Grassroots Impact

Change comes in packages large and small. The Sierra Club Foundation targets its support at the community level, where transformation begins with grants that range in size from $500 to $5.5 million. The Foundation acts as fiscal sponsor for 180 national Sierra Club projects and over 300 chapter and group projects, in addition to giving grants to other organizations. The following pages highlight just a small sample of these many projects. Besides meeting an immediate need, The Sierra Club Foundation grants help build a stronger environmental movement that can win bigger victories in the years to come.

Spotlight Programs

Sierra Club Chapter Projects

Arizona Monuments Defense Campaign
The goal of this project to secure long-term protection for Arizona's newest monuments by generating public demand for their conservation and by using the Bureau of Land Management's public planning processes.

Bay Chapter Energy and Global Warming Education Campaign
The goal of this project is to educate Bay Area residents and ratepayers about the benefits of clean energy, to promote energy conservation, and educate Bay Area ratepayers on available clean energy options.

Cool Cities in Maryland and the Eastern Shore
This project will work with municipalities, businesses on the Eastern Shore to reduce the global warming emissions to seven percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

Iowa Chapter's Clean Energy for Iowa Campaign
The goal of this project is to ensure that the Iowa Utilities Board requires electric utilities in Iowa to initiate effective energy efficiency plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reliance on fossil fuels.

Loma Prieta Chapter's Building Climate Friendly Communities Campaign
Our goal is to ensure adoption of green building policies and general plans in as many cities in the Silicon Valley as possible by 2011, and to put community power behind projects like the high-speed rail section from San Jose to San Francisco.

Michigan Forest Biodiversity Project
To restore Michigan's once-great forests by advocating for administrative policies that will bring back the rich native diversity and grandeur of these remarkable ecosystems.

New Mexico Local Climate Protection Campaign
This project protects New Mexico from climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions; increasing use of renewable energy; preventing energy and mining development in environmentally sensitive areas; and increasing wildlands protection.

Sierra Club California's Environmental Health Initiative
The goal of this project is to work with state regulators, allies, and grassroots activists to influence the way California's environmental agencies address environmental health.

Texas Clean Air (2010-2012)
The purpose of this project is to protect the environment and the public health by promoting the attainment and maintenance of clean air in Texas.

Virginia Endangered Landscape Campaign
The project will work to preserve Virginia's natural resources and protect them from sprawl, air pollution, and the effects of global warming.

Sierra Club Group Projects

Earth Day Mobile Bay
The Mobile Bay Group's annual Earth Day will host a number of environmental displays and activities, as well as a wide variety of interactive educational opportunities for children and adults.

Houston Group Transportation Project
The goal of this project is to foster transportation planning that encourages mass transit, reduces the use of fossil fuels, and reduces the proliferation of road building projects that encourage urban sprawl.

Save the Poudre River Campaign
The purpose of the Save the Poudre River Campaign is to protect and restore the historic flows of water in the Cache la Poudre River as it runs through Northern Colorado.

Spokane River Project
Our long-term goal is to establish management structures and a public ethic that will permanently protect the Spokane River.

Three Rivers Project
To preserve the integrity of the Piasa Palisades' rivers, wetlands, forests, and floodplains.