Most funding comes with strings attached, but urgent environmental challenges rarely follow a pre-approved budget line—and the people best positioned to solve them often can't afford to wait.

There's a tension in the world of impact funding: the people closest to a problem usually know where resources need to go, but the structure of most grants doesn't trust them to decide.

Restricted funding locks in deliverables before anyone has a full picture of what the work will require, prescribing how money gets spent long before the realities on the ground become clear. Unrestricted grants are given to the organization to direct as needed. That simple distinction, in practice, changes everything.

At some point, restricted funding became the norm. But the most pressing environmental problems don't follow a tidy budget line.

Unrestricted funding is what makes us so excited to sponsor the Shift Impact Grant. Here's why this grant is designed around trust, not conditions.

Why this matters for environmental innovation

Sustainability and climate work are poorly served by restricted funding models. Projects in these fields are complex and represent interconnected problems that involve shifting technologies, policies, and ecosystems.

It’s especially difficult to define environmental projects at the outset because research is quickly progressing. Organizations working in these fields often need to adapt their strategies as they respond to changing conditions and collaborate across sectors.

Unrestricted funding supports this reality. It gives organizations the flexibility to invest where resources are needed most and pursue promising opportunities, adjusting course if conditions change. That flexibility isn't a weakness in the funding model; it's what enables innovation.

From an equity standpoint, restricted funding models often favour organizations with dedicated grant-writing capacity, extensive reporting infrastructure, and long-standing funder relationships.

Climate solutions are not developed only by large, established organizations. Many relevant insights come from community-rooted, local groups that are closest to the challenges they’re addressing.

If climate grants aim to support community-informed solutions, the structure of their funding is critical. Trust-based giving recognizes that the people doing the work are often best positioned to determine how resources should be used.

Unrestricted funding means unrestricted growth

Unrestricted funding isn't a blank cheque with no accountability. It's a recognition that the work required to create impact often doesn't fit neatly into a grant category. Think about everything going on behind the scenes of a successful start-up or organization that restricted grants rarely allot funds to:

• Hiring the right people
• Testing new approaches
• Pivoting when necessary
• Building operational infrastructure
• Investing in community relationships
• Prototyping solutions long before they’re ready to be evaluated

A February 2025 report from the Center for Effective Philanthropy found that 93% of nonprofit leaders said an unrestricted grant significantly strengthened their ability to achieve their mission. Nearly 90% said it strengthened long-term financial sustainability. Two years after receiving their grant, recipients had twice as many months of operating reserves as similar organizations that did not receive funding. And only 7% anticipated a "financial cliff" (running out of financial reserves)—the concern most skeptics raise.

Funding philosophy as a governance principle

As a Certified B Corporation, Redbrick is part of a global movement working to benefit people and the planet. B Corp's Purpose and Stakeholder Governance standard recognizes that the people most affected by an organization's decisions should have a meaningful role in shaping them. The Shift Impact Grant operationalizes that principle outward: it treats recipients as the primary stakeholders who know best where resources should go.

Our values—"build together" and "invest in people"—don't stop at the edges of our portfolio. Unrestricted, streamlined grant-making is one way we can fund organizations with the same trust, flexibility, and respect that we believe drive meaningful change.

The 2026 Shift Impact Grant

The 2026 Shift Impact Grant offers $25,000 USD in unrestricted funding* for Canadian and US startups, nonprofits, or entrepreneurs working on environmental innovations that require technical solutions. Apply for the Shift Impact Grant here. Applications are open until July 2nd at 11:59 PM EST.

Rather than telling recipients what to build, the Impact Grant gives them room to figure it out.

What is Shift looking for in applicants? Let’s take a look.

To ensure a fair and transparent selection process, applications are reviewed using a structured scoring framework. This framework is specifically focused on these elements:

• Community-centred sustainability impact and a clear environmental outcome.
• Innovative use of technology to address environmental or sustainability challenges.
• Alignment with Shift's values and mission.
• Scalability and long-term sustainability, supported by a thoughtful plan for growth.
• Organizational capacity to execute and deliver impact.
• A clear, compelling application that communicates both the problem and solution effectively.
• Strong partnerships or collaborations that strengthen impact may receive additional consideration.

By using a standardized rubric, Shift aims to ensure funding decisions are transparent, consistent, and grounded in measurable impact rather than subjective preferences. Applications are assessed across impact, innovation, feasibility, and organizational readiness to help identify initiatives with the greatest potential to create lasting environmental change.

*Subject to Grant Terms

We can’t wait to see what will happen this time

This grant is for early-stage founders who are working out the right path. Nonprofits doing the foundational work that doesn't fit a category. Changemakers who understand the problem better than any funder could. Last year, that meant backing FireSwarm’s autonomous drones built to fight wildfires.

Trust is the beginning of real impact. If that sounds like the kind of funding you've been looking for, or know someone who is, we’re excited to see what you’re working on. Applications close July 2, 2026.

Apply for the 2026 Shift Impact Grant.

Image credit: James MacDonald