Sierra Club Foundation
Oakland, CA · EIN 94-6069890. Reported 78 grants totalling $365.4M to 53 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.
Does this grantmaker accept applications?
Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.
Three things in the filing do bear on it:
- What kind of organization it is. For Sierra Club Foundation, the IRS classifies it under environment rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE C300) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 53 distinct organizations, with 98% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is extreme concentration. A grantmaker sending three quarters of its money to one organization is in practice a support fund for that organization, whatever its classification says, and an unsolicited request is very unlikely to go anywhere.
- How much its list changes. 36% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% private foundations manage. A list that turns over this much is one a newcomer can realistically join.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $48,614. Half of what it reported fell between $20,000 and $100,000; the smallest was $6,300 and the largest $95.9M. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sierra Club | Oakland, CA | $359.4M | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Population Media Center Inc | S Burlington, VT | $939,274 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Community Initiatives | Oakland, CA | $550,000 | 3 | 2 | 2024 |
| Partnership Project Inc | Washington, DC | $450,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs Inc | Calabasas, CA | $385,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Michigan Environmental Council | Lansing, MI | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Tides Foundation | San Francisco, CA | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Latino Community Fund of Washingtonstate | Seattle, WA | $205,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Greenlatinos | Boulder, CO | $200,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Solutions Project Inc | Los Angeles, CA | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Right to the City Alliance Inc | Brooklyn, NY | $175,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Verde | Portland, OR | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| University of California Berkeley Foundation | Berkeley, CA | $140,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Green 2 0 | Washington, DC | $110,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Bluegreen Alliance Foundation | Minneapolis, MN | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Citizen Action of Wisconsin Education Fund Inc | Milwaukee, WI | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Nonprofit Legal Services of Utah Inc | Salt Lake City, UT | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Sustainable Markets Foundation | New York, NY | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Amaneser 2025 | San Juan, PR | $95,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Centro De Periodismo Investigativo Inc | San Juan, PR | $95,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Of Salt and Sand | Salt Lake Cty, UT | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Power Shift Network | Washington, DC | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| West Harlem Environmental Action Inc | New York, NY | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Confluence Philanthropy Inc | New York, NY | $70,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada | Las Vegas, NV | $70,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Appalachian Mountain Advocates Inc | Lewisburg, WV | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Conservation Voters of South Carolina Education Fund | Columbia, SC | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Guardian Revival Inc | Beacon, NY | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Nw Energy Coalition | Seattle, WA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Rio Grande Return | Lamy, NM | $50,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| United States Energy Foundation | San Francisco, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Winyah Rivers Foundation Inc | Conway, SC | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Allegheny Land Tr | Sewickley, PA | $47,228 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Missouri State Parks Foundation Inc | Columbia, MO | $46,516 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Inclusive Development International | Asheville, NC | $43,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Warehouse Workers Justice Center | Chicago, IL | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Physicians for Social Responsibility Inc | Washington, DC | $39,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Bike Pittsburgh Inc | Pittsburgh, PA | $36,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Black Sustainability Inc | Atlanta, GA | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Friends of the Inyo | Bishop, CA | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Humanitarian Social Innovations | Bethlehem, PA | $33,600 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Alliance for a Just Society | Seattle, WA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Florida Rising Together Inc | Miami, FL | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Jewish Community Centers of Chicago | Northbrook, IL | $29,573 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Audubon Society of New York State Inc | Troy, NY | $27,900 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Coalicion Pro Corredor Ecologico Del Noreste Inc | Luquillo, PR | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Jesus People Against Pollution | Columbia, MS | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| South River Watershed Alliance | Decatur, GA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Washington Interfaith Network | Washington, DC | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Karuna Foundation | Niwot, CO | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The Crane Institute of Sustainability Inc | Manchester, MA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Sicangu Community Development Corporation | Mission, SD | $10,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Good Food Institute Inc | Arlington, VA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
13 of 53 (25%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.
- Sierra Club
PROMOTE ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS AND EDUCATION. - Population Media Center
GENERAL SUPPORT OF POPULATION MEDIA CENTER'S MISSION TO USE ENTERTAINMENT-EDUCATION AND MASS MEDIA TO PROMOTE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CHANGE BY ADDRESSING THE INTERCONNECTED ISSUES OF THE FULL RIGHTS OF WOMEN AND GIRLS, POPULATION, AND THE ENVIRONMENT - The Partnership Project
TO BRING NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS AND EJ GROUPS FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY TOGETHER TO BUILD TRUST, BRIDGE HISTORIC DIVIDES, ALIGN AROUND A CORE SET OF POLICY PRINCIPLES AND COMMITMENTS, AND ADVOCATE FOR BOLD AND EQUITABLE CLIMATE POLICIES - Community Initiatives
FOR JUST SOLUTIONS COLLECTIVE TO PROVIDE RESEARCH, POLICY ANALYSIS, AND STRATEGIC NETWORKS THAT BUILD THE CAPACITY OF CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ORGANIZATIONS TO CREATE, REPLICATE, AND SCALE EQUITABLE CLIMATE SOLUTIONS - Tides Foundation
TO SUPPORT FRONTLINE COMMUNITY GROUPS WHO ARE FIGHTING FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE JUSTICE THROUGH LEGAL ADVOCACY - Michigan Environmental Council
SUPPORT ORGANIZING EFFORTS AGAINST LINE 5 AND DAPL TO PROTECT WATER SUPPLIES AND INDIGENOUS RIGHTS.
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 49 of 53 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 13 | $84.1M | $30,000 |
| 2022 | 22 | $96.7M | $85,000 |
| 2023 | 22 | $97.6M | $44,758 |
| 2024 | 21 | $86.9M | $50,000 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.
Where its money goes
99% of its giving went to organizations in California. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.
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Funders that support the same organizations
These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available that two funders have overlapping priorities -- and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.
How to approach this grantmaker
- Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $48,614 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in California.
- Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Sierra Club Foundation's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 20 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 1 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.
Address of record on the latest return: 2101 Webster Street 1250, Oakland, CA, 94612.
EIN 94-6069890 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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