“There are no technological or economic barriers to converting the entire world to clean, renewable

energy sources. It is a question of whether we have the societal and political will.”1

FORWARD FUND: THE TIME IS NOW

It’s true. Existing solar, wind, efficiency, electric vehicle, and storage technologies are

completely sufficient to power the United States with clean energy—and in many parts of

the country, these technologies are already cheaper than conventional dirty fuels. Clean

energy will continue to drop in price, improve, and advance, while fossil fuels become

costlier, dirtier, and harder to access.

Yet still—oil, coal, and gas companies make billions of dollars, dump carbon dioxide into the

air, and push to pollute more communities and our remaining wild places.

The climate crisis creates a new moral imperative and an incredible opportunity: end our

dependence on dirty fossil fuels and replace them with clean energy solutions, as quickly as

possible.

PHOTO: The Forward Fund was a critical seed funder of the September 21st People’s Climate March, helping leverage 10 times the initial

investment in additional funding for what became the biggest and most successful climate event in history. Funding for community

organizing and a historically diverse collaboration drew unprecedented numbers (more than 400,000) to the streets of New York City,

and put the power of the people behind clean energy solutions like never before.

“For many of the toughest problems we now face, simply investing in incremental improvements and proven approaches will not be enough. We need to

experiment and find new solutions that have the potential to create transformative change.”2

A NEW APPROACH TO PHILANTHROPY

As the heirs of the Rockefeller family fortune move to divest from fossil fuels and embrace clean energy, we are

witnessing the birth of a new philanthropic model, one where traditional non-governmental organizations (NGOs),

tech-driven businesses, and investors are coming together to figure out ways to get money into the right hands for

the right reasons in the timeframe required to solve the climate crisis—and the Forward Fund is fueling this push with

strategic investments across the sector:

▪ Mindshare: media, digital strategies, and online/offline organizing to build public will for clean energy ▪ Marketshare: policy, litigation, and organizing to get more megawatts of wind and solar online faster; get

more electric vehicles on the road; and bring energy efficiency programs to scale ▪ International funding directly to NGOs in the developing world to help leapfrog fossil fuels altogether ▪ Program-related investments (PRIs) to finance new technology, infrastructure, and collaborations

THIS IS JUST A START

As efforts to end our addiction to fossil fuels are working, the coal, oil, and gas industries are fighting back and

threatening to stall or erase progress on clean energy fronts. The Forward Fund is in a unique position—organized by

The Sierra Club Foundation and advised by industry, NGO, and philanthropic leaders—to find the strategic policy,

public opinion, technology, and collaboration levers that are ripe for investment. The people, programs, and

organizations we fund are driven by innovation, collaboration, and a solutions-based approach. We are interested in

funding work that is unlikely to get the needed seed funding from other sources, but is able to grow quickly to a

larger effort with additional financial support once a track record of success is established.

So far, in our first year of funding, the results have been promising (Appendix 1). We built a national celebration of

the potential for clean energy as the early investor in the People’s Climate March. We're helping clean energy

advocates get more wind energy sited in New York State and across New England. We’re discovering how the power

of electric vehicle sales can protect historic fuel economy standards in key states. And we’re investing in online

organizing tools that are shaping the way we mobilize public will for clean energy.

WE NEED RISK CAPITAL

In 2005, the coal industry was planning to build a massive fleet of new coal-fired power plants that would kill

mounting efforts by wind and solar companies to compete in the marketplace, effectively wiping out any hope of

lowering carbon emissions. In response, a handful of lawyers at the Sierra Club, along with a few visionary funders,

launched a seemingly impossible campaign: to take on every proposed coal plant. Now, with close to 200 proposed

plants abandoned and more than 180 existing plants closed or announced for retirement, coal is on the ropes in the

United States. Just as those early funders in the coal campaign believed in taking risks and dreaming big, we envision

a cadre of Forward Fund investors who have a similar risk-reward profile.

The Forward Fund was born out of this epic struggle, and we are in a unique position to see

what needs to happen next.

We've helped train hundreds of staff and thousands of activists on how to stop coal, and now that coal plants are

shutting down, we need to help them and their communities fill the void with solutions that create good green jobs

and jumpstart local economies. To avoid having these victories reversed or having decision-makers move us to natural

gas instead of renewables, we need to increase pro-solutions advocacy in places where the economics are right and

there is opportunity to create examples of clean energy leadership.

