Non-profit

350.org (National)

Logo for 350.org (link)
Website:

350.org

Location:

BROOKLYN, NY

Tax ID:

26-1150699

Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)

Budget (2018):

Revenue: $19,193,815
Expenses: $15,450,256
Assets: $16,253,112

Formation:

2008

Type:

Radical Environmental Activist Group

Executive Director:

G. May Boeve

Principal Officer's Compensation:

$70,956 (2015) 1

References

  1. “Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax.” Guidestar.org. Accessed June 29, 2017. http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2015/261/150/2015-261150699-0d334b7e-9.pdf.
Founder:

Bill McKibben

Contact InfluenceWatch with suggested edits or tips for additional profiles.

350.org is a large environmentalist activist organization that has a presence in 188 countries. Focused on online campaigning, 350.org opposes new oil, gas, and coal exploration and development and calls for “[revoking] the “social license” of the fossil fuel industry and “[taking] money out of the companies that are heating up the planet.”1

350.org has opposed the use of zero carbon nuclear energy and takes an uncompromising stand against oil, gas, and coal, the industry, and its leaders. The organization ties traditional progressive refrains about climate change and the need to transition to clean energy to more radical calls for extreme left-wing policy. 350.org frames the fight for renewable energy as one that pits the poor against the rich, the oppressed against the powerful, and the disadvantaged against the privileged. 2 The organization sometimes weighs in on issues that appear unrelated to the environment, such as a Missouri grand jury’s decision not to indict a police officer after a police shooting in Ferguson, to show support for other liberal groups. 3 4

Founding and History

350.org was founded in 2008 by Middlebury College professor and journalist Bill McKibben. Its name comes from McKibben’s view that the world will not be safe from global warming unless the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere falls to 350 parts per million or below. 5

Over its first decade, 350.org has organized protests around the world, many of which have resulted in civil disobedience and arrests; led campaigns to divest from fossil fuels; and pressured governments to adopt progressive policies against the cheapest forms of energy. 350.org claims credit for then-Senator Barack Obama’s global warming platform during his 2007-2008 Presidential campaign. 6

After his election, determined to pressure Obama and other political leaders to take dramatic action against fossil fuels, the group led the International Day of Climate Action in October 2009, which it called the largest environmental protest ever. These rallies occurred in the lead-up to the December 2009 United Nations Copenhagen climate change conference, the outcome of which—a non-binding agreement—was widely regarded as a failure by environmental activists. McKibben himself later dismissed the United States’ actions in Copenhagen as “a farce.”7

A year later, 350.org supported the UK-based 10:10 climate change protests on October 10, 2010, which demanded a 10% reduction in carbon emissions that year.

Angered at the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives in 2010, 350.org began 2011 with a 10,000-person “climate conference and training” in Washington, DC, called Power Shift 2011, where attendees were joined by controversial former Obama “green jobs czar” Van Jones and AFL-CIO labor union federation president Richard Trumka. 8

McKibben used his speech to assail libertarian philanthropists Charles and David Koch, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Obama administration Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. 9

The next year, 350.org organized Climate Impacts Day, which aimed to “connect the dots” between global warming and extreme weather and give “a human face” to those affected by climate change. 10

And in 2014, as the UN held that year’s climate summit in New York, 350.org responded by holding the first People’s Climate March through the city. 11 The organization was successful in helping to orchestrate a seven-year “review” of the Keystone Pipeline that concluded with its rejection by then-president Barack Obama, an action ultimately reversed by the subsequent Trump Administration.

Supporters of 350.org have been arrested on numerous occasions, including in 2013 at the White House. 12 McKibben was arrested in 2015 for blocking access to a gas pump and in 2016 at a lake in upstate New York during activist opposition to a proposed gas storage location. 13 14

The organization has taken a strong stance against the Trump administration and its policies, issuing denunciations of President Donald Trump, his Cabinet, and the administration’s actions. “Trump is trying to hand over senior federal positions directly to fossil fuel industry puppets and climate deniers, and we won’t let him get away with it,” Executive Director May Boeve said in a January 5, 2017 press release. 15 EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt,16 Secretary of State Rex Tillerson,17 and Energy Secretary Rick Perry18 are those most frequently singled out for criticism.

