Our 2024 Community Impact Report
Introduction
Work on Climate is committed to making sure that our community is helpful and effective at building the climate workforce. We’ve made it a regular goal to conduct research that measures how well our programs work, so that we can continue to grow and improve. We’re proud to present the survey results from the second half of 2024! Thank you to the members who participated in the survey.
Since Work on Climate was established, we have helped an estimated 3,018 job seekers to find work, and in 2024 alone, Work on Climate helped about 711 jobseekers. Since the beginning and especially during 2024, we’ve helped an estimated 3,068 founders with important tasks related to running their companies.
Impact for Jobseekers
Who are the jobseekers in our community? Our job seekers are roughly 50/50 male and female. Our job seekers have a range of experience, evenly distributed between as many as 20+ years of experience to less than 3 years of experience. Most of our members’ current job experience has been in for-profit startups (21%), established for-profit companies (17%), freelancing (17%), or not currently employed (20%). Most people are between the ages of 25 and 44 (79%) and most are based in the United States (60%).
What do our jobseekers want? 84% of our respondents engaged in job-seeking activities in the second half of 2024. 82% of those job seekers are looking for a full-time role, and there is a lot of interest from community members in working on climate adaptation and resilience (36%), circular economy (26%), and carbon removal (26%).
Did WoCl help? Most commonly, job seekers reported that the community helped them to browse climate-related job postings (67%), network with relevant people (36%), apply for jobs in climate (24%), and gain skills related to their job search (19%).
How can we improve? We’re focusing on making it easier for jobseekers to build meaningful connections with mentors, employers, and peers who can support their climate career transitions. In response to your feedback, we’ll be expanding structured mentorship opportunities, refining how job postings are organized and shared, and building a member directory for our Communities of Practice to better connect our members to each other and build impactful relationships.
Impact for Founders
Many people who have joined the Work on Climate community are interested in founding their own climate companies, and we also sought out their specific feedback on how we can help them reach their ambitious goals.
Who are the founders? 20% of the Work on Climate community reported being founders in the ideas stage. 11% of the community reported being founders in the post-idea stage. Founders expressed interest in climate solutions such as adaptation and climate resilience (26%), circular economy (24%), and nature-based solutions (18%).
What do founders want? 50% of founders wanted support with business model planning and validation. A large portion of founders also expressed interest in customer research (39%) and funding customers (36%). They also needed support with raising capital (35%) and finding public funding (33%).
Did WoCl help? Work on Climate has helped 40% of founders with their goals, including emotional or peer support (23%) and upskilling (23%). However, many founders reported being new to the community (32%).
How can we improve? To better support founders, we’re expanding mentorship opportunities, improving networking tools to help you connect with co-founders and investors, and curating a more structured resource hub so you can easily find guidance on funding, business models, and customer research. We’ll also be testing ways to simplify community navigation, making it easier to filter discussions and find the right people at the right time.
Methodology
The Impact Research Team distributed a comprehensive survey for only those community members who had been active on Slack or Mailchimp between January 1 and September 1, 2024. We received 898 responses to the survey, and applied a variety of survey analysis techniques to clean the data and correct for sampling / non-response biases.
What’s Next?
Based on what we’ve learned from you, here’s what’s coming next:
We’re doubling down on making connections easier—whether you’re a jobseeker looking for the right mentor, a founder searching for a co-founder, or a sustainability professional navigating change within your company. This means better matchmaking, more structured mentorship opportunities, and tools that help members find the right people faster.
We’re expanding support for Communities of Practice, creating dedicated spaces where members tackling similar climate challenges can connect, collaborate, and share knowledge. This includes strengthening support for early-stage founders working to build climate solutions and corporate climate action professionals driving change within companies. By providing structured mentorship, peer learning opportunities, and member directory, we aim to make it easier for members to access the support they need, navigate challenges, and scale their impact within their respective fields.
Just as importantly, we’re committed to making it easier for new members to navigate the community and quickly find the people, resources, and opportunities that are most relevant to them. We’ve heard that onboarding can feel overwhelming, so we’re working on improving how new members are introduced to the community, ensuring they can easily connect with peers, discover relevant programs, and take meaningful steps toward their climate goals from day one.
P.S. We’re a small nonprofit with big ambitions, and we need your help to keep this work going! Email us if you know someone who could be interested in funding our unique work, or support us personally — our eyes light up when we see that someone appreciates our work 🤩