Over the next five years, a new generation of investors and philanthropists can join the Forward Fund in seeding new

small ideas with big potential in cities and states across the country and overseas, like ensuring:

▪ California is on track to have 18,000 megawatts (MW) of behind-the-meter rooftop solar installed (compared to 2,000 MW today) and doubling California’s renewable energy mandate to 66 percent by 2030;

▪ New York implements a strong Renewable Portfolio Standard leading to 50% of the state's electricity coming from clean sources by 2025, setting a precedent for increased offshore wind power throughout the Northeast;

▪ The City and County of San Diego adopts an enforceable plan to get to 100 percent clean energy by 2035 and becomes a pilot plan for other cities;

▪ Indian NGOs and businesses help leapfrog the grid and reach 150 million people with solar energy;

▪ Wind power tax credits effectively keep wind-generated megawatts growing;

▪ Start-ups solve a host of electric vehicle charging and smart-meter infrastructure needs;

▪ Institutions like the University of North Carolina and University of Illinois divest in fossil fuels and re-invest in solutions; and

▪ municipalities and states curb energy use by implementing strong energy efficient building codes

A SOLID OPPORTUNITY

The Forward Fund is managed by The Sierra Club Foundation (TSCF). With our partner the Sierra Club, we work with

thousands of local groups, businesses, civic leaders, policy experts, entrepreneurs, and funders in more than 400

communities in the United States and in seven other countries. Through this network of eyes and ears on the ground,

we know where the highest-leverage opportunities are. What’s more, TSCF has a solid reputation for stewarding

charitable contributions and assets responsibly, having earned repeated four-star ratings from the nonprofit

watchdog Charity Navigator, as well as an A+ from the American Institute of Philanthropy. TSCF is also an accredited

charity in good standing with the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance, meeting all 20 Standards for Charity

Accountability.

In the final analysis, TSCF spends 90 cents of every dollar directly on environmental and conservation programs.

Strategic philanthropy (focused, sustained, and results-oriented) is the hallmark of TSCF’s approach to social and

environmental change. TSCF is also committed to investment in solutions, divesting in fossil fuels, and finding the

right opportunities for re-investment in clean energy. TSCF is in a unique position to accomplish two imperatives: 1)

seed important, transitional, and experimental efforts across the environmental and clean energy movements to

promote, site, and increase public demand for clean energy; and 2) provide funding to catalyze new strategies and

transformational ideas for bringing clean energy to scale across the country.

“As an entrepreneur, my inclination is to focus what resources I can on the opportunity side of the

equation (while very much valuing the efforts that must occur to stop counterproductive initiatives).”3

THE POWER OF COLLABORATION

The Forward Fund benefits from The Sierra Club Foundation’s decades of leadership in movement building and

diversifying the constituent base of clean energy supporters. The Fund’s core advisors (Appendix 2) and larger group

of stakeholders are part of a vibrant group of clean-tech businesses and their customers. They are members of the

global solutions network, called RE 100%, that is sharing strategy, stories, and lessons learned about solutions

campaigning from across the globe. They helped found the BlueGreen Alliance, and continue to work with organized

labor across the country on shared priorities. In places that are transitioning from dirty power to clean energy—like

California, the Northeast, and Appalachia—they’ve helped build partnerships with hundreds of low-income

community organizations, churches, community centers, and public officials to work on energy efficiency and

solar/wind projects that provide local job opportunities and training.

The Forward Fund principals and advisors are a unique cross-section of industry and environmental NGO leadership.

They benefit from an insider’s knowledge of unique investment opportunities that are also the kind of seed programs

needed to drive the new clean energy economy. We have a visionary anchor funder who has led efforts to date. We

are looking for the next set of funders who can expand these efforts three-fold over the next five years, creating a

truly collaborative funding community that will maximize the leverage of the Forward Fund and the projects we fund.

FUNDING AND ALLOCATION

Our immediate goal is to raise $7.5 million dollars over five years (Appendix 3). To date, most of the large climate

funders are focusing their resources on confrontational campaigns that directly target the fossil fuel industry. While

this work is imperative to take dirty megawatts offline, the Forward Fund appeals to a different, more solutions-

oriented type of investor.

