I know many of you are reeling right now, inundated with questions from friends and supporters who read the New York Times article. Some find the article to be a vindication, a wake-up call, or a learning opportunity. I strongly believe in the importance of learning from what has worked and what hasn’t and constantly evolving to meet the moment. Our ability to do so has made Sierra Club the vibrant, powerful organization it has been for over 130 years and we are not stopping now! We must learn, heal and adapt to move past some difficult years, face some of the greatest challenges we’ve known, and together build a future worth being part of.
That said, a hit piece is not the teacher we needed. The Times proved remarkably resistant to the facts, data, and perspectives of anyone who disagreed with their narrative.
If you have not seen them already, below are the official Sierra Club posts. Please feel free to share.
If you, or someone you know, wishes to join us in our important work to explore, enjoy, and protect the planet today, please click here!
Now, the facts:
This article was wrong about the Sierra Club.
Here are some of the key items that were inaccurately reported. I encourage you to share this information with those in your networks who inquire.
Donations
Contrary to the narrative of decline, in 2024, we raised $20 million more than we did in 2017. This fact was obscured by misleading reporting and a revenue and expense chart that ignored our audited financials and disregarded GAAP accounting rules that mandate multi-year gifts be fully reflected in the year they are received, even though expenses are charged against them over multiple years. Sierra Club received its highest donations ever in 2019 due to a successful capital campaign. Much of our 2019 revenue was from multi-year campaign gifts that covered expenses incurred over the following years.
Membership
Like many other organizations, the Sierra Club has changed its terminology and methodology for counting membership, making comparisons difficult. Until 2022, in the nonprofit sector, the number of members and activists was the primary measure of an organization’s effectiveness and power. Now, with better analytics, the rise of behavioral science, and the increasing urgency for more effective climate and conservation solutions in our movement, Sierra Club has moved away from list size as a measure of effectiveness towards a value-based model, where we track our priority outcomes such as lifetime value, member retention, event participation, and petition signatures. Our lists now focus on the people who are currently active with us. Right now, we have 3.38 million members and supporters, including our active email lists.
Political Power
Sierra Club’s greatest political impact has always been our grassroots power – all our staff and volunteers who actively engage in elections up and down the ballot. We saw this influence last week, when Sierra Club helped elevate voters’ concerns about spiking energy prices and AI data centers to help power wins at the gubernatorial, mayoral and public utility commission levels. Not only did the article entirely fail to acknowledge our main form of political power, it reported that Sierra Club had no political donations in 2024, rather than the $1.5 million that we spent in the 2024 cycle.
Equity and Justice
The article focused extensively on how Sierra Club incorporates equity and justice into its work. While it surfaced concerns that some people have raised within and about the Sierra Club, it hewed rigidly to an either/or framework where a tight environmental focus is incompatible with work on equity or justice. There was no room for nuance or the possibility that these are not just values, but also a critical component of how we pursue our mission and achieve our campaign goals.
The article distorts our equity work in many ways. Most notably, we never had 108 staff members just working on equity. Instead, we encouraged everyone to consider how they engage with and serve all Americans in their work to protect clean air, water, and public lands. If only a narrow group cares about climate change and environmental protection, our wins will be limited. Only a broad, powerful movement can drive transformative change. While our priorities, strategies and language will always evolve, the Sierra Club’s core mission has never changed, and we are focused and united in meeting this critical moment.
The article is also wrong about our movement.
While the story is about the Sierra Club, it reads like a broader referendum that a theory of change rooted in mutuality and solidarity across connected issues should be cast aside for hardened lanes and singular-issue campaigns. I do not agree. I’ll be the first to admit we don’t always get it right, but I am proud to be in the productive struggle of navigating the choices for when we lead, when we support, and when we act in solidarity. Right now, parents are keeping children indoors, away from public parks where ICE agents may be present. As energy prices rise, we are engaging thousands of people to talk not just about any one power plant, but all the ways the system is rigged to favor corporations over customers.
We are unequivocally focused on our environmental mission and goals. Our level of success in achieving these goals will have enormous impacts on health, affordability and other issues people care about. Similarly, our successes will depend on protecting freedom of speech, the rule of law and a functioning democracy… and on being part of a broad, powerful movement. We cannot do this work alone.
As the first woman to ever have the honor of leading the Sierra Club, it wasn’t lost on me that the same weekend the New York Times published its story about the Sierra Club, it put out a piece titled “Did Women Ruin the Workplace?”. It’s hard not to see these stories as related efforts to put us all in our places, in our boxes, back in the confines of roles and movements that fit someone else’s narrative.
Where Are We Now and What Comes Next?
The article is a retrospective that dredges up old stories and says nothing about what has happened since, much less where we are heading. Well before it came out, we were addressing issues it raises, most notably:
Accountability
Over the past several years, we have worked to simplify and improve our accountability processes, including making sure people are aware of allegations against them. In a major step, we recently rolled out a new Equal Opportunity Policy that provides equal protections and accountability for staff and volunteers and focuses investigations on claims of harassment or discrimination. Under the new policy, we will train supervisors and volunteer leaders to immediately address cases of disrespectful behavior. Having thus streamlined our system, Sierra Club will be able to respond to harassment and discrimination cases more quickly and effectively with investigations and, where appropriate, disciplinary actions. We are committed to making the Sierra Club a place where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. The former Commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission who worked with us on this, and has seen many of these policies, said she believes our policy will become the gold standard for any organization, especially one with volunteers.
The Path Forward
While I have only been the Executive Director a short time, during my 20 years in Sierra Club board and senior leadership roles I have built a deep knowledge of, commitment to, and belief in this organization. I am also excited to bring my community development background to bear on the challenges of getting clean energy built at the scale needed to address climate change while supporting local initiatives, and protecting natural places and everyone’s access to and enjoyment of them. I know there is work to be done. I look forward to sharpening and deepening our efforts to engage with more people around a collective vision of healthy, thriving communities and ecosystems.
In August, I had the privilege of speaking with over 400 Sierra Club staff and volunteers alongside Board President Patrick Murphy. In these Community Conversations, we heard about the concerns and hopes in our community and felt the incredibly potent energy within our movement and teams. I have felt similar energy and courage in coalition spaces such as the Blue Green Alliance, the Climate Action Campaign, the Equitable and Just National Climate Platform, and Americans for Alaska and, of course, in the recent massive No Kings mobilization. The article’s characterization of our movement as “exhausted” couldn’t be further from the truth - we are fired up and ready to powerfully meet this moment.
The Sierra Club has an important leadership role to play in the environmental movement going forward. To ensure we rise to this challenge, Sierra Club leaders and our elected Board of Directors are engaged in developing a new strategic plan, rooted in our 2030 Strategic Framework. Through this process, we will work with our community to adapt specific strategies as needed, without wavering from our goals of accelerating the transition to clean energy; protecting clean air, water, lands, and safe and healthy communities; and promoting access to the outdoors for all. This work is not only strategic, it is joyful and meaningful, and we will keep working to build a more powerful movement.
This is our story to write.