350.org’s website lists its allies, which include Amnesty International; the College Democrats of America; Greenpeace; Oxfam; Sierra Club; the Unitarian Universalist Ministry for the Earth; anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Waterkeeper Alliance; and the World Carfree Network, which opposes the use and sale of private motor vehicles. 19

Some vegan environmental activists who are displeased that Bill McKibben and 350.org do not criticize meat consumption have attacked the organization on that issue. 20 Allies of McKibben have responded by accusing vegan advocates of racism and of being insensitive to the needs of poor people for whom what to eat is not a choice. 21

In September 2020, 350.org was one of 100 environmentalist organizations that opposed the Democratic-led Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act (HR 4447) because while it pushed environmental regulations, it did not directly restrict fossil fuel production. 22 The organizations sent a letter to Congress that accused legislators of sacrificing communities to climate change, and said that the bill  offered false solutions to the “climate crises across [the] country and world.” 23

Opposition to Nuclear Energy

In May of 2021, 350.0rg was one of 715 groups and businesses listed as a co-signer on a letter to the leadership of the U.S. House and Senate that referred to nuclear energy as a “dirty” form of energy production and a “significant” source of pollution. The letter asked federal lawmakers to reduce carbon emissions by creating a “renewable electricity standard” that promoted production of weather dependent power sources such as wind turbines and solar panels, but did not promote low carbon natural gas and zero carbon nuclear energy. 24

Nuclear power plants produce no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas emissions, and as of 2021 accounted for 20 percent of American electricity production—the largest source of zero carbon electricity in the United States. 25 An October 2018 proposal from The Nature Conservancy noted that zero-carbon nuclear plants produced 7.8 percent of total world energy output and recommended reducing carbon emissions by increasing nuclear capacity to 33 percent of total world energy output. 26

350.org and more than two dozen of its affiliates were some of the more than 600 co-signing organizations on a January 2019 open letter to Congress titled “Legislation to Address the Urgent Threat of Climate Change.” The signatories declared their support for new laws to bring about “100 percent decarbonization” of the transportation sector but denounced nuclear power as an example of “dirty energy” that should not be included in any legislation promoting the use of so-called “renewable energy.”27

People

The organization employs a staff of more than 100 people, who are based in dozens of cities around the world. 28  Its board of directors includes Bill McKibben and eight other longtime progressive activists, one of whom, Naomi Klein, is also well known for her anti-Israel views. 29 350.org has a 501(c)(4) sister organization, 350.org Action, which engages in political work and evaluates candidates for office. 30 Many staffers work for both organizations.

Funding

350.org does not disclose its donors. However, it has admitted to receiving funding from the Tides Foundation, a San Francisco-based donor-advised fund that has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to liberal groups from donors and foundations wishing to remain anonymous. 31 Groups linked to George Soros and Tom Steyer have also contributed extensively to 350.org. 32

Another major donor appears to be the Foundation for the Carolinas (FFTC), a donor-advised fund provider. The charitable foundation service FoundationSearch reports two $3 million donations from FFTC to 350.org, one each for donation years 2016 and 2017. 33 The $6 million from FFTC equals 19.6 percent of combined revenue 350.org reported for 2016 and 2017. 34 35 A major FFTC account holder and large donor to numerous left-of-center environmentalist organizations is North Carolina billionaire Fred Stanback. 36 Stanback was characterized in an April 2018 Knoxville News report as a “known proponent of anti-humanist environmentalism [. . .] the belief that protecting the environment hinges on population control.” 37

