Ellen Dorsey

Nov 09, 2026Executive Director, Wallace Global FundMandel is a senior editor at TIME.Wallis TrimbleUnder Ellen Dorsey’s leadership, the Wallace Global Fund has taken an unusual step for most private foundations. In 2018, it announced it would be spending down its entire endowment fund and putting that money toward tackling climate change and other efforts to support human rights and justice. Then this September it decided to accelerate that timeline: All its money would be spent by the end of the year. In the past year alone it has disbursed $50 million, with $24 million going to U.S.-based organizations.What is the single most important action you think the public, or a specific company or government (other than your own), needs to take in the next year to advance the climate agenda?The single most important action the public can take is to demand that governments immediately stop directly subsidizing the fossil fuel industry's expansion with their hard earned tax dollars. What is a climate solution (other than your own) that isn't getting the attention or funding it deserves?Community-driven just transition projects for renewable energy, sustainability, and agro-ecology are explo...