2025 ANNUAL REPORT
Resilient Schools,
Empowered Students
Together, we’re addressing environmental issues today while preparing the next generation to be stewards of our planet.
Video courtesy of Ten Strands and the California Subject Matter Project partnership.
Solutions Start at Schools
Schools Are Central to Climate Resilience
Nearly half of Californians interact with schools. They are major employers and own large amounts of land, driving energy and water use and potential savings. Schools have the potential to be refuges from extreme heat and poor air quality. We make improving school sustainability and resilience a priority because it does more than create a safe space for students to thrive — it also influences broader community change.
Environmentally Literate Students Will Protect the Planet
Students are hungry for knowledge, solutions, and hope in the face of climate change — not doom and gloom. Teachers want to teach about solutions to climate change, but feel unprepared. We make environmental literacy a priority in schools, supporting teachers and empowering students with the confidence to protect the people and places they love.
Resilience, Progress, and Gratitude
As we reflect on this challenging year, we do so with humility and pride. A shift in federal power and sweeping environmental rollbacks led to the cancellation of many federal grants to environmental organizations. As those organizations turned to philanthropy for support, competition for funding intensified.
And yet—because of our steadfast donor community, strategic state-level partnerships, dedicated team, and shared leadership approach—we not only endured but achieved milestones that will shape the future of environmental literacy and climate action in California for years to come:
- Established a historic baseline for environmental literacy and climate action by releasing groundbreaking data from the Data Initiative for Environmental and Climate Action in California’s TK–12 Schools, built from 1,000 school districts and all 58 county offices of education.
- Empowered California educators with solutions-focused, age-appropriate environmental lessons called Seeds to Solutions, a free, K–12 open-education curriculum three years in the making.
- Mentored high school students to shape policy and create local change through our second cohort of the California Youth Climate Policy Leadership Program, and launched the third cohort this year to meet growing student demand.
- Made significant progress toward connecting students to the natural world as a regular part of their education by bringing together leaders across sectors to participate in the California Campaign for Outdoor Learning.
Thank you for being part of this urgent and essential work. Your continued commitment ensures we can prepare the next generation to meet this critical moment with courage, creativity, and hope.
With gratitude,
Founding CEO
Founder & Board Chair
Impact You Made Possible
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Innovative Curriculum
Seeds to Solutions Brings California-Specific Climate Lessons to Every K–12 Classroom
We launched free, solutions-oriented climate change and environmental justice lessons that turn environmental anxiety into action.
Data and School Transformation
California’s First Statewide Data on Sustainability and Climate Resilience in Schools
We released, for the first time, a comprehensive, data-driven baseline assessment of how California’s TK–12 schools are advancing environmental and climate action.
Outdoor Learning
New Statewide Movement Surges Ahead
Youth Engagement
Youth Leaders Driving Climate Solutions in Schools and Beyond
Network Strengthening
Celebrating a Decade of the California Environmental Literacy Initiative
Leaders reflect on ten years of CAELI, a statewide network supported by Ten Strands, empowering educators, administrators, and community partners to scale environmental literacy.
Keeping Momentum
More Milestones
Learn more about our efforts to advance climate-ready upgrades to school facilities, shape teacher education, and more.
You have the power to shape the future.
By supporting Ten Strands, you are ensuring that young people across California gain the tools, confidence, and connection to nature they need to become tomorrow’s environmental champions. Please make a gift today to keep this momentum going.
Connect with our chief development officer Abby at aouimet@tenstrands.org to discuss all the ways you and your network can get involved.
Supporter Voices
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John Atwater and Diana Nelson
“Ten Strands ensures that environmental literacy is integrated into the core of how schools operate, which is where real, lasting change happens.”
Randi Fisher
“Investing in Ten Strands has strengthened my belief that large-scale change is possible.”
Dr. Veerabhadran Ramanathan
Professor and Climate Scientist,
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
“Education is central to social transformation, which is why organizations like Ten Strands are so important.”
Terry Tamminen
“Ten Strands is addressing one of the most overlooked drivers of the climate crisis: environmental illiteracy.”
Tony Thurmond
“Ten Strands is empowering our young people to become learners and leaders in sustainable school communities across our state.”
Investing in today and tomorrow
Our programs are making schools more sustainable and climate resilient today while cultivating environmentally literate community members for tomorrow.
Thank you to our generous donors
5+ Years of Support
3 Years Consecutive Giving
New Supporter
5+ Years of Support
3 Years Consecutive Giving
New Supporter
$100,000 - $249,999
$50,000-$99,999
$25,000-$49,999
$10,000-$24,999
$5,000-$9,999
$1,000-$4,999
$1-$999
Thank you to our partners
We can achieve even more when we work together. Ten Strands views itself as part of a larger constellation of activities—creating lasting impact at the school, community, and state levels. Thank you to the organizations that were essential to this year’s impact.
- Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education (AEOE)
- Bay Area Climate Literacy Exchange
- BSCS Science Learning
- CAL FIRE
- California Alliance for Clean Air in Schools
- California Association of Science Educators
- California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE)
- California Council for the Social Studies
- California Department of Education
- California Environmental Literacy Initiative Executive Committee
- California Global Education Project
- California Green Ribbon Program
- California Mathematics Council
- California Mathematics, Science, and Computer Science Partnership
- California Regional Environmental Education Community Network (CREEC)
- California State PTA
- California Subject Matter Project
- CalRecycle
- Center for Cities and Schools
- Center for Ecoliteracy
- Children Now
- Climate Action Pathways for Schools (CAPS)
- Climate Generation
- Climate Mental Health Network
- ClimateScope
- Collective Resilience
- Community Resources for Science
- Concord Consortium
- CTA Institute for Teaching (IFT)
- Cummings Group
- EcoRise
- Environmental and Climate Change Literacy Projects
- Environmental Education Collaborative
- GISetc
- Global Nomads
- Green Guardians
- Green Schoolyards America
- Growing Together
- Lawrence Hall of Science
- Life Lab
- Living Classroom
- Long Beach Unified School District
- Napa County Office of Education
- Oakland Teachers Advancing Climate Action
- Orange County Department of Education
- Reconnect Strategies
- RTI International
- San Diego County Office of Education
- San Mateo County Office of Education
- San Ramon Valley Unified School District
- Santa Clara County Office of Education
- Santa Clara County Office of Sustainability and Resilience
- Santa Clara County Youth Climate Initiative
- Santa Clara Unified School District
- Santa Cruz County Office of Education
- School Garden Coalition
- Science Writing Advancing Global and Planetary Health
- SEI
- Sequoia Enviornmental Education Directive (SEED)
- Sequoia Riverlands Trust
- Sierra Club San Francisco Bay Chapter
- Solano County Office of Education
- Stopwaste.org
- Sustained Consulting
- TreePeople
- UC Berkeley Data Discovery Program
- UCI EcoGovLab
- UndauntedK12
- Williams College
Ten Strands Team
Advisory Board
- Bill Andrews
- Jennifer Caldwell
- Jayni Chase
- Paul Chapman
- Dr. Milton Chen
- Jack Chin
- Dr. Hardin Coleman
- Diana Dehm
- Randi Fisher
- Mark Gold
- A.J. Hudson
- Cannon Michael
- Suzanne Schutte
- Leslie Mintz Tamminen
