Non-profit

Citizens Climate Education Corporation

Website:

citizensclimateeducation.org

Location:

CORONADO, CA

Tax ID:

26-2948811

Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)

Budget (2017):

Revenue: $4,829,149
Expenses: $3,168,317
Assets: $2,983,930

Formation:

Founded 2007, became non-profit in 2010

Executive Director:

Mark Reynolds

Executive Director's Salary:

$132,0001

References

  1. Citizens Climate Education Corporation, Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990), 2017, Part VII, Section A, Line 1a

Contact InfluenceWatch with suggested edits or tips for additional profiles.

Citizens Climate Education (CCE) is an environmentalist advocacy organization affiliated with the lobbying group Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL). CCE promotes a carbon tax scheme as its primary solution to climate change, which it refers to as a “carbon fee and dividend.” 1

Though the group claims to be bi-partisan, CCE receives most of its funding through left-of-center organizations, which include the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Kendeda Fund, and Silicon Valley Community Foundation. 2

Activities

Citizens Climate Education offers several tools for activists. They include data and talking points to promote a carbon tax. It also offers advice on communicating with opponents and forming groups.

Citizens Climate Education sponsors regional and international conferences for activists and academics to discuss strategies and approaches to enact environmentalist priorities. 3

Funding

The Citizens Climate Education Corporation (CCE) has received grants from the left-leaning LLC Arnold Ventures on three separate occasions. Arnold Ventures gave CCE $1 million between 2019 and 2021 “to provide general operating support,” 4, $1 million between 2017 and 2019 “to provide general operating support for non-partisan educational outreach,” 5, and $50,000 in 2019 “to support educational outreach about carbon pricing.” 6

People

The organization was founded by Marshall Saunders, a real estate developer and philanthropist, who claims he was trained by former Vice President Al Gore to give a slideshow on climate change. Saunders has a long history of donating to Democrats. 7 In 2016, he donated to both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton in their bids for president. Also in that year, he donated to both the DSCC and the DCCC. 8

Staff

Mark Reynolds is the Executive Director of both CCE and Citizens’ Climate Lobby.

CCE and CCL share a nearly identical staff.

Advisory Board

The Advisory Board members listed here also serve on the Advisory Board of Citizens’ Climate Lobby.

George P. Shultz is a former Republican U.S. Secretary of Labor, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of State, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, senior economist for the Council of Economic Advisers, and Chair of the President’s Economic Policy Advisory Board. Shultz is the current chair of the Hoover Institution’s Shultz-Stephenson Task Force on Energy Policy at Stanford University, and is the former president and director of the Bechtel Corporation. Shultz is an advocate for policies addressing climate change, and advocates specifically for a carbon fee and dividend policy. 9

Hahrie Han is the Director of the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. Han is the co-founder of the Center for Democracy and Organizing, and serves on the boards of Citizen University, research4impact, the Scholars Strategy Network, the Climate Advocacy Lab, and Citizens Climate Lobby, among others. Han served as co-convenor of the Policy Advisory Committee for the 2008 Obama Presidential Campaign, and later served on the Obama-Biden Transition Team. 10

James Hansen is a climate change political activist, who has been called the “father of climate change awareness.” Hansen is a former NASA scientist, and has been arrested several times outside the White House while protesting mining, and the Keystone XL pipeline. Hansen has been described as being one of the first scientists to make climate change a major national political issue by appearing before Congress several times in the 1980s, and has famously criticized the Paris Climate Accords, calling it “fraud” because it didn’t go far enough. 11

Actor Don Cheadle serves as an Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). 12

Sylvia Earle is a National Geographic Society Explorer in Residence. Earle has worked with corporate and non-profit organizations including the Kerr McGee Corporation, Dresser Industries, Oryx Energy, the Aspen Institute, the Conservation Fund, American Rivers, and Ocean Futures. Earle is the former Chief Scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and founder of both Deep Ocean Exploration and Research, Inc., and Mission Blue: the Sylvia Earle Alliance. 13

Sam Daley-Harris is the founder of RESULTS and the Center for Citizen Empowerment and Transformation. 14

Katharine Hayhoe is a climate scientist, and director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University. Hayhoe sits on the leadership council of EcoAmerica, as chair of the Earth Science Women’s Network Advisory Council, on the board of the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, and as an Oxfam America Sister of the Planet. Hayhoe is the writer and host the PBS Digital Series “Global Weirding.” 15