Our funding strategy is based on raising and spending relatively small investments with big impacts that enable the

funds’ recipient to hire staff, conduct critical research, or perform specific programmatic work to advance clean

energy goals. Grants generally range from $100,000–200,000, with the understanding that these funds are part of an

overall fundraising plan that will leverage our investment into significant additional dollars as the funded program

establishes a track record of success.

We also provide smaller grants in the $25,000 range to community- and state-based organizations and international

NGOs in the developing world where modest investments can have a large social ROI. Funding so far has been

allocated roughly one-third to mindshare-based projects and two-thirds to marketshare-based projects, all of which

have been domestic. We anticipate growing our international and PRI funding strategy over the next few years,

tapping into TSCF’s proven track record of direct grantmaking to NGOs in the developing world. Further, we intend to

launch several PRIs, likely focused on the developing world. That said, the lion’s share of investments will continue to

be allocated domestically, since U.S. climate leadership is imperative to meaningful global action.

JOIN US: BECOME A FORWARD FUND INVESTOR

There is great potential throughout the country, as well as overseas, to create the future we all want for our families

and our communities.

While some of the larger climate funders remain focused (with good reason) on aggressively confronting fossil fuels,

we see room for a fresh, complementary approach. Over the next five years, a new generation of investors and

philanthropists can join the Forward Fund in seeding new clean energy solutions campaigns. With relatively small

investments, you can help harness the power of entrepreneurial businesses and charitable advocacy to make

significant change happen in this generation, an investment future generations are counting on us to make.

To learn more about supporting the Forward Fund, contact Peter Martin at peter.martin@sierraclub.org. Investors

will receive semi-annual reports on funds expended and results achieved.

ENDNOTES

1 - Mark Z. Jacobson and Cristina L. Archer; Saturation wind power potential and its implications for wind energy, Proceedings of the National Academy of

Sciences September 25, 2012 Vol. 109 No. 39: 15679–15684 (http://www.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/Articles/I/SatWindPot2012.pdf)

2 - Monitor Institute, Despite All the Buzz About Innovation, Foundations Are Playing It Too Safe, by Gabriel Kasper and Justin Marcoux

(http://philanthropy.com/article/Despite-All-the-Buzz-About/148241/)

3 - Forward Fund investor on why he supports the Forward Fund.

APPENDIX 1: IMPACT – RETURNS ON INITIAL INVESTMENTS

Building the Public Will – People’s Climate March

After hundreds of thousands of Americans took to the streets of New York City to demand action on climate

disruption, nearly three-in-four American adults say "global warming" is having a serious impact now or will in the

future, and 54% believe it is mostly caused by human activity—the highest percentage found by New York Times/CBS

News polls . The Forward Fund planted the early financial seeds for this success, putting the grassroots network of the 1

Sierra Club and diverse partners to work, marshalling the biggest showing of public support for climate solutions in

U.S. history. The Club is leveraging momentum from the march in a variety of ways, starting with immediate online

actions to strengthen the president's Clean Power Plan at the federal level, and for each state to take ambitious steps.

As the environmental movement gears up to hold more large, public events focused on solutions to the climate crisis,

and as the power and visibility of the movement continues to grow, our initial investment here is paying off in

unprecedented interest from a diverse field of potential funders and partners.

Getting More Electric Vehicles on the Road

New U.S. fuel economy standards will yield a 10 percent reduction of U.S. CO2 emissions from current levels by

2030—a huge step toward slowing global warming. Getting more electric vehicles on the road is one of the best ways

we can keep these fuel efficiency standards from being eroded. Electric vehicle (EV) incentives and infrastructure

programs, as well as public education, have been proven to drive sales, but there is little effort by any group to

strategically advocate for new EV programs and marketing. The Forward Fund provided initial capital to fund research

on the best states and the best policy levers to target with national media exposure, organizing, and partnerships with

zero emission bus and electric car companies. This year, we are leveraging our initial investment with strategic plans

and fundraising drives with a number of potential individual donors, companies in the EV sector (those that

manufacture EVs, EV charging infrastructure, electric buses, and EV batteries), as well as clean tech investors,

foundations, and individual EV drivers.