References

  1. “350 — About.” 350. Accessed May 30, 2017. https://350.org/about/.
  2. “350.org — Climate Change is About Power.” YouTube. December 15, 2015. Accessed June 10, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m95K7LClIC4.
  3. Smith, Deirdre. “350 — Why the Climate Movement Must Stand with Ferguson.” 350. November 25, 2014. Accessed June 17, 2017. https://350.org/how-racial-justice-is-integral-to-confronting-climate-crisis/.
  4. Letter from Center for Biological Diversity et. al. to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Joe Manchin, and Rep. Frank Pallone. “RE: CONGRESS SHOULD ENACT A FEDERAL RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY STANDARD AND REJECT GAS AND FALSE SOLUTIONS.” May 12, 2021. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/energy-justice/pdfs/2021-5-12_600-Group-Letter-for-RES.pdf?_gl=1*1c9h3t8*_gcl_au*MTc3NjM3MTM1Mi4xNjg5OTU1MzAz
  5. McKibben, Bill. “Remember This: 350 Parts Per Million.” The Washington Post. December 28, 2007. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/27/AR2007122701942.html.
  6. “Our Team’s History.” 350. Accessed June 22, 2017. http://archive.350.org/story.
  7. Twitter. January 29, 2014. Accessed June 19, 2017. https://twitter.com/billmckibben/status/428720779673346048.
  8. Henn, Jamie. “Power Shift 2011: 10,000 take on Big Polluters in DC.” Huffington Post. April 17, 2011. Accessed June 29, 2017. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-henn/power-shift-2011_b_850255.html.
  9. “350 — Bill McKibben’s Speech at Power Shift 2011.” 350. April 18, 2011. Accessed June 29, 2017. https://350.org/bill-mckibbens-speech-power-shift-2011/.
  10. “Connect the Dots.” 350. Accessed June 28, 2017. http://www.climatedots.org/.
  11. Visser, Nick. “Hundreds of Thousands Turn Out For People’s Climate March in New York City.” Huffington Post. September 21, 2014. Accessed June 27, 2017. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/21/peoples-climate-march_n_5857902.html.
  12. Eilperin, Juliet, and Steven Mufson. “Activists arrested at White House protesting Keystone Pipeline.” WashingtonPost.com. February 13, 2013. Accessed June 26, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/activists-arrested-at-white-house-protesting-keystone-pipeline/2013/02/13/8f0f1066-75fa-11e2-aa12-e6cf1d31106b_story.html?utm_term=.9e708873a3c4.
  13. Baird, Joel Banner. “Bill McKibben arrested in Vermont gas-pump protest.” Burlington Free Press. October 15, 2015. Accessed June 23, 2017. http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2015/10/15/bill-mckibben-arrested-vermont-gas-pump-protest/73999386/.
  14. Steingraber, Sandra. “Bill McKibben Arrested 56 Others in Ongoing Campaign Against Proposed Gas Storage at Seneca Lake.” Ecowatch. March 7, 2016. Accessed July 1, 2017. https://www.ecowatch.com/bill-mckibben-arrested-56-others-in-ongoing-campaign-against-proposed–1882187863.html.
  15. “Climate Groups Organize #DayAgainstDenial to Reject Trump’s Cabinet.” 350.org. January 5, 2017. Accessed July 31, 2017. https://350.org/press-release/climate-groups-organize-dayagainstdenial-to-reject-trumps-cabinet/.
  16. “350.org on Senate confirmation vote for Pruitt.” 350. February 17, 2017. https://350.org/press-release/350-org-on-senate-confirmation-vote-for-pruitt/.
  17. “350.org on Trump meeting with ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson.” 350. December 6, 2016. https://350.org/press-release/trump-meeting-with-exxon-ceo-tillerson/.
  18. “350.org on Rick Perry’s confirmation for Energy Secretary.” 350. March 2, 2017. https://350.org/press-release/350-org-on-rick-perrys-confirmation-for-energy-secretary/.
  19. “Allies.” 350. Accessed July 1, 2017. https://350.org/allies/.
  20. Goldberg, Leslie. “EAT LIKE A REAL ENVIRONMENTALIST.” Vicious Vegan. November 4, 2014. Accessed June 30, 2017. http://www.viciousvegan.com/eat-like-a-real-environmentalist/.
  21. Fenton, Cam. “#NotAllVegans.” Medium. December 1, 2015. Accessed June 29, 2017. https://medium.com/@CamFenton/notallvegans-af89826d821f
  22. “Over 100 Groups Oppose Democrats’ Energy Bill as Insufficient.” Friends of the Earth, September 23, 2020. https://foe.org/news/over-100-groups-oppose-democrats-energy-bill-as-insufficient/.
  23. “Over 100 Groups Oppose Democrats’ Energy Bill as Insufficient.” Friends of the Earth, September 23, 2020. https://foe.org/news/over-100-groups-oppose-democrats-energy-bill-as-insufficient/.
  24. Letter from Center for Biological Diversity et. al. to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Joe Manchin, and Rep. Frank Pallone. “RE: CONGRESS SHOULD ENACT A FEDERAL RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY STANDARD AND REJECT GAS AND FALSE SOLUTIONS.” May 12, 2021. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/energy-justice/pdfs/2021-5-12_600-Group-Letter-for-RES.pdf?_gl=1*1c9h3t8*_gcl_au*MTc3NjM3MTM1Mi4xNjg5OTU1MzAz
  25. “Nuclear explained.” U.S. Energy Information Administration. Accessed August 16, 2021. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/nuclear/us-nuclear-industry.php>
  26. “ The Science of Sustainability.” The Nature Conservancy. October 13, 2018. Accessed August 16, 2021. https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/the-science-of-sustainability/
  27. “Group letter to Congress urging Green New Deal passage.” Earthworks. January 10, 2019. Accessed August 12, 2021. https://www.earthworks.org/publications/group-letter-to-congress-urging-green-new-deal-passage/
  28. “350 — Team.” 350. Accessed June 25, 2017. https://350.org/team/.
  29. Klein, Naomi. “Enough. It’s time for a boycott.” The Guardian. January 9, 2009. Accessed July 1, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/jan/10/naomi-klein-boycott-israel.
  30. 350action.org
  31. Schoffstall, Joe. “The People and Groups Behind the “Climate Justice” Push.” The Washington Free Beacon. December 8, 2015. Accessed June 26, 2017. http://freebeacon.com/politics/the-people-and-groups-behind-the-climate-justice-push/.
  32. “Grant Visualizer.” The Washington Free Beacon. Accessed June 26, 2017. http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/TidesTo350org.png.
  33. Data compiled by FoundationSearch.com subscription service, a project of Metasoft Systems, Inc., from forms filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Queries conducted May 10, 2019.
  34. “2017 Annual Report.” 350.org. Accessed May 10, 2019. https://350.org/2016-annual-report/
  35. “2017 Annual Report.” 350.org. Accessed May 10, 2019. https://350.org/2017-annual-report/
  36. Tanfani, Joseph. “Sessions’ allies on opposition to immigration have their roots in population control efforts.” Los Angeles Times. January 10, 2017. Accessed May 8, 2019. https://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-updates-groups-backing-sessions-had-roots-in-1484073194-htmlstory.html
  37. Crocker, Brittany. “Headache powder billionaire donates big to small group creating migraines for TVA.” Knoxville News. April 6, 2018. Accessed May 8, 2019. https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/2018/04/06/tva-target-group-funded-headache-powder-billionaire-fred-stanback/461636002/