Steven Chu is a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who served as U.S. Secretary of Energy in the Obama administration. 16

Bradley Whitford is an actor and Democratic Party political activist involved on the boards of a number of left-of-center organizations, including the pro-Obamacare Get America Covered and Let America Vote. 17

Shi-Ling Hsu is a Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Environmental Programs at the Florida State University College of Law. Hsu is the author of The Case for a Carbon Tax: Getting Past our Hang-ups to Effective Climate Policy. Hsu is a former senior attorney and economist for the Environmental Law Institute. 18

Bob Inglis is a former Republican U.S. Representative, and currently serves as the executive director of republicEn.org, a nominally right-leaning environmentalist group. 19 Inglis sits on the boards of R Street Institute,20 Defending Democracy Together, 21 and Citizens’ Climate Lobby. 22

Daniel Kammen is the Director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory, and a professor in the Energy and Resources group at University of California, Berkeley. He is the co-director of the Berkeley Institute of the Environment. In 2010, Kammen was appointed as a fellow of the Environmental and Climate Partnership for the Americas (ECPA) by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Kammen is a former U.S. Science Envoy with the U.S. State Department, and served as the Chief Technical Specialist for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency for the World Bank Group. 23

David Titley is a professor at Pennsylvania State University, and the founding director of PSU’s Center for Solutions to Weather and Climate Risk. Titley served as the CEO of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from 2012-2013. A former rear admiral and the chief oceanographer of the U.S. Navy, Titley initiated the Navy’s Task Force on Climate Change and serves on the Military Advisory Board of the CNA Corporation. 24

Barbara Love is a Professor of Social Justice Education at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. 25

Michael Gerrard is a Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia Law School, the director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, and serves as the chair of Columbia University’s Earth Institute. Gerrard formerly served on the boards of the Environmental Law Institute, and the American College of Environmental Lawyers. 26

Adele Morris is a policy director, and senior fellow for Climate and Energy Economics, at the left-leaning Brookings Institution. Morris formerly served on the High-Level Commission on Carbon Prices as well as the Joint Economic Committee (JEC). Morris is a former natural resource economist for the U.S. Department of the Treasury, was a former senior economist for environmental affairs at the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, and worked in the Office of Management and Budget at the White House. 27

Jay Butera is the founder, and director of the Solutions Project, and helped establish the Climate Solutions Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives. Butera formerly served as CCE’s Senior Congressional Liaison in Washington. 28

Betony Jones is the founder of Inclusive Economics, former Associate Director of the Green Economy Program at the UC Berkeley Labor Center, former advisor for the Energy Foundation, and a former organizer for the League of Conservation Voters (LCV). 29

Peter De Menocal is a marine geologist, and paleoclimate scientist at Columbia University. De Menocal is the founding director of Columbia’s Center for Climate and Life, and is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union. 30

Other advisory board members include photographer James Balog and Reginald Mitchell. 31

Governing Board

Claudine Schneider is a former moderate Republican U.S. Representative from Rhode Island, and is the co-founder, and former vice president of Energia Global. Schneider currently serves as a progressive leader in environmental policies related to climate change, energy, and ecological economics. 32

Secretary of the board Mark Tabbert serves on the boards of the Orange County Interfaith Coalition for the Environment and the Banning Ranch Conservancy. Tabbert has served as a full time volunteer lobbyist with the Citizens’ Climate Lobby since 2012. 33

Natasha DeJarnett is the interim associate director of Program and Partnership Development at the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA). DeJarnett formerly worked as a policy analyst at the American Public Health Association. DeJarnett sits on the board of Physicians for Social Responsibility, as well as on the steering committees of the International Transformational Resilience Coalition and the Emerging Leaders Initiative of the Environmental Law Institute. DeJarnett sits on the Climate and Health Advisory Panel of the National Recreation and Parks Association. 34

Chairman of the board Scott Leckman is a general surgeon the former chairman of the board of directors of RESULTS and the RESULTS Educational Fund. 35

Zinovia Spezakis is as the treasurer and chair of the Finance Committee. Spezakis is a director of Ecolectro Inc., an environmentalist tech start-up, and is the former managing director of Allianz Global Investors. 36

