Christine Stoner
Jean Shia
Reflections from Autodesk Foundation leadership, Executive Director Christine Stoner and Managing Director Jean Shia, on the Autodesk Foundation fiscal year 2024 Impact Report.
As we look back on an unpredictable year marked by record-breaking temperatures, geopolitical conflict, and a shifting labor market, what has held steady is the Autodesk Foundation’s commitment to addressing climate change and workforce development through catalyzing and de-risking innovative solutions. These two challenges are intertwined and require sustained attention across sectors, industries, and communities.
This year validated our work as a foundation, bolstered our commitments, and compelled us to leverage our best, brightest, and most strategic resources to enable greater impact. In doing so, we:
- Expanded our portfolio of organizations developing climate mitigation technologies that are decoupling economic growth from emissions—Heirloom, for example, plans to remove 1 billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere annually by 2035;
- Helped to advance climate adaptation technologies and set our sights on strengthening infrastructure in under-resourced communities—including Bridges to Prosperity, a global nonprofit harnessing AI to connect isolated communities with infrastructure;
- Invested in workforce development initiatives to upskill workers and create more inclusive access to green jobs—like The Families and Workers Fund, which leads initiatives to create dignified career pathways to enable resilience for workers in the green economy.
Across our investments, we’ve seen our portfolio organizations collectively scale their impact:*
- Reaching 110 million people with resilient solutions in housing and infrastructure, energy access, agricultural productivity, and workforce development;†
- Reducing 2.2 million metric tons of CO₂e emissions in 2023;
- Supporting 12,900 people in obtaining new or improved jobs in 2023.
In this report, you’ll have a chance to learn more about our commitment to measuring and managing impact, as well as how our unique combination of catalytic capital and strategic in-kind resources (training, consulting, and storytelling) builds expertise, capacity, and directly contributes to impact outcomes. You will also be introduced to leaders with diverse backgrounds and proximity to impacted communities from across our portfolio who are accelerating industry transformation globally. Furthermore, you’ll discover how thousands of Autodesk employees last year applied their skills for impact beyond their day jobs in service of our portfolio and beyond, through volunteering, charitable giving, and grantmaking.
Finally, while the year ahead will present challenges that are both familiar and still unknown, we remain steadfast in our vision, committed to transforming industries and supporting a future that is sustainable, inclusive, and resilient. We will continue to lead with courage, accountability, and transparency every step of the way.
Sincerely,
Christine Stoner
Executive Director
Jean Shia
Managing Director
* These impact metrics rely on data aggregated and sourced from financial reports, annual reports, organizational key performance indicators, and self-reported data from the Autodesk Foundation portfolio.
† Cumulative data from organizations, since their inception, that were a part of the Autodesk Foundation portfolio during 2023.
