Impact Funders Directory (Page 13)

Walmart.org operates through the combined philanthropic efforts of both Walmart and the Walmart Foundation, creating opportunities for people to live better every day. The organization contributed $2 billion in cash and in-kind donations around the world last year, focusing on areas where they can do the most good by combining the unique strengths of the Walmart business alongside their philanthropy. Their approach goes beyond just funding, leveraging Walmart's business strengths to deliver greater social impact. The foundation works on creating opportunity, advancing sustainability, and strengthening communities through various initiatives including climate action, waste reduction, nature conservation, supply chain improvements, local community support, disaster preparedness, and racial equity programs.

Wavemaker Impact is Southeast Asia's climate-tech venture builder, co-founding startups with proven entrepreneurs to cut emissions at regional scale. Launched in 2021 as part of the Wavemaker Partners platform and led by founding partner Marie Cheong, the firm targets the region's largest emission sources in agriculture, energy, industry, built environment, and transport, with a long-term goal of helping reduce 10% of the global carbon budget by 2035.

Wellspring Philanthropic Fund operated for 25 years as a foundation dedicated to supporting human rights and social and economic justice for all people. From its launch in 2001 until its planned wind-down by 2028, Wellspring maintained a grantmaking approach rooted in respect for human dignity and worth. The foundation supported thousands of organizations working to strengthen communities both in the U.S. and globally, with a particular focus on addressing systemic drivers of inequity, building power among marginalized communities, and countering structural discrimination. Wellspring believed that social justice movements should employ means consistent with their ideals while giving agency to the people whose interests they seek to advance.

William T. Grant Foundation is a philanthropic foundation dedicated to supporting research that improves the lives of young people in the United States. The foundation funds rigorous studies focused on reducing inequality in youth outcomes and improving the use of research evidence in public policy, education, social services, and youth-serving systems. Through research grants, scholar programs, institutional partnerships, and capacity-building initiatives, the foundation helps generate evidence that can inform policies and practices affecting young people ages 5 to 25.

Working Capital Fund is a venture capital firm that invests in technology companies focused on promoting fairness and building responsible, sustainable global supply chains. They target startups developing innovative solutions like AI-enabled transparency tools, worker-voice platforms, and financial technology that addresses urgent labor rights and ethical supply chain challenges. The fund operates with a mission to improve the lives of vulnerable workers across global supply chains and catalyze economic justice. They focus on addressing root causes of social and environmental challenges in supply chains, which annually generate $354 billion worth of goods at risk of involving forced labor and contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions while relying on over 17 million people in modern slavery conditions. Working Capital Fund drives systems change by investing in technologies that can create impact at scale, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer vision, health-tech wearables, blockchain, and fintech tools. Their portfolio companies facilitate corporate compliance, enable worker self-advocacy, support responsible sourcing, and generate proprietary datasets valuable to the responsible sourcing ecosystem, ultimately working toward more just and responsible global supply chains.

World Fund is a European climate tech venture firm that backs founders building the technologies Europe needs to compete and to cut emissions at industrial scale. The firm is based in Berlin, with a wider footprint across Munich, Cologne, and Amsterdam, and it concentrates on deep tech in energy, industry, and food and agriculture. Unlike broad climate funds that stretch from consumer brands to carbon software, World Fund is explicit about hard technology and measurable decarbonization. Every opportunity is assessed through a Climate Performance Potential lens: can this product cut meaningful emissions if it scales, and can it win commercially in a real market? That framing is meant to keep climate impact and financial performance on the same page, not in separate decks. The founding partners include Daria Saharova, Danijel Višević, Tim Schumacher, and Craig Douglas. The first fund closed around €300 million, reported as one of the largest debut climate VC funds in Europe, with room for roughly 25 to 30 core investments and substantial follow-on capital. The team has been public about reserving a large share of the fund for later rounds, because European climate companies often struggle to bridge the Series B gap. Portfolio companies sit in the physical economy as much as in software. Examples that show the range include battery recycling (Cylib), industrial and building energy (Enerkii, aedifion, ecoworks), alternative proteins and food tech (Planet A Foods, Juicy Marbles, ENOUGH), and deep tech such as IQM Quantum Computers and Space Forge. For founders, the useful signal is simple: World Fund wants durable technology businesses with climate math that survives scrutiny.