Karuna Foundation grants are developed in collaboration with partners. We do not accept unsolicited applications for funds.

Current Initiatives

Climate-Resilient Housing in Rural Bhutan

Across rural Bhutan, thousands of families continue to live in substandard housing conditions, leaving them highly susceptible to climate-induced disasters. With over 2,000 housing requests pending as of 2024, the need for scalable, climate-resilient housing solutions is urgent. Limited economic opportunities in these areas constrain their adaptive capacity to climate change, thereby increasing their vulnerability to long-term impacts on livelihoods and well-being.

In 2024, the Karuna Foundation and the Tarayana Foundation, a Bhutanese grassroots Civil Society Organization, initiated a partnership aimed at reducing community vulnerability through the design and construction of disaster-resilient homes. The approach emphasizes the use of locally sourced regenerative materials and a community-based construction approach, with guidance from resident architect Matej Vacek. Two prototype homes are already nearing completion.

In 2025, in honor of the 70th birthday of Her Majesty the Queen Mother Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck, the Founder of Tarayana Foundation, Karuna Foundation scaled up support for this program to include construction of new homes based on the prototypes, as well as training and capacity-building workshops in rural villages and in collaboration with Bhutan’s College of Science and Technology, to foster long-term local expertise in resilient construction.

“Our work with the Tarayana Foundation exemplifies our commitment to climate resilience and human dignity through practical, community-led solutions, ” said Eric Lemelson, Founder and President of the Karuna Foundation. “We are proud to support this effort in tribute to Her Majesty the Queen Mother’s lifelong dedication to Bhutan’s most vulnerable citizens. Our hope and intention are that this grant, in addition to providing resilient homes for Bhutanese families, spurs other donors to step up and contribute to this vital effort. We all know that one of the most important elements of human flourishing across the world is having a safe, secure, and healthy place to live and to raise a family. We invite you to join us in helping Bhutanese families living in vulnerable rural communities to flourish.”

Past Initiatives

Bhutan at UNFCCC COP 28

Karuna Foundation was proud to provide partial support to the Bhutanese negotiating delegation as well as Bhutan’s first pavilion at COP28 in Dubai in 2023. The climate change Conference of Parties (COP) brings together global players on a common platform under the aegis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Bhutan Pavilion at COP28 shown a spotlight on Bhutan's pioneering climate story under the banner of "Sustaining Carbon Neutrality".

Energy Efficient and Sustainable Built Environment

Featured Project: Jigme Singye Wangchuck School of Law Library

Bhutan’s rapid growth in recent decades has increased the demand for electricity in the country's urban and rural populations. While Bhutan is able to provide citizens with inexpensive electricity through hydropower, the government is dependent on revenue generated by selling the majority of this electricity to India. Reducing power consumption by creating an energy efficient and sustainable built environment will both maintain this revenue stream while encouraging positive in-country development. However, rapid urban growth is propelling the construction of new building stock reliant on concrete and lacking insulation, which breaks from traditional Bhutanese construction using meter-thick rammed earth walls that provided insulation.

Owing to the powerful solar resources available in the high-altitude regions, there is potential for successful high-performance construction in Bhutan. Beginning in 2014 and in partnership with The Jigme Singye Wangchuck School of Law (JSW Law) and the Bhutan Foundation, the Karuna Foundation sponsored the construction of a Law Library as an energy efficient, high-performance building project. This lighthouse project combines local materials and international expertise to demonstrate the feasibility of energy efficient construction to the Bhutanese building community. With the help of Portland partners Cory Hawbecker and Yuki Bowman, from Holst Architecture, Inc., Seattle partner Dan Whitmore, of RDH, LLC, as well as Thorsten Chlupp, of Arctic Sun, LLC, in Fairbanks, the Karuna Foundation provided expertise and resources to enhance the build out of the JSW Law campus. The Law School’s permanent campus, including the Law Library, in the hills above Paro was completed in and consecrated in 2023.

Named for Bhutan’s Fourth King and led by Her Royal Highness Ashi Sonam Dechan Wangchuck, a princess of Bhutan and a Stanford and Harvard Law graduate, JSW Law is the first Law School in Bhutan.

Advancing Climate Change Research and Education

FEATURED PROJECT: HEROES (Climate Data Collection Initiative)

The 2007 IPCC report made clear that there is not enough compiled data in the mountainous Himalayan region to estimate the impact of anthropogenic climate change in the coming decades. In response to this, the Karuna Foundation teamed up with the Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Conservation and Environmental Research (UWICER) and the Bhutan Foundation to establish the Himalayan Environmental Rhythms and Observation System (HEROES) project in 2012. The HEROES project, also called the Bhutan Phenology Network (BPN), is a community-engaged effort to record both meteorological data at varying altitudes and latitudes as well as long-term phenological and wildlife population data. Since its founding, the HEROES program has reached thousands of Bhutanese youths through climate change curriculum tied to onsite weather data collection stations at 20 schools. 

In 2019, The Energy Globe Foundation recognized the impact of the HEROES program with a Bhutan National Energy Globe Award, as well as listing the program as a finalist for the World Energy Globe Award in the Youth Category.