Supported by Lyda Hill Philanthropies and the Cynthia and George Mitchell, Harte Charitable, and Jacob and Terese Hershey foundations and managed by Quantified Ventures in partnership with Land/Water Associates and the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, the challenge seeks to leverage outcomes-based capital in support of projects that deliver environmental and community benefits, including improved water quality and quantity, land conservation, and clean energy. The funding will cover costs incurred by Quantified Ventures as it works with the selected projects to structure the outcomes-based financing. 

Projects selected in the first round include a $5 million plan developed by the City of Fort Stockton, Texas Water Trade, the Middle Pecos Groundwater Conservation District, and Pecos County to return the perennial flow of Comanche Springs and revitalize the Fort Stockton community through a market-based spring restoration program that finances a suite of restoration activities; a $5 million plan developed by the Katy Prairie Conservancy to develop the first "green" cemetery in the Houston metro area and, at the same time, generate revenue for conservation projects, the safeguarding of healthy ecosystems, and the protection of large swathes of coastal prairie; and a $70 million project to address power-grid resilience, provide distributed generation in the urban load center, and enhance community access to clean energy through the development of a 50 MW utility-scale and 2 MW community-owned solar array on a landfill in the Sunnyside neighborhood of Houston. 

"We have been amazed by the quality of the applicants' projects and the people working to address the most pressing environmental and community issues throughout Texas," said Quantified Ventures CEO Eric Letsinger. "We are thrilled to collaborate with leading innovators in Texas to develop models and financial structures that can scale bold solutions that produce measurable impact."