Our Mission: Take up the challenges set forth in Laudato sì by answering the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth—through bold, coordinated and measurable impact.

INSPIRED BY HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS’S 2015 encyclical letter, Laudato sì: On Care for Our Common Home, The Laudato sì Challenge Foundation supports proven and scalable solutions to the global challenges set forth by Pope Francis in Laudato sì. We strive to implement concrete solutions to care for our common home and to empower vulnerable people to change their orbit by being the protagonist in their own solution, supporting the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals of “being a human dignity narrative that leaves no one behind.” 

To put the principles of Laudato sì into action, The Laudato sì Challenge builds bridges between courageous leaders, unlikely allies from the “four legs of the stool”—the public, private, faith and academic sectors—in a spirit of solidarity and humility to advance and accelerate new, specific, measurable and time-bound “Commitments to Impact.” We seek to combine the precision and rigor of venture philanthropy with the alignment and time-bound strengths of commitments—to drive measurable, sustainable and enduring impact.

 

“Pope Francis’ hope is to see the challenges of Laudato sì taken up in credible initiatives and actions. 
The Laudato sì CHALLENGE is one such bold response!”

—His Eminence Cardinal Peter K.A. Turkson, Chancellor, Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, Prefect Emeritus, Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development

 

 
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What We Believe

“There is reason to hope that humanity at the dawn of the twenty-first century will be remembered for having generously shouldered its grave responsibilities.” —His Holiness Pope Francis

We believe we are one global human family.

We believe Laudato sì provides a clear, compelling, and unifying foundational stone to move humanity forward.

We believe that we inhabit one common home—and that all people of all faiths ought to come together to care for it.

We believe in taking bold, coordinated and measurable action to care for our common home and to empower the most vulnerable members of our common household to be the “protagonist in their own solution.”

We believe money is an energy and capitalism can be fair, responsible, sustainable and inclusive—a force for good. For all people.

We believe if we build a partnership model with authentic alignment—where everyone wins—between the public, private, faith and academic sectors, then, we can build a world that includes everyone.

 

Our Commitments

To drive our mission of putting Laudato sì into action, we have secured a diverse array of new, specific, measurable and time-bound Commitments to Impact. Several of these commitments are leveraging new resources through cross-sector partnerships, with commitment-makers combining efforts to expand their impact.

We strive to align private sector business objectives with public sector and civil sector impact outcomes, so that we may effectively care for our common home and empower vulnerable people in sustainable and scalable ways, that benefit all stakeholders.

ACUMEN

Improve livelihood and resilience to climate change of over 50M low income people in the next 10 years, through investing in workforce development and small holder farmers.

falkon ventures

Harnessing transformative venture capital—as a leader in the “new era of capitalism”—to invest in 30 companies that will empower 100,000 forcibly-displaced people by 2025.

teratree

Commit to the successful planting of 1 billion trees along the Great Green Wall of Africa, generating sustainable livelihoods for the millions of inhabitants of the Sahel by 2025.

ripple

Improve access to digital financial services for 100 million people across Africa and Latin America by 2030, including one million people in Senegal, especially women and SMEs.

 
 

Our Impact

Over the years, we have upgraded our model to generate more impact. Our model is driven by new, specific, measurable and time-bound Commitments to Impact. By facilitating new partnerships and allocating foundation resources, we can have a compounding effect on those Commitments so that they will have a deeper, broader and more sustainable impact on our common home and the lives of vulnerable people around the world.

 

5

YEARS IN OPERATION

The Laudato sì Challenge Foundation is now in its fifth year.

 

25

COMMITMENTS MADE

We have secured—and are working to advance—30 new, specific, measurable and time-bound Commitments to Impact.

 
 

10M

lives WE HOPE TO IMPACT

When fulfilled, our aim is to have all of our Commitments to Impact improve the lives of up to 10 million people by 2030.

 

 

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