First imagined by Rivian Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe and formally launched in 2024, the Rivian Foundation is an independent private foundation with the mission to support organizations that protect and restore our natural world and accelerate clean energy solutions.
Rivian sat down with Anisa Kamadoli Costa, President & Trustee, Rivian Foundation, and Chief Sustainability Officer at Rivian, and Heath Nero, Executive Director, Rivian Foundation, and Vice President, Philanthropy at Rivian to learn about the Foundation origin story, where it is today, and what lies over the horizon.
Anisa: Building the Foundation
How did the foundation come to be, and what was the reasoning behind it?
As with Rivian, it started with RJ Scaringe’s vision to make the greatest lasting impact on our planet’s health and the future for our kids' kids' kids. We consider our impact from all angles — not just our vehicles, charging network or supply chain, but also how we can be force multipliers through our philanthropy.
At the time of its IPO in November 2021, Rivian set aside 1% of Rivian equity to create a philanthropic platform to champion the company's mission to Keep the World Adventurous Forever. The Foundation is funded with equity instead of operational revenues, which ensures that the Foundation’s philanthropic efforts grow alongside the company; while some corporate philanthropy programs operate from an annual budget line, this structure enables Rivian dollars to stay focused on scaling the core business and enables the Rivian Foundation to operate with a longer-term view. This model demonstrates how companies can integrate philanthropy into their business from the outset, enabling corporate growth to drive lasting societal impact.
What distinguishes the Rivian Foundation from Rivian, the company?
Rivian Foundation is an independent 501(c)(3) private foundation and is a separate legal entity from Rivian. The Foundation is governed by its own board of directors composed of RJ, myself, former Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario (Chair), and Founding Chair of the Conservation Lands Foundation Ed Norton. The Foundation is a grantmaking organization which awards grants to nonprofit organizations doing impactful work across our priority issue areas.
We support highly effective, tangible, and impactful programs in the areas of conservation, clean energy access, and community stewardship to help ensure future generations can experience a world rich in abundance, wonder and adventure — forever.
How did your own professional journey lead you to become involved with the Foundation?
My entire career over the past 25+ years has been at the nexus of philanthropy and corporate impact. I am passionate about scaling impact-driven programs, fostering cross-sector collaboration, and building strategies for lasting change. I was recruited to Rivian to serve as its first Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) and founding President and Trustee of the Rivian Foundation, building these programs from the ground up and turning vision and passion into strategic, substantive programs.
Prior to Rivian, I spent nearly two decades at Tiffany & Co., where I became its first CSO and served as Chairman and President of The Tiffany & Co. Foundation. In these dual roles, I crafted the company’s philanthropic strategy focused on responsible mining and marine conservation and was the architect of its metrics-driven impact strategy and commitment to becoming a sustainable company. Before Tiffany, my first role in philanthropy was advising the Rockefeller family, truly one of the pioneers of philanthropy in the United States, while at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Even as far back as college, I wanted to have an impact on the world across sectors and highly valued my experience pursuing a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International & Public Affairs. I currently serve on foundation and nonprofit boards of directors including the Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge Foundation and the KERING in the Americas Foundation, as well as multiple nonprofit and philanthropic advisory boards.
What is your role today at the Foundation?
As President and Trustee, I serve as the bridge between the Foundation’s governance and its daily management. I work hand-in-hand with our leadership team — Executive Director, Heath Nero, and Senior Director, Samara Rudolph — to evaluate grants and refine our strategy based on real-time trends in the field. Beyond strategy, a key part of my role is acting as the conduit between Rivian and the Foundation. I ensure our missions remain aligned and look for ways to use Rivian’s platform to champion the incredible work of our grantees.
"We need to protect our only home, to ensure that the gift of such a diverse and such a beautiful planet that’s so unique is maintained. It’s a world that we can continue to explore, and continue to enjoy for generations to come. For our kids, and for their kids’ kids’ kids. For forever."
Heath: Impact Today
What was it about Rivian’s approach that attracted you to the Foundation team?
The Rivian Foundation offers the unique opportunity to engage on a broad set of issues, including access to clean energy, conservation issues, and environmental education, while continuing to support local, tangible, and impactful conservation projects. As a relative newcomer to the philanthropic and conservation landscape, the Rivian Foundation is able to be more entrepreneurial and nimble with our funding than many of the longer-tenured philanthropies operating in this space.
What does your role look like as Executive Director of the Rivian Foundation?
I am responsible for ensuring that the strategic direction provided by our board is translated into concrete goals and strategies that are achieved and implemented by recommending specific grants to high-impact nonprofit groups for board approval. Our team develops new projects and works with grantees to ensure they are meeting the objectives of the grants we provide.
What does the grant portfolio look like, and how do grants help support these organizations?
We implement the Rivian Foundation’s charitable giving through three grantmaking programs:
1) About 30% of our giving each year is focused on providing general operating support to local, community-based, charitable grantees working on conservation issues in places where Rivian has a footprint. For instance, we support several groups near our key offices and manufacturing hubs, including Southern California; Normal, Illinois; and Atlanta, Georgia.
2) Around 55% of our grantmaking is focused on what we call “Programmatic Grants”, which are larger, charitable project support grants focused on achieving specific conservation or clean energy outcomes. For instance, we are helping a group called GRID Alternatives work with low-income communities in California, Colorado, and the Mid Atlantic to overcome cost and structural barriers to install rooftop solar on 900 homes and 10 community centers.
3) The remaining roughly 15% of our grantmaking is provided to organizations working to directly purchase land or property rights for long-term conservation and protection.
What does the foundation look for in a potential grantee? Can you highlight one or two?
In a word, “Impact”. We feel obligated to our stakeholders to remain laser focused on the tangibility of the outcomes that our grantees are working to achieve. We need to make every dollar count, so we strive to ensure that each grant is aligned with our mission and moves our goals forward. For instance, we have a goal of “Getting Transition Minerals Right”. That is a big topic and to help achieve that goal, we need to be disciplined and ensure that our grantmaking results in tangible outcomes. Another example of impact is that starting in 2024, we funded a national sportsmen’s group called Trout Unlimited to help solve a complicated legal issue around abandoned mine clean up; now that they have achieved their policy outcome, we are helping them actually clean up a pilot site to demonstrate to decision makers that this new policy works and should be expanded in the future to cover additional mines.
Where do you see the Foundation next year and next decade?
The beauty of the way the Foundation is funded with 1% of Rivian equity measured at the time of its IPO is that as Rivian grows and achieves success, the Foundation’s resources grow as well. It gives me a double reason to cheer for Rivian: as the company grows, our resources grow with it. My goal for the next decade is to translate that growth into scale. We plan to steadily increase our support for clean energy and conservation groups, expanding our reach while maintaining the hands-on, disciplined approach to grantmaking that we’ve established today.
Learn more about the Rivian Foundation and its grantee organizations hereOpens in new tab.
