Gloria Walton, who has been described as one of the United States’ most exciting “next generation” political leaders, is an award-winning organizer, writer, and the President and CEO of The Solutions Project. She was recently among Time’s 2023 Earth Award honorees.
The Solutions Project is a nonprofit that promotes climate justice through grantmaking and bringing the stories of frontline community leaders to the forefront. It has boosted the transition to 100 percent clean, renewable energy, including wind, water, and solar, for all people and purposes. The organization invests 95 percent of its resources in frontline leadership of color, with a focus on women-led organizations.
In only a year, Walton has more than quadrupled The Solutions Projects’ impact and influence by leading a growing team now funding and strengthening the innovations of more than 100 grassroots grantees. In her first few months alone, she negotiated a $43 million unrestricted grant from the Bezos Earth Fund, gave a TIME100 talk alongside co-founder Mark Ruffalo, and was named "New President to Watch" and one of the “100 Power Players in Philanthropy” by Inside Philanthropy. She also helped launch the first-ever Women’s Climate Week and first-ever Black Climate Week.
Walton sincerely believes that climate change is a solvable issue.
“As much as it’s daunting, there’s also a tremendous opportunity. Our communities are invoking the need for racial reckoning in this country and across the globe. Climate gives us that opportunity because it is an intersectional issue. It gives us an opportunity to think differently about how we operate and how we’ve been treating each other, our land, and our resources. It gives us an opportunity to disrupt how we’ve commodified our people and our resources,” she said in an interview with the InfluenceHER Project.
Walton comes to the Solutions Project from Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE), where she was President and CEO for 10 years. Under her leadership, SCOPE served a critical role in many significant ballot measures and policy campaigns that increased community decision-making and ensured equitable investment in green jobs, climate solutions, and critical public services.