I-CARE Becomes an Approved 1% for the Planet Nonprofit Impact Partner

Institute for Climate Action, Research, and Experience (I-CARE) has joined 1% for the Planet as a nonprofit impact partner. Thank you to Rhiannon Hoeweler and MadTree Brewing Company for sponsoring us!

1% for the Planet connects nonprofits with businesses that pledge to give 1% of their revenue each year to environmental causes. Having met 1% for the Planet’s high vetting standard, I-CARE is now eligible to receive contributions from any of the nearly five thousand 1% for the Planet certified businesses.

At I-CARE, we fund and conduct scientific research on how climate change impacts people's health and wellbeing. We give grants to researchers across the United States studying how climate change affects people physically, socially, and emotionally, and we run one internal project each year. For 2027's project, we will examine how more frequent extreme heat is driving up energy costs for low-income families living in older, drafty homes. We will provide 200 low-income households in Cincinnati, OH, with energy efficiency kits to lower their energy costs. We will measure the kits' effectiveness, interview 40 of those households to better understand how high energy costs affect their lives, and hold community listening sessions to review the data and feedback with residents and work with them to craft public policy recommendations. We follow this format because we believe community members affected by the issue are best positioned to explain and solve it. These recommendations, if accepted, can help reduce costs and stress for the 36,000 low-income households in Cincinnati, OH, and the project can be replicated in other cities across the U.S.

About 1% for the Planet

Founded in 2002 by Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, and Craig Mathews, founder of Blue Ribbon Flies, the organization has helped its members give hundreds of millions of dollars to environmental partners. 2025 was their biggest giving year yet, with $156 million in member contributions for environmental partners. Today, 1% for the Planet is a network of almost 5,000 business members, an expanding core of individual members and thousands of nonprofit partners in more than 110 countries.

“The intent of 1% for the Planet is to help fund these diverse environmental organizations so that collectively they can be a more powerful source in solving the world’s problems,” writes Yvon Chouinard, co-founder of 1% for the Planet.

About I-CARE

I-CARE is a 501(c)(3) public charity founded in 2026 by Dr. Damon Watkins and Dr. Jess Lasoff-Santos in response to the increase in extreme weather and the severity of climate-related disasters, and the lack of funding for research on how these events affect people's health and wellbeing. According to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, from 2010-2020 the federal government distributed, on average, $5.3 million a year in grants to study the effects of climate on human health and wellbeing. A proposal now calls for cutting that budget almost entirely in 2027. We created I-CARE to help fill that funding and research gap. I-CARE co-founder and Executive Director, Dr. Watkins, said:

"I was not originally interested in climate. I am a research psychologist. But a friend introduced me to climate change, and as I learned more, I realized that 99% of scientists agree it exists, and most agree on its risks to humanity. I started to see how climate change affects everyday people's lives, and I recognized it as a present and future problem for the planet and the people who inhabit it. It concerned me that funding to understand how climate change affects people's health and wellbeing is thin, but even more so that there are attempts to eliminate this field, so I figured I should do something about it. I figured, what do you do when people do not have options? You give them options. That is why Jess and I started I-CARE."

People and communities experience many climate-change impacts that we often overlook; for example, extreme heat increases the need for air conditioning (A/C) and raises energy bills. High temperatures are also worsening drought for 100 million U.S. residents across the nation, stressing farming communities economically and emotionally, while food production increases more slowly. Coastal cities are experiencing more flooding and expect sea level to rise 10-12 inches by 2050. How will this affect fishing communities whose way of life depends on living near the coast, or residents of cities like New York, New Orleans, and Miami forced to move as their homes are lost to the water?

I-CARE will address these and other issues about how climate change affects people's and communities' health and wellbeing, and work with communities to develop actionable solutions. Our vision is a world where people and communities thrive despite the planet's changing climate.