Tom is the President of Rainier Climate. In this role, Tom drives the strategic and operational direction of the organization, with a focus on setting grantmaking priorities and building a team of experts focused on reaching net zero emissions by 2050. He has worked in the public, private and non-profit sectors on climate and environmental issues for three decades. Tom sits on several boards of climate focused organizations.

Anjali Jaiswal, Tempest Advisors

Anjali Jaiswal is the Deputy Director of Tempest Advisors, working to address the serious threats posed by global climate change. She focuses on strategic planning, philanthropic collaboration and operations. Anjali is an expert in developing and implementing climate strategies with decades of experience in climate policy and law. Prior to joining Tempest Advisors, Anjali has two decades of experience with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), where she was the founding director of NRDC's India climate and energy program. She also worked as a senior energy litigator and California water attorney at NRDC. Anjali was a law clerk for U.S. Magistrate Judge Louisa S. Porter and a fellow in the Fulbright-Nehru Indo-American Environmental Leadership program. She holds a B.S. in environmental sciences from the University of California, Riverside and law degree from UC Law San Francisco.

Allegra Gordon, Oceankind

Allegra Gordon is a Program Officer at Oceankind, where she advances innovative solutions for ocean health and coastal resilience. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, she brings a diverse background spanning geology, product development, sustainability. A Yale graduate in Geology & Geophysics, Allegra now focuses her expertise on supporting transformative projects that protect marine ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.