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CHARITY REVIEW
Issued: December 2023 Expires: December 2025

Sierra Club Foundation

Accredited Charity
Accredited Charity

Meets Standards
(415) 995-1780
2101 Webster Street, Suite 1250
Oakland, CA, 94612
https://www.sierraclubfoundation.org
📄 Full Report 🖨️ Print 📋 BBB Charity Standards

Standards For Charity Accountability

Governance

  1. Board Oversight
  2. Board Size
  3. Board Meetings
  4. Board Compensation
  5. Conflict of Interest

Measuring Effectiveness

  1. Effectiveness Policy
  2. Effectiveness Report

Finances

  1. Program Expenses
  2. Fundraising Expenses
  3. Accumulating Funds
  4. Audit Report
  5. Detailed Expense Breakdown
  6. Accurate Expense Reporting
  7. Budget Plan

Fundraising & Info

  1. Truthful Materials
  2. Annual Report
  3. Website Disclosures
  4. Donor Privacy
  5. Cause Marketing Disclosures
  6. Complaints

Sierra Club Foundation meets the 20 Standards for Charity Accountability.

Stated Purpose:
"to educate and empower people to protect and improve the natural and human environment."

Year, State Incorporated:
1960, CA

Sierra Club Foundation (SCF) reports that it partners with individual and institutional donors to align financial resources with strategic outcomes, provide flexible funding for innovation, build capacity in the environmental movement, and create partnerships with a broad spectrum of allied organizations around shared values and goals. As the fiscal sponsor of the charitable programs of the Sierra Club, the organization provides resources to it and other nonprofit organizations to support scientific, educational, literary, organizing, advocacy, and legal programs that further its environmental goals. In 2022, SCF states that it awarded grants to 38 nonprofit organizations engaging in environmental education.

For the year ended December 31, 2022, Sierra Club Foundation's program expenses were:

Program services: $97,349,446

Total Program Expenses: $97,349,446

Chief Executive
Dan Chu, Executive Director

Compensation*
$354,544

Chair of the Board
Robin Mann

Chair's Profession / Business Affiliation
Environmentalist

Board Size
14

Paid Staff Size
10

*2021 compensation includes annual salary and, if applicable, benefit plans, expense accounts, and other allowances.

Method(s) Used:
Direct mail appeals, Grant proposals, Internet, Radio

Fundraising costs were 17% of related contributions. (Related contributions, which totaled $82,693,535, are donations received as a result of fundraising activities.)

This organization is tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. It is eligible to receive contributions deductible as charitable donations for federal income tax purposes.

The following information is based on Sierra Club Foundation's audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2022.

Source of Funds
Contributions of cash and other financial assets $72,579,534
In-kind contributions $661,480
Contributions related to split-interest agreements $498,549
Bequests $9,615,452
Investment income, net $-30,654,939
Interest and dividends $2,157,242
Other income $1,275,105
Total Income $56,132,423

Programs: 86% Fundraising: 12% Administrative: 2%

Total Income $56,132,423
Total expenses: $113,448,406
  Program expenses $97,349,446
  Fundraising expenses $13,661,830
  Administrative expenses $2,437,130
  Other expenses $0
Income in Excess of Expenses $-57,315,983
Beginning Net Assets $233,914,116
Other Changes In Net Assets $346,191
Ending Net Assets $176,944,324
Total Liabilities $31,031,726
Total Assets $207,976,050

Note 1: As noted in the above financial section, "other changes in net assets" refers to the net change in value of split-interest agreements.

Note 2: According to SCF's 2022 audited financial statements, the organization received $661,480 in donated software licensing.

An organization may change its practices at any time without notice. A copy of this report has been shared with the organization prior to publication. It is not intended to recommend or deprecate, and is furnished solely to assist you in exercising your own judgment. If the report is about a charity and states the charity meets or does not meet the Standards for Charity Accountability, it reflects the results of an evaluation of information and materials provided voluntarily by the charity. The name Better Business Bureau is a registered service mark of the International Association of Better Business Bureaus.

This report is not to be used for fundraising or promotional purposes.

RELATED CONTENT

Report completed by:
BBB Wise Giving Alliance