The Nova Vista Foundation is a family foundation formed in 2024.
Our mission is to help ensure a livable planet with shared prosperity for present and future generations. This means we focus on the climate crisis.
We fund systems-change interventions that can influence global emissions trajectories. We are hits-based and risk-neutral.
How We Think
We start from a simple premise: Philanthropic capital is tiny relative to the scale of the climate problem.
Governments shape the market incentives and technology timelines that will determine the long-run trajectory of emissions; public spending on the climate is two orders of magnitude larger than philanthropy. As a result, we fund leveraged interventions with nonlinear upside, rather than seeking guaranteed modest returns.
We care about:
Scale: Could success shape the trajectory of an emissions stream or change political conditions to favor greater action?
Feasibility: Is there a realistic pathway to success?
Neglect: Is this an underfunded area where marginal dollars are counterfactual?
What We Fund
Our funding to date has focused on:
1. Efforts to increase public support for innovation in hard-to-decarbonize sectors, particularly food (alternative proteins) and industry (steel and chemicals).
2. Efforts to create the political conditions to ensure further policy progress and defend against derailment.
How We Fund
We typically make one-year grants, with renewals possible in some cases. Our grants have tended to range from $75,000 to $200,000.
We do not currently accept unsolicited proposals.
We respect our grantees’ time and strive to keep our application process light and transparent.
Contact
Introduce yourself at: chris@novavistafoundation.org
We encourage you to self-screen and only reach out if you are a good fit for our strategy.
Fall 2025 Open Round
We completed our first open round at the end of 2025, granting out $3,009,784. Please find short descriptions of the grants we made below. Note that the level of disclosure was determined by the grantees.
Clean Air Task Force – $175,000 – Project support focused on heavy industry decarbonization.
Climate Catalyst – $150,000 – Project support focused on heavy industry decarbonization.
Future Cleantech Architects – $141,000 – Project support focused on heavy industry decarbonization.
Future Matters – $200,000 – Project support for Future Matters’ climate program.
Good Food Institute – $150,000 – Project support focused on food decarbonization.
Opportunity Green – $185,000 – Project support focused on heavy industry decarbonization.
ProVeg International Incorporated – $150,000 – Project support focused on food decarbonization.
Cellular Agriculture Australia – $103,784
Dao Foods International – General operating support focused on food decarbonization.
Renaissance Philanthropy – Project support focused on food decarbonization.
Innovation Initiative
Madre Brava
Nuclear Innovation Alliance
Solutions For Our Climate