In 2021, the Cisco Foundation made a commitment to deploy $100 million in grants and impact investments over ten years to boost climate resilience and sustainability. Building on the Foundation’s legacy of innovation and community impact, our leaders recognized both the need to strengthen our communities against severe weather and the opportunity to help build a more stable, resilient, and prosperous future.
Four years later, having deployed nearly half of our funding, we’ve learned that meaningful work requires not only commitment but also flexibility and continual learning. We recently refreshed our impact investment arm, and we have also been aggregating important reflections and lessons from our role as grant funders. In a rapidly changing landscape shaped by AI innovations and evolving challenges, we remain focused on the original intention of the portfolio while adapting to new realities.
Lesson 1: Financing tools should fill gaps intentionally
Philanthropy can do what traditional capital cannot: fund early-stage innovation and de-risk investments in new approaches and solutions, many of which are important parts of the roadmap for global climate resilience. Guided by this lens, our climate resilience grants portfolio focuses on four pillars that span both direct action and systemic levers of change:
- Nature Preservation & Restoration – Supporting communities to improve ecosystem management and expand effective restoration solutions.
- Regenerative & Resilient Agriculture – Helping smallholder and family farmers transition to regenerative practices that improve soil health, increase yields, and enhance economic resilience.
- Climate Finance – Catalyzing capital flows toward communities with the greatest needs and improving transparency and efficiency in how climate finance moves.
- Education & Action – Empowering individuals and communities with the knowledge, skills, and tools to build climate resilience and take collaborative action.
These four pillars form our compass to bridge the gap between the roadmap and how those solutions are financed, scaled, and sustained.
Lesson 2: Measurable impact is key to realizing our vision
Guided by our Purpose to Power an Inclusive Future for All, we track what’s changing on the ground and how those changes add up across the broader landscape. Each organization that we support selects a few Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) most relevant to their work, ensuring both local relevance and portfolio-wide comparability. These metrics align with global goals such as protecting 30 percent of land and water by 2030 or multiplying climate mitigation funding fivefold by 2030.
For example, a partner in our “Nature Preservation and Restoration” focus area may report on the amount of land mapped, monitored, or restored, or a “Regenerative and Resilient Agriculture” grantee may report on the number of climate-smart practices adopted. Evidence shows these actions are connected to verified outcomes in carbon storage, biodiversity improvement, and livelihood improvement. We also emphasize storytelling to capture what data alone cannot: like ingenuity, local knowledge, and relationships which help make change last.
Finally, as an early-stage funder, we see each grant as an invitation for others to join in. Through transparent measurement, storytelling, and relationship building, we aim to elicit additional funding and strengthen collective impact.
Lesson 3: Technology as a way to scale
At Cisco, we see technology as key to driving our Purpose and climate resilience work forward. One of our unique roles as a funder is supporting tech-enabled, tech-delivered solutions that increase connectivity, expand reach, and improve efficiency across sectors. For example:
- Local data collection: Tools designed with and for local landscape leaders help translate data from the ground into informed stewardship decisions. Tools from Awana Digital and Terraso enable community leaders to map and monitor ecosystems.
- Remote sensing: Satellite, drone, and light detection and ranging (LIDAR) technologies provide high-resolution insights over vast or inaccessible areas. Farmers for Forests uses drones to monitor tree growth, carbon sequestration, and irrigation infrastructure.
- Open-source data: Aggregated and shared data turns insight into action. Vibrant Planet Data Commons curates and harmonizes forestry and wildfire data to accelerate restoration across the American West.
- Digital trainings: Tools are only transformative when people know how to use them. Digital Green’s AI-powered Farmer.Chat platform delivers personalized agricultural guidance to smallholder farmers, improving productivity and climate resilience.
AI enhances each of these efforts by streamlining data collection, improving analytics, accelerating data harmonization, and powering adaptive learning platforms. When deployed responsibly, AI can enable faster, more informed action.
Lesson 4: Climate resilience as an intersectional theme
Climate resilience is deeply interconnected to social and economic wellbeing. Rather than focusing exclusively on environmental impact, our work also prioritizes social and livelihood wellbeing. Climate resilience and Cisco’s other community impact areas reveals how deeply interconnected these systems are:
- Economic Empowerment: Rising demand for low carbon energy will require millions of new jobs and reskilled workers who can thrive and shape the future. Solar Sister empowers women entrepreneurs across Africa to distribute solar energy products, replacing kerosene, cutting emissions, and generating income.
- Crisis Response: Almost 70 percent of human displacements in 2024 were caused by weather-related disasters. Partners like Build Change strengthen resilience by designing climate-resilient housing and infrastructure.
- Education: Another important effort is supporting educators and students with resources that build practical knowledge about environmental challenges and solutions. WorldLink’s Story Earth equips educators and students with practical, engaging tools to support this learning.
Where Do We Go from Here?
As the pace of change accelerates, we remain aligned with Cisco’s The Plan for Possible and the Cisco Foundation’s vision of inclusive, resilient, and empowered communities where everyone can thrive. Through strategic grantmaking, we support organizations that help us reach this vision. The four lessons shared here are the foundation for what comes next. As we look ahead, we remain grounded in humility, guided by learning, and inspired by the collective possibility of a future we can build together and through technology.
Photo credit for featured image at the top: One Acre Fund