Directors, Employees & Supporters

  1. James Gustave Speth
    Advisory Board Member
  2. Naomi Klein
    Former Board Member
  3. Jay Halfon
    Board Member
  4. Christian Ettinger
    Climate Campaigner
  5. Ben Wessel
    Former Policy Campaigns Manager
  See an error? Let us know!

Nonprofit Information

  • Accounting Period: September - August
  • Tax Exemption Received: June 1, 2008

  • Available Filings

    Period Form Type Total revenue Total functional expenses Total assets (EOY) Total liabilities (EOY) Unrelated business income? Total contributions Program service revenue Investment income Comp. of current officers, directors, etc. Form 990
    2018 Sep Form 990 $19,193,815 $15,450,256 $16,253,112 $1,259,916 Y $19,128,157 $42,316 $10,685 $251,624 PDF
    2017 Sep Form 990 $16,810,730 $12,878,265 $12,387,561 $1,137,924 N $16,801,763 $620 $3,030 $216,679 PDF
    2016 Sep Form 990 $13,771,791 $10,618,251 $8,034,303 $717,131 N $13,763,514 $4,203 $2,567 $108,516
    2015 Sep Form 990 $11,279,955 $8,906,848 $5,137,543 $973,911 N $11,233,864 $44,803 $435 $102,795 PDF
    2014 Sep Form 990 $5,757,336 $8,318,606 $2,630,467 $839,942 N $5,748,443 $7,225 $403 $62,696 PDF
    2013 Sep Form 990 $6,538,626 $5,196,923 $4,701,498 $349,703 N $6,333,170 $116,423 $467 $53,313 PDF
    2012 Sep Form 990 $3,627,463 $2,867,671 $3,127,221 $117,129 N $3,609,859 $0 $766 $53,094 PDF
    2011 Sep Form 990 $3,013,995 $2,149,251 $2,460,424 $210,124 N $3,008,741 $0 $4,304 $143,837 PDF

    Additional Filings (PDFs)

    350.org (National)

    20 JAY ST STE 732
    BROOKLYN, NY 11201-8352