Autodesk Foundation

Supporting innovators to design and make a better world for all

The Autodesk Foundation supports innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges.

Image courtesy of MASS Design Group

Bringing innovation to scale

The Autodesk Foundation aligns its philanthropic offerings with design and engineering. We invest in nonprofits and startups helping to de-risk innovation and bring industry-transforming solutions to scale. By facilitating a blend of funding, technical training, and expertise, we can bring early-stage innovations to market to advance a more sustainable, resilient, and equitable world.

Impact opportunity areas

We focus our funding on three impact areas guided by strategic investment theses that drive impact outcomes across our industries. 

A Prometheus Materials employee wearing blue latex gloves passing a bio-cement block to another employee.

Energy & Materials

Avoiding, reducing, and removing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to accelerate the transition to a decarbonized economy.

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Image courtesy of Prometheus Materials

Arial view of four workers installing solar panels on rust-colored metal roof.

Health & Resilience

Improving resilience in low-resource communities with climate adaptation technologies.

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Image courtesy of Okra Solar

A person wearing a welding mask and gloves welding a metal object.

Work & Prosperity

Preparing workers to thrive in the era of automation through equity-driven, human-centered solutions.

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Image courtesy of JARC Rhode Island

Four individuals, two women and two men, pose for a group photo wearing high-viz vests and hard hats, smiling, standing in a Coalfield Development project area (indoors).

Image courtesy of Coalfield Development

Innovators & entrepreneurs leading the change

We align our capital with measurable impact outcomes, funding nonprofits and startups that are scaling design and engineering solutions worldwide.

Our grantmaking is informed by a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). As of 2022, our portfolio leadership* is 46% people of color, 50%+ identified as women, and 31% of our international portfolio is led locally.

* “Leadership/led” means the organization’s CEO and/or founders identify with this group

Our investments

Funding

More than fifty organizations receive grants and impact investments to scale innovative solutions to climate change and inequality.

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Image courtesy of FreeWorld

Technology

Thousands of entrepreneurs and innovators use Autodesk design and make software and technical training for positive impact.

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Talent

Hundreds of Autodesk employees work alongside nonprofits and startups to imagine, design, and make a better world.

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Image courtesy of Bridges to Prosperity

A Pallet employee operating a drill press in Pallet facility.

Portfolio impact

The Autodesk Foundation’s impact measurement and management (IMM) practice is central to our work—informing how we invest and adapt to optimize impact. We invest in our portfolio’s impact outcomes through a rigorous IMM practice that establishes accountability, informs decision-making, and generates evidence of success. In fiscal year 2023, the Autodesk Foundation’s global portfolio of nonprofits and startups achieved the following:

  • 2.4 million metric tons CO2e of GHG emissions reduced
  • 87 million+ individuals reached with resilient solutions in housing and infrastructure, energy access, agricultural productivity, and workforce development (cumulative data from active organizations since their inception)
  • 27,000+ people obtained new or improved jobs

Crisis response

When crises strike, urgent solutions are needed. We deliver philanthropic support, Autodesk technology, and Autodesk expertise to address the negative impacts of natural and human-made disasters, social unrest, and pandemics that negatively affect our communities, customers, and employees globally. 

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