Expanding youth access to climate and clean energy careers in (Boston) & Expanding access to healthier soap while creating women-led job opportunities and workforce development in (Uganda)

Initiatives That Your Donation Supports

1. THE CLIMATE CLUB 🌍 (Boston); championed by the NRDC through its sister network E2—an early climate + clean energy workforce development after-school program designed for students in EJ neighborhoods and Tier 1 school districts who often lack consistent, school-aligned climate career exposure; delivered through 18 industry modules that meet youth where their interests already are and connect those interests to real careers and pathways while exploring and being connected to clean energy and climate careers via internships, apprenticeships, and full-time jobs.
   Goal: $20,000.

2. CLIMATE AND CLEAN ENERGY CAREER LAUNCH SERIES ⚡ (Boston); a three-week, cohort-based summer internship program created in response to funding and budget cuts that limit CBOs’ access to climate/clean energy programming; centralized sessions that multiple community partners can bring their youth to—building climate + clean energy fundamentals and connecting learning to an industry theme deep dive aligned with a sponsor partner.
   Goal: $30,000.
   

3. MUTIMA SOAPS FOR PURPOSE 🌺♥️🫧(Uganda); the nonprofit soap arm of We Free Trees Foundation—created because soap is often hard to access in rural Ugandan communities and many options are mass-produced, chemically processed, and costly to import; we expand local access to healthier, sustainable soap by making 100% natural soap locally while advancing women-led community workforce development—employing single mothers and women who need job opportunities and who support our mission to increase access within their communities, and training them in soap making, financial literacy, digital literacy, professional development so they too can become their own social impact business owners.
   Goal: $15,000.

If you’d like your donation to support a specific initiative, note it in your donation message (ex: “Climate Club,” “Career Launch Series,” or “Mutima”). Otherwise, funds will be allocated across priorities based on program needs.

About We Free Trees Foundation🌳

We Free Trees Foundation—a climate education and clean energy workforce readiness organization committed to supporting communities by creating opportunities for youth and communities that strengthen local economies.

Our mission is to strengthen the connection between climate and culture through culturally rooted, creative, and capacity-building programs that advance environmental and climate stewardship, community health, economic opportunity, and generational impact.
We prepare youth and adults for the climate and clean energy transition through training, skilled trades, and entrepreneurship pathways that equip them to build, own, and sustain businesses in the clean energy sector. By creating opportunities that strengthen local economies, we work to ensure communities are not just participants in the transition — but leaders and owners within it.

By strengthening local capacity and supporting pathways to business ownership and employment in the climate economy, we work to ensure communities are not only participants in the transition — but leaders, builders, and owners within it.

1) The Climate Club 🌍

Location📍Boston
Goal: $20,000

The Climate Club is an early climate + clean energy workforce development after-school program designed for youth in Environmental Justice (EJ) neighborhoods and Tier 1 school districts. The program primarily serves middle and high school students, with a strong emphasis on high school youth, connecting environmental learning to real-world career exposure, skill-building, and leadership development. The Climate Club offers 18 industry modules spanning the full spectrum of climate and clean energy sectors and is championed by the Natural Resources Defense Council through its sister network E2 — a national network. The Climate Club is designed to be academically meaningful—not just enriching—and is aligned to Massachusetts DESE curriculum frameworks.

What we do: We give students fundamental and core competencies in understanding the climate and clean energy space—so they understand the climate economy, how it works, and where careers and solutions show up across industries. We then serve as a workforce pipeline that connects students directly to the ecosystem of existing opportunities and programs in the climate and clean energy space—including apprenticeships, internships, fellowships, certifications, and full-time jobs—through our ecosystem partners.

Our goal is not only for students to learn about different climate-related industries, but for them to fully see themselves through the interests they already have—interests that already exist within sustainability and the climate space, even if they don’t realize it yet. Whether a student is passionate about fashion, agriculture, water, conservation, policy, economics, marketing, technology, or the skilled trades, we want them to understand that the climate economy is broad, expanding, and filled with opportunities across every industry. And beyond that: we want them to know they can create opportunities that do not yet exist.

