December 2024
What a wild ride 2024 has been - full of critical pivots that led us to where we are today. I’m using this month’s update to reflect on our accomplishments this year and what you can expect from us in 2025.
Why we’re doing this work
Rising temperatures, extreme weather, increased flooding events, and other disasters have impacted 90% of counties in the U.S. in the last decade. Over that same period, the U.S. spent $1.1 trillion rebuilding communities after disasters. Today, a $1 billion disaster hits the U.S. every 18 days. By 2030, they are on track to hit the U.S. every week.
How we rebuild our infrastructure is the defining challenge of today, for generations to come. Achieving Net Zero is not enough for the trillions in disasters between today and 2050. We must adapt so that what gets built is resilient to these perils. It is the safest and brightest path forward.
That’s why we created The Resiliency Company – to mobilize as much investment into critical infrastructure that will help communities withstand the impact of forthcoming disasters and hazards.
How we got here
To start the year, The Resiliency Company officially incorporated and spun out from Network for Good - recognizing the need for a new entity to support our organization’s increased scope and ambition. The Resiliency Company is now the parent organization with Network for Good as a subsidiary.
The first half of this year, we were expansive in our search to solidify our role…
Q1: Explored ways to make good on our mission, including everything from becoming a Holding Company, launching a fund, setting up an incubator, and how to align capital with community needs.
Q2: Focused and realized that the scope of this opportunity needs trillions in investment and our best structure was as an influencer of capital vs. a direct allocator.
…in the second half of the year, we then honed in on a vision and strategy:
Q3: Put “climate resiliency” at the center of our strategy with our brand, honing in on the strategy for how we build influence with capital allocators.
Q4: Launched The Epicenter and decided to fiscally sponsor Probable Futures as a mission-aligned organization. We also started laying the groundwork for getting involved with infrastructure projects that are in response to climate hazards as a way to test and learn how to influence capital.
Some of the key learnings from 2024:
Storytelling: People see risk protection more than opportunity. We need crisp, specific examples of resiliency.
Our timing is an asset: Adaptation and resiliency is growing in popularity.
We’re attracting amazing people: Our new brand, ambitious focus, and collaborative vibe is leading to inbound opportunities, strong talent, and interest for partnership.
Financing “resiliency” is a market gap: This is a field with known solutions but a lack of ways to finance. For example, who pays when everyone benefits?
Focus for 2025
In 2025, we're going to be focusing on building the gravitational pull to unite capital allocators around resiliency. This means we will be…
Validating that we can influence infrastructure investments to prioritize climate resilience. We’re actively getting involved in infrastructure opportunities by raising financing and funding, measuring success in terms of capital raised and institutional investors influenced.
Growing The Epicenter to be a strong ecosystem platform for telling the resiliency story across infrastructure industries.
Positioning The Resiliency Company as “do-ers” with a formal launch and push for awareness. We will measure success in coverage and inbound leads for climate resiliency projects.
I remain grateful and energized that I have the greatest job in the world…working with a brilliant team on an ambitious and important mission.
Onward!
-Abby, CEO of The Resiliency Company