Our Credo

At Growald Climate Fund, we stand by our values and manifest them in our workplace culture. As a foundation, we are uniquely positioned to embody these values and pioneer new workplace cultures. We are:

Agile. We work quickly and efficiently. We are able to adapt to different circumstances and support each other when there are moments of ‘all hands on deck’ needs. 

Detail Oriented. We are perfectionists and aim to deliver high quality work in everything we do. 

Supportive. We lift each other up and provide support when team members are overwhelmed either with their work or in their personal lives. 

Lifelong Learners. We learn from our team, grantees, and colleagues across philanthropy. We are receptive to feedback, learn from our mistakes, and grow together. 

Doers. We get things done. We are a small team with high ambitions. 

Thought Leaders and Listeners. Everyone’s opinion carries the same weight. We value each team member’s ideas and lift them up. 

Humble. We strive for impact over recognition. 

Collaboration: This means that we not only work closely together on key projects, but also follow a cross-organizational, agile leadership model. This means that individuals from other organizations count as team members, and we are able to leverage their skills, abilities, and resources. These teams are fluid and flexible, following impact rather than hierarchy. We are also deeply committed to supporting funder collaboration and shared strategy/analysis and grantmaking. We dedicate a significant amount of our time and energy to supporting these collaborative efforts and building and deepening partnerships. We use the agility that being a family foundation affords us to explore, network, convene, and leverage impact. 

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: We prioritize and value diversity and multiculturalism. This is reflected not only in our diverse team, but in our portfolio of grantees and internal HR policies. Our hiring practices allow us to evaluate our grantmaking portfolio and better acknowledge structural patterns that have kept people of color, women, low-income communities, and other marginalized communities out of positions of power and out of philanthropy. 

Diversity of backgrounds and opinions on our staff allows for thoughtful and constructive debate that may challenge unintended biases and prejudice by the broader community of philanthropy. Our discussions lead to better grantmaking decisions.

We take pride in our team’s diversity, but we also know that having a diverse team on its own is not enough. Growald also works to build an inclusive community in which we seek to understand our diverse perspectives, question our own biases, and actively listen to each other. 

Innovation: We believe in a culture of innovation and creativity, where every team member is encouraged to find the role they will flourish in and to actively seek learning opportunities. Our office culture is supportive and collaborative and focused on impact rather than process. While we have very clear goals and metrics, we encourage strategic questioning, programmatic risk-taking, and big picture thinking.

Work-Life Integration: For us, work is a passion and a calling, so we aim for work-life integration rather than work-life balance. We believe in a family-friendly work style that enables leadership in the workplace regardless of gender. We therefore have:

• A flex-time policy that places an emphasis on getting the work done rather than specific hours of face-time in the office. This also reflects the fact that much of our work is international and can require odd hours.

• A family leave policy that is for primary and secondary caregivers (as opposed to the traditional maternity/paternity leave).

• Generous vacation time and family leave time. We believe this is necessary not only for family, but for fostering a culture of creativity and innovation.