Harnessing the Power of Wind in the Northeast

Wind needs to be a major source of the country’s electricity mix if we hope to achieve a carbon-free grid. To ensure

the generation from retired coal plants is replaced with clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency, we need to

double down on Northeast wind power, which currently provides only 2.3 percent of New England’s supply and 2.6

percent of New York’s electric generation. The Forward Fund made the initial grant to begin working with partners to

push Governor Cuomo to double New York’s installed land-based wind and move forward with offshore wind

investments in 2014. By convincing the governor and his energy agencies that wind power is important and necessary

to meet and increase New York’s renewable energy goals, stabilize energy prices, grow the economy, garner public

support, and facilitate a clean energy future, we can create the top-down leadership needed for the state’s energy

agencies to sign contracts for wind and move large scale wind projects forward.

We are working to leverage this initial investment with a list of wind energy-related prospects in the Northeast,

generated by American Wind Association conference attendees, speakers at offshore wind conferences, personal

contacts, attorneys involved in wind energy deals, and other sources. We are also working with Sierra Club’s Clean

Tech Council, since many members are involved in the wind energy industry in the Northeast. We will hold briefings in

Boston; Portland, Maine; New York City; and possibly Chicago to educate potential funders and create a base of

financial support to build from the Forward Fund’s seed investment for a sustained effort to increase wind energy on

the East Coast. Our success also puts pressure on leaders to maintain industry incentives for wind power production,

an important component in demonstrating the competitive cost and viability of clean energy.

1 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/science/global-warming-concerns-grow.html

APPENDIX 2 – FORWARD FUND ADVISORS

Steven Berkenfeld, co-head of Barclay’s Cleantech Initiative

Steven is the current chair of The Sierra Club Foundation Board. Steven is a managing director in the investment

banking division of Barclays, leading the coverage effort for industrial technology companies. Previously, he was the

CIO for the private equity business of Lehman Brothers. In addition to his involvement with the Sierra Club and his

concerns regarding climate change and other environmental issues, he is actively engaged in various projects relating

to the impact of technology on jobs and the “future of work.” He resides on Long Island, New York..

Sanjay Ranchod, Vice President of Policy & Electricity Markets, and Regulatory Counsel at SolarCity

Sanjay is the current secretary of The Sierra Club Foundation Board. He also served on the Sierra Club's Board of

Directors from 2004-2010, where he helped launch and lead an organization-wide diversity initiative and initiated the

organization's first mission-related investment in clean tech. He previously practiced law at Paul Hastings Law Firm.

He resides in Albany, CA.

Shirley Weese Young, clean energy activist in Chicago

Shirley is Officer at Large on The Sierra Club Foundation Board. She is also a graphic designer, founder, and partner of

Two Green Giants, a landscape design business. Her environmental interests include land conservation and wind

energy, and she is an active supporter of the Sierra Club’s Great Lakes Wind Project. Shirley resides in Chicago, Illinois.

Michael Brune, Sierra Club Executive Director

Michael Brune holds degrees in economics and finance from West Chester University in Pennsylvania and came to the

Sierra Club from the Rainforest Action Network, where he served seven years as Executive Director. Under Michael’s

leadership, Rainforest Action Network won more than a dozen key environmental commitments from America’s

largest corporations, including Bank of America, Boise, Citi, Goldman Sachs, Home Depot, Kinko’s, and Lowe’s. Since

starting in 2010 as Sierra Club’s Executive Director, the organization has grown to more than 2.4 million supporters,

and its Beyond Coal campaign has been recognized as one of the most effective in environmental history. His critically

acclaimed book, Coming Clean: Breaking America’s Addiction to Oil and Coal (2010), details a plan for a new green

economy that will create well-paying jobs, promote environmental justice, and bolster national security. He and his

wife Mary attribute their ongoing passion for environmental activism in part to concern that their children inherit a

healthy world.

