The Linden Trust for Conservation is a private grantmaking foundation that funds left-of-center climate change activism as well as environmental conservation efforts. The organization was founded by former Goldman Sachs managing director Lawrence Linden and his wife Dana Weschler Linden as the Lawrence and Dana Linden Family Foundation. The foundation was restructured in 2006 by Roger Ullman, a former Goldman Sachs advisor and former Merrill Lynch investment banking director who now runs the foundation. The foundation supports left-of-center environmentalist advocacy groups such as the League of Conservation Voters, the Center for American Progress, and the Natural Resources Defense Council. ^{1 2 3}

The foundation funds projects along a variety of issue-based and regional programming areas and operates a lobbying arm it created in 2019 called LTC Action that lobbies for carbon-capture mandates and is funded exclusively by personal contributions from Lawrence Linden. ^{4 5}

Background

The Linden Trust for Conservation was founded in 1993 as the Lawrence and Dana Linden Family Foundation. The foundation initially funded a variety of organizations across several issue areas that were of interest to Lawrence and Dana Linden. In 2006, Lawrence and Dana Linden hired Roger Ullman to run the organization. Ullman restructured the foundation as the Linden Trust for Conservation and focused the foundation’s giving exclusively towards environmentalist and climate-related grantmaking. ^{6 7}

The foundation currently has two main funding programs that cover a variety of funding areas. The foundation’s two main funding areas are climate policy initiatives, which fund left-leaning climate advocacy projects, and environmental financial markets. ^{8 9}

Activity

The Linden Trust for Conservation’s climate policy initiatives focus on carbon dioxide removal and carbon pricing. The foundation’s carbon dioxide removal advocacy centers on advocating for the U.S. government to fund research and development spending, incentives, and increased regulation towards carbon dioxide removal technology with the goal of increasing the capacity of current technology. The foundation also has a carbon pricing initiative that advocates for a carbon tax program in the United States. ¹⁰

The foundation’s financing and economic markets work focuses on projects including advocating for a cap-and-trade approach to runoff to the Chesapeake Bay and creating tax credit for reducing blue carbon emissions from coastal ecosystems. The foundation’s website also lists projects it funded including funding national park systems in Chile, the Amazon, and Costa Rica, as well as restoration projects in the American Great Plains. ¹¹

In 2019, Lawrence Linden created LTC Action as a lobbying arm for the organization, which is funded solely from Linden’s personal funds and not the foundation, to lobby on specific legislation and perform other lobbying activities that the Linden Trust for Conservation is unable to under law. ¹²

Organizations Funded

Organizations that have received funding from the Linden Trust for Conservation include the Alliance for Market Solutions, the Bipartisan Policy Center, the Brookings Institution, Carbon 180, the Center for American Progress, the Climate Leadership Council, Columbia University, Duke University, Energy Futures Initiatives, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Environmental Law Institute, the Great Plains Institute, the League of Conservation Voters, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Niskanen Center, Students for Carbon Dividends, the Nature Conservancy, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the World Wildlife Fund. ¹³

The foundation’s largest gift by a wide margin in 2019 was $2.2 million to the Alliance for Market Solutions, a carbon tax advocacy organization. The Linden Trust gave a total of $6.4 million to other organizations in 2019. ¹⁴

People

Linden Trust for Conservation founder Lawrence Linden is a retired managing director at Goldman Sachs, where he worked from 1992 to 2008. Linden previously worked for McKinsey and Co., and from 1978 to 1981, Linden was also a staffer in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy during the Carter administration. Linden has also sat on the board of other environmental activism groups including the World Wildlife Fund, and Resources for the Future. ¹⁵

Roger Ullman has been the CEO of the Linden Trust for Conservation since 2006. Ullman previously worked for the Rainforest Alliance and was an investment banker at Merrill Lynch, where he was managing director of investment banking. Ullman receives over $600,000 annually in compensation from the Linden Trust for Conservation. ¹⁶

1. “IRS Form 990.” Linden Trust for Conservation. Accessed November 10, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/133748063
2. “Linden Trust for Conservation.” Zoom Info. Accessed November 13, 2021. https://www.zoominfo.com/c/linden-trust-for-conservation/344485088
3. “Home.” Linden Trust for Conservation. Accessed November 13, 2021. https://lindentrust.org/
4. “Linden Trust for Conservation.” Zoom Info. Accessed November 13, 2021. https://www.zoominfo.com/c/linden-trust-for-conservation/344485088
5. “Home.” Linden Trust for Conservation. Accessed November 13, 2021. https://lindentrust.org/
6. “Environmental Markets and Conservation Finance Initiatives.” Linden Trust for Conservation. Accessed November 13, 2021. https://lindentrust.org/environmental-markets-and-conservation-finance-initiatives/
7. “Climate Policy.” Linden Trust for Conservation. Accessed November 13, 2021. http://lindentrust.org/climate-policy-initiatives/
8. “Environmental Markets and Conservation Finance Initiatives.” Linden Trust for Conservation. Accessed November 13, 2021. https://lindentrust.org/environmental-markets-and-conservation-finance-initiatives/
9. “Climate Policy.” Linden Trust for Conservation. Accessed November 13, 2021. http://lindentrust.org/climate-policy-initiatives/
10. “Climate Policy.” Linden Trust for Conservation. Accessed November 13, 2021. http://lindentrust.org/climate-policy-initiatives/
11. Environmental Markets and Conservation Finance Initiatives.” Linden Trust for Conservation. Accessed November 13, 2021. https://lindentrust.org/environmental-markets-and-conservation-finance-initiatives/
12. “Environmental Markets and Conservation Finance Initiatives.” Linden Trust for Conservation. Accessed November 13, 2021. https://lindentrust.org/environmental-markets-and-conservation-finance-initiatives/
13. “IRS Form 990.” Linden Trust for Conservation. Accessed November 10, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/133748063
14. “IRS Form 990.” Linden Trust for Conservation. Accessed November 10, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/133748063
15. “Lawrence Linden.” Redstone Strategy Group. Accessed November 13, 2021. https://www.redstonestrategy.com/people/lawrence-linden/
16. “People.” Linden Trust for Conservation. Accessed November 13, 2021. http://lindentrust.org/people/