What we cover

• Industry and core climate challenges

• Solution pathways

• Career exposure (guest speakers, mentorship, applied exploration)

• Field trip or hands-on learning or certification/technical session

What your donation supports

• Facilitators and consistent site-based delivery

• Student activities, supplies, and hands-on learning tools

• Field trips and workforce exposure experiences

• Mentorship and pathway connections through ecosystem partners

2) Climate & Clean Energy Career Launch Series

Location📍Boston
Goal: $30,000

The Climate and Clean Energy Career Launch Series is a three-week, cohort-based summer internship program that brings students together from Boston’s Environmental Justice communities for an immersive, industry-connected climate and clean energy learning experience. Our aim is to work with up to 60 students through this model. What students need is clear: access to careers, genuine curiosity about climate and environmental justice, and openness to learning about clean energy. What organizations need is equally clear: a trusted partner who can deliver the teaching—both foundational and technical—in a way that is relatable, engaging, and affordable, while also opening doors to the industry employers who can grant students real access to the climate economy. Rather than placing the burden of programming delivery on individual organizations, we host centralized sessions that multiple community partners can bring their youth to—making high-quality climate education accessible to organizations that could not otherwise afford it.

What we do: Within the series, students gain Climate + Clean Energy Fundamentals—a core competency framework that builds baseline understanding of climate, clean energy, environmental justice, and the climate economy. That fundamentals learning is then tied to an Industry Theme Deep Dive aligned with a sponsor partner—showing students how climate and clean energy are directly connected to industries they already recognize and care about. Industry themes can include transportation, the built environment, conservation, agriculture, policy, fashion, utilities, solar, offshore wind, energy storage, and more.

Our goal: Students leave the Climate and Clean Energy Career Launch Series with:
(1) real competency in the climate and clean energy space
(2) a stronger understanding of where they fit across industry pathways
(3) direct connections to the ecosystem of next-step opportunities that can carry their interest forward—internships, apprenticeships, fellowships, training programs, certifications, and full-time jobs—through ecosystem partners.

Every student who completes the three-week series receives the Climate & Clean Energy Fundamentals Certification, an entry credential designed to signal readiness and support the next step into workforce and training pathways. Programming is aligned to Massachusetts DESE curriculum frameworks so it can be academically meaningful—not just enriching—and draws from MassCEC-published clean energy education resources and sector guidance, bundled in a way that is more relatable and engaging for students.

What we cover

• Industry and core climate challenges

• Solution pathways

• Career exposure (guest speakers, mentorship, applied exploration)

• Field trip or hands-on learning or certification/technical session

What your donation supports

• Support of facilitators and instruction

• Industry theme sessions, including guest speakers and sector-based learning experiences

• Student learning materials and activities

• Field trip / workforce exposure experience

• Program logistics (transportation, coordination support, food)

Become an Industry Theme Sponsor Partner

We are seeking industry theme sponsor partners who want to align a three-week series to their sector (ex: solar, utilities, transportation, built environment, offshore wind, conservation, policy, fashion, and more). Sponsorship functions as both a funding contribution and a partnership opportunity—supporting a specialized industry focus through student engagement activities, applied learning, and field trips that give students direct exposure to real roles and next-step career pathways.

3) Mutima Soaps For Purpose🌺♥️🫧

Location📍Uganda
Goal: $15,000

Mutima Soaps For Purpose is a nonprofit initiative and the nonprofit soap arm of We Free Trees Foundation, creating 100% natural soap that is better for the body and the planet. What started as a hobby for joy became a mission of purpose once it became clear that soap is a basic need, yet in many rural Ugandan communities access to soap remains limited. Much of what is available is mass-produced, chemically processed (bad for the body and the environment), and brought in from outside the region—often transported long distances—making it more costly and, in many cases, essentially unaffordable for families and communities at the end.

What we do: We expand local access to healthier, sustainable soap by making 100% natural soap locally while advancing women-led community workforce development—employing single mothers and women who need job opportunities to expand local access to healthier, sustainable soap, while also training them in skills in financial literacy, digital literacy, and professional development so they can become their own social impact business owners. We also train communities to make soap to build local capacity over time, and we partner with youth-facing Ugandan nonprofits and community-based organizations to help ensure students going to school have access to soap—including providing soap support to children through Home of Hope Orphanage.

Our goal: Train & Empower 1000 women to increase consistent access to healthier soap for children, women, and communities—while strengthening community health and supporting economic stability for women in rural Ugandan communities through employment, training, and community-rooted skill development.

What your donation supports

• Materials and supplies needed to create 100% natural soap locally (ingredients, tools, packaging) 🧼

• Employing single mothers and women in need of job opportunities

• Workforce development training and support (financial literacy, digital literacy, professional development)

• Training communities to make soap to strengthen local capacity

• Providing soap to children who need soap going to school through youth-facing Ugandan nonprofits and community-based partners, including Home of Hope Orphanage