Peter Martin, The Sierra Club Foundation Executive Director

Peter was appointed Executive Director of The Sierra Club Foundation in January 2008. He oversees the day to day

management of the Foundation and is principally responsible for strategic planning, priority setting, fund

development, and board relations. In partnership with the Board and staff, Peter oversees the grantmaking and fiscal

sponsorship functions and the financial and investment functions to ensure fiscal stability and alignment of assets and

mission. Under his leadership, the Foundation has three main program areas: climate solutions, conservation, and

movement building. Prior to joining the Foundation, Peter worked in the Sierra Club's Office of Advancement from

2001 to 2007. From 2001 to 2004, he led major gift fundraising efforts in Northern California and the Pacific

Northwest. He also served as Director of the National Advisory Council, the Club's engagement body for major

donors and influential supporters nationwide. Later, Peter served as Senior Advancement Director for the

Mid-Atlantic region from 2005 to 2008. In this role, he spearheaded the Club's political fundraising efforts in the 2006

mid-terms and the 2008 Presidential campaign. Prior to his career in the environmental field, Peter worked as a

management consultant with Kaiser Associates, a strategy consultancy for many of the nation's Fortune 100

companies. During that time, he became interested in the Sierra Club as a volunteer for the Club's Inner City Outings

Program in Washington, D.C. Peter and his wife, Emily, live in Marin County, CA with their two young sons.

APPENDIX 3 – FUNDRAISING PLAN (2014-2018)

Overview

The Forward Fund aims to become a first-class innovation fund that takes risk capital and invests it in the most

promising projects and strategies that will contribute to a clean energy future. The Fund thoughtfully channels seed

investments into campaigns and organizations that promote a solutions-oriented clean energy vision in the power,

transportation, and marketing sectors. Beneficiaries will include programs that put forward the best and brightest

projects and ideas that not only capture the imagination of the general public, but also put forward clear and

collaborative strategies to get clean energy to scale as quickly as possible.

Many of the largest climate funders continue to invest in confrontational campaigns that target fossil fuels at all levels

of the supply chain. While appreciative of this work, the Forward Fund was launched as a counterpoint to that

approach. Environmentalists for too long have rallied people with negative, “sky is falling” campaigning. It is the

Forward Fund philosophy that many more people from more diverse backgrounds would rally around climate

mitigation if more efforts promoted and invested in the most promising, solutions-oriented campaigns. The solutions

to the climate crisis exist; they employ millions of people; they hold genuine, tangible public health benefits; and they

are reaping substantial financial rewards for savvy entrepreneurs. The Forward Fund was established to seed

programs that will make this transition happen more quickly and empower more people to invest in the next big ideas

and visions that will be at the root of the new, clean energy economy.

Goal

The Forward Fund raised$1 million in 2014 and aims to raise that again in 2015, increasing that investment to $1.5

million in 2016 and $2 million per year in 2017 and 2018. We will spend out these investments annually on projects

within three main sectors: clean energy; clean transportation; and clean marketing, messaging, and promotions

(including events like the recent historic People’s Climate March).

Matching gift opportunity

An anonymous donor invested $1 million to launch the Forward Fund. The same donor will provide $400,000 in

guaranteed support and an additional $300,000 in matching funds in 2015. Donations made by December 31, 2015

will be matched dollar for dollar up to a total of $300,000. The Sierra Club Foundation is tax exempt under section

501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and gifts to The Foundation are tax-deductible.

Potential investors

While the Sierra Club can expect to raise funds from its members and base donors for its clean energy work, the

Forward Fund offers an opportunity to reach out to other constituencies, particularly among clean technology

business owners and leaders, social entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists, with whom we’ve had limited

engagement until now, who may appreciate the Forward Fund’s collaborative, solutions-oriented approach.

Sustaining projects from incubation through maturity

For the Forward Fund, success will be realized when concepts that receive seed funding grow and prosper into

mature campaigns that have a sustained funding base and no longer require Forward Fund capital. The Forward Fund

is intended to provide the needed financial boost to get ideas off the ground, to provide critical bridge funding, and to

leverage additional outside investment. For example, the People’s Climate March, which falls under the mindshare

portfolio, received a $175,000 seed investment from the Forward Fund. That funding leveraged an additional

$250,000 from other investors over a very short period of time directly to the PCM effort. Best of all, those investors

now own a piece of history and are interested in directly funding future mindshare programs.

TSCF-Forward-Fund-vision_2015-0402