FORWARD FASTER
ANNUAL REPORT 2018
THREATS
EXTREME WEATHER & CLIMATE EVENTS
WEAKENED ENVIRONMENTAL SAFEGUARDS
CORRUPTION OF DEMOCRACY
ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM
DIRTY FUELS
AIR POLLUTION
CONTAMINATED WATER
ECOSYSTEMS DESTROYED
RESPONSES
GRASS ROOTS MOBILIZATION
CLEAN ENERGY
RETIRING COAL PLANTS
CLEAN TRANSPORTATION
LEGAL ACTION
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
PARTNERSHIPS & COALITIONS
RALLIES & PROTESTS
SHAREHOLDER ACTIVISM
CONSERVATION
FACED WITH THE SOBERING REALITY OF THE LATEST CLIMATE SCIENCE, THE SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION CONTINUED TO SUPPORT CLIMATE SOLUTIONS, CONSERVATION, AND MOVEMENT-BUILDING EFFORTS TO DRIVE US FORWARD, FASTER. INCREMENTAL PROGRESS IS INSUFFICIENT.
New urgency has been brought to our mission, and the programs we sponsored and funded in 2018 have expanded to target the most pressing environmental and social justice issues of our time. We are cultivating a growing movement of people nationwide to act on climate, advance clean energy solutions, protect public lands and wildlife, and get people outdoors into nature.
With the unprecedented strength of a movement coalesced around shared values and goals, we are catalyzing forward momentum and generating the exponential progress that the urgency of this moment demands.
EXECUTIVE LETTER
We must move Forward, Faster.
2018 was a year of exponential threats and exponential progress.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated that we have only until 2030 to avert climate catastrophe and that we must drastically cut carbon emissions. In the Fourth National Climate Assessment, U.S. federal agencies detailed the increasing floods, storms, drought, and wildlife loss that our country will endure as the climate crisis worsens.
In the face of these accelerating assaults on nature and civilization, we are proud of the work that the Sierra Club Foundation has led (as highlighted in this report) to urgently and more rapidly respond in a number of ways…
GLOBAL TEMPERATURE AND CARBON DIOXIDE
1
1
CLIMATE & CLEAN ENERGY SOLUTIONS
The devastation stemming from the climate crisis— unprecedented massive wildfires, hurricanes, flooding, and deep freezes—wreaked havoc and claimed thousands of lives in 2018…
OVERVIEW
PARTNER PROFILE: SEIZING AN OPPORTUNITY TO INVEST IN ZERO-EMISSIONS SCHOOL BUSES
“Sierra Club is one of our strongest partners that shares our goals to see EV technology deployed.…”
CONSERVATION
Climate change is wreaking havoc on wildlife and habitat at such a rapid pace that, without decisive action, we could lose countless species and extensive ecosystems forever.…
OVERVIEW
PARTNER PROFILE: GRASSROOTS ACTIONS PROTECT WATER QUALITY FOR HUMANS & WILDLIFE
“Many families have lived along the banks of the Haw for generations, and several towns here were built around river culture. The land means everything to them.…”
The Sierra Club Foundation is working to support a new environmental movement: one that recognizes that all people deserve a healthy planet as well as equal protection under the law, educational and economic opportunity, a voice in our democracy, and the right to live free of discrimination and violence…
OVERVIEW
PARTNER PROFILE: GWICH’IN NATION & INVESTORS DEFEND ARCTIC REFUGE FROM DRILLING
“The threat to the porcupine caribou herd is spiritually connected to the Gwich’in Nation—protecting the Arctic Refuge and caribou calving grounds is not just about food security…”
OUR COMMITMENT
TO ACCELERATE THE ADOPTION OF CLEAN ENERGY SOLUTIONS, WE MUST EMPOWER ALL COMMUNITIES.
At the Sierra Club Foundation, we believe our fiduciary duty includes a responsibility to manage assets in a manner consistent with our mission and values. In 2017, the board of directors unanimously agreed that the Foundation should continue to fully align its traditional investment portfolios with its mission and should also establish a separate pool of funds for impact investments to accomplish one or more of the Foundation’s charitable purposes (impact first), rather than the production of income or appreciation of property (return first).
We seek investments that empower people and their communities with the resources, systems, and technologies needed to implement and scale clean energy and energy efficiency solutions, particularly opportunities that benefit communities on the front line of fossil fuel extraction and pollution, and/or align strongly with the Sierra Club’s community-centered movement-building programs.
INVESTING FOR IMPACT
“THE PARTNERSHIP WITH SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION HAS BEEN AMAZING, NOT ONLY WITH FUNDING, BUT THEY’VE BEEN OPEN TO PROVIDING ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITIES …”
In 2018, the Sierra Club Foundation created a new High Impact Investment Fund and updated its Investment Policy Statement. As a result of our mission-aligned investment practices, the Sierra Club Foundation won the 2018 Chief Investment Officer Industry Innovation Award for ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) investing.
Our ESG investment choices are anchored in the Foundation’s core goals of solving the climate crisis; securing protections for public lands and waters; promoting healthy ecosystems and communities; advancing programs and policies that get people outdoors; and building a diverse, inclusive environmental movement…
FINANCIALS
TOTAL ASSETS
$173,105,225
TOTAL REVENUE
$97,004,098
Programs, Grants, & Services
87%
Fundraising
11%
Administrative
2%
THANKS TO OUR DONORS
We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to our generous individual, corporate, and foundation donors, along with our Rachel Carson Society donors who continue to remember Sierra Club Foundation in their estate plans. Your support builds upon our momentum to accelerate environmental solutions that are just, equitable, and inclusive. Thank you for joining with us and making a difference together.
PHOTO CREDITS: WINDMILL: DONALD GIANNATTI, RUNNER: PHOTO-NIC.CO.UK NIC ON UNSPLASH
