Luminen is a Canadian philanthropic platform created by David Keith and Kirsten Anderson working to improve human welfare and protect nature.
We believe money is a form of political power. We think philanthropy should be honest about that reality and deliberate about how that power is used. We intend to use ours to support policy, advocacy, and public-interest work in four areas: addressing climate change, reducing nuclear war risk, helping the world’s poorest people, and strengthening public education. We also make selected grants to local community initiatives in our home region.
The name Luminen is Finnish for snow-covered. It reflects our love of the outdoors and our hope to support work that protects the conditions for a better future.
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Supporting policy and advocacy that can reduce emissions, scale practical solutions, and improve climate outcomes.
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Supporting efforts to reduce the risk of nuclear conflict and strengthen public understanding of catastrophic risks. We believe this is an underfunded and underappreciated area.
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Supporting work that improves the lives of the world’s poorest people, especially where funding can have outsized impact.
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Strengthening the institutions, people, and practices that help children learn and thrive.
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We make selected local grants in our home region, and remain open to compelling approaches that don’t yet fit our main priorities.
Approach
We are new to philanthropy. We expect our priorities and methods to evolve, and we’ll try to be transparent about what we’re funding, what we’re learning, and where we’ve changed our minds.
Luminen is the primary vehicle through which we intend to direct almost all of $100M of our proceeds from the sale of Carbon Engineering toward public-interest work over our lifetimes.
We are open to giving to both charitable and non-charitable entities under various granting schemes.
Please refer to our giving portfolio page for more information on grants provided to date.
Expression of Interest
Use the form below to suggest work you think we should fund. You’re welcome to submit your own project or nominate an organization or campaign led by others.
We are open to supporting registered charities as well as non-charitable policy and advocacy work.
We are not generally looking to invest in businesses at this time.
We review submissions with outside support. Because we are a small foundation, we cannot promise a response to every inquiry.
If you have any general inquiries, suggestions, or introductions that are outside the scope of the expression of interest, they are welcome and can be sent to info@luminen.ca.
Founders
David Keith and Kirsten Anderson
David Keith is a scientist, engineer, and public policy scholar working on climate science, energy technology, and the governance of climate risk. He is Professor of Geophysical Science at the University of Chicago and founding faculty director of its Climate Systems Engineering initiative. He founded Carbon Engineering, a Canadian direct air capture company.
Kirsten Anderson is an educator with a long-standing focus on children’s learning and literacy. She taught with the Calgary Board of Education for 14 years, completed a Master of Education at Harvard, and works to support children’s reading.