Sierra Club Foundation

CharityWatch's rating of the Sierra Club Foundation is for the 501(c)(3) public charity (tax ID #94-6069890). The affiliated Sierra Club, a 501(c)(4) tax-exempt, social welfare organization (tax ID #94-1153307), is rated separately by CharityWatch.

CharityWatch separates the ratings for 501(c)(3) & 501(c)(4) organizations, even when they are included together in a combined or consolidated audit, due to their differing treatments under the IRS tax code. For more information on this topic, please see our sections on Types of Non-Profits, Tax Status, and Treatment of Related Organizations, which can be found on the Our Process page.

For more information about things to consider when donating to organizations that have related public charity and social welfare entities, see our article "Sorting Out Nonprofit Pairs,"

According to the Sierra Club Foundation (the Foundation) 2022 tax filing, the Foundation reports re: Compensation, Officers, Directors, Trustees, Key Employees, and Highest Compensated Employees (IRS Form 990, Schedule J, Part II):

The Foundation reports that five individuals received "Bonus & incentive compensation" payments of $5,000 in 2022, with reported total compensation ranging between $156,814 to $438,787.

According to the Sierra Club Foundation audit of December 31, 2022 (Note 15, Transactions with Sierra Club and its Chapters):

"The Foundation had the following transactions with the Sierra Club and its chapters:

• In accordance with a contract between the Foundation and the Sierra Club, the Foundation incurred $11,538,126 and $10,444,436 to reimburse Sierra Club for fundraising expenses for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. 

• In accordance with the terms of the fiscal sponsorship relationship and an agreement between the Foundation and Sierra Club regarding the use of the software hosting services, the two organizations share the use of the software hosting services, and Sierra Club reimburses the Foundation for the portion of the use that is not for qualified charitable expenditures. During the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively, Sierra Club paid $1,250,072 and $1,366,418 for the software services.

• The Foundation receives certain gifts and makes grants on an advisory basis to the Sierra Club and its chapters and groups. The Foundation made grants to the Sierra Club National Programs of $83,990,761 and $74,057,226 for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively, and to the Sierra Club chapters of $10,059,738 and $9,761,861 for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. 

• Accounts receivable from the Sierra Club are $2,813,697 and $1,967,532 as of December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively, related to certain contributions the Sierra Club has processed on the Foundation's behalf included in other assets in the balance sheets. 

• Grants payable to the Sierra Club were $14,726,210 and $15,164,708 as of December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively, which are all due within one year from the respective year-end..."
  
  

According to the Sierra Club Foundation audit of December 31, 2022 (Note 14, Transactions with Related Parties):

"The Foundation considers members of the board of directors, corporate officers, key employees, and their immediate family members to be related parties. For the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, contributions from related parties included in revenue totaled $262,572 and $2,029,439, respectively. There were no contributions receivable from related parties as of December 31, 2022 or 2021."

According to the Sierra Club Foundation audit of December 31, 2022 (Note 18, Contributed Nonfinancial Assets):

For the fiscal year-ended December 31, 2022, the Sierra Club Foundation reported $661,480 of contributed nonfinancial assets related to the discounted price of software licensing.

[Note: CharityWatch generally excludes the value of in-kind (non-cash) donations of goods and services from its calculations of Program % and Cost to Raise $100. More information on how grades are calculated and the treatment of in-kind donations can be found on the Our Process page.]