References

  1. “Core Values.” Citizens Climate Education, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020.  https://citizensclimateeducation.org/about-cce/core-values/.
  2. “Sources of Support.” Citizens Climate Education, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020.  https://citizensclimateeducation.org/about-cce/sources-of-support/.
  3. “Programs.” Citizens’ Climate Education. Accessed March 31, 2020. https://citizensclimateeducation.org/programs/.
  4. “Citizens Climate Education Corp.” Arnold Foundation. Accessed February 15, 2021. https://www.arnoldventures.org/grants/citizens-climate-education-corp-2
  5. “Citizens Climate Education Corp.” Arnold Foundation. Accessed February 15, 2021. https://www.arnoldventures.org/grants/citizens-climate-education-corp-1.
  6. “Citizens Climate Education Corp.” Arnold Foundation. Accessed February 15, 2021. https://www.arnoldventures.org/grants/citizens-climate-education-corp.
  7. Federal Election Commission “Browse Individual Contributions – FEC.Gov”. 2018. FEC.Gov. Accessed July 2. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?two_year_transaction_period=2010&contributor_name=Marshall+Saunders&min_date=01%2F01%2F2009&max_date=12%2F31%2F2010.
  8. Federal Election Commission “Browse Individual Contributions – FEC.Gov”. 2018. FEC.Gov. Accessed July 2. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?two_year_transaction_period=2016&contributor_name=Marshall+Saunders&min_date=01%2F01%2F2015&max_date=12%2F31%2F2016.
  9. “Advisory Board.” Citizens Climate Education, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020.  https://citizensclimateeducation.org/about-cce/advisory-board/.
  10. “About Hahrie.” Hahrie Han. Accessed March 26, 2020. http://www.hahriehan.com/about.
  11. Milman, Oliver. “James Hansen, Father of Climate Change Awareness, Calls Paris Talks ‘a Fraud.’” The Guardian, December 12, 2015. Accessed March 26, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/12/james-hansen-climate-change-paris-talks-fraud.
  12. “Advisory Board.” Citizens Climate Education, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020.  https://citizensclimateeducation.org/about-cce/advisory-board/.
  13. “Advisory Board.” Citizens Climate Education, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020.  https://citizensclimateeducation.org/about-cce/advisory-board/.
  14. “Advisory Board.” Citizens Climate Education, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020.  https://citizensclimateeducation.org/about-cce/advisory-board/.
  15. “Katherine Hayhoe.” LinkedIn, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/katharine-hayhoe-a9b3516/
  16. “Advisory Board.” Citizens Climate Education, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020.  https://citizensclimateeducation.org/about-cce/advisory-board/.
  17. “Advisors.” Let America Vote. Accessed March 26, 2020. https://www.letamericavote.org/boardofadvisors/.
  18. “Advisory Board.” Citizens Climate Education, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020.  https://citizensclimateeducation.org/about-cce/advisory-board/.
  19. “Governing Board.” Citizens Climate Education, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020. https://citizensclimateeducation.org/about-cce/governing-board/.
  20. “Bob Inglis.” R Street. Accessed March 26, 2020. https://www.rstreet.org/team/bob-inglis/.
  21. “About Us.” Defending Democracy Together, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020. https://www.defendingdemocracytogether.org/about-us/.
  22. “Bob Inglis.” Citizens Climate Lobby, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020. https://citizensclimatelobby.org/about-ccl/advisory-board/bob-inglis/.
  23. “Advisory Board.” Citizens Climate Education, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020.  https://citizensclimateeducation.org/about-cce/advisory-board/.
  24. “Advisory Board.” Citizens Climate Education, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020.  https://citizensclimateeducation.org/about-cce/advisory-board/.
  25. “Advisory Board.” Citizens Climate Education, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020.  https://citizensclimateeducation.org/about-cce/advisory-board/.
  26. “Advisory Board.” Citizens Climate Education, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020.  https://citizensclimateeducation.org/about-cce/advisory-board/.
  27. “Advisory Board.” Citizens Climate Education, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020.  https://citizensclimateeducation.org/about-cce/advisory-board/.
  28. “Advisory Board.” Citizens Climate Education, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020.  https://citizensclimateeducation.org/about-cce/advisory-board/.
  29. “Betony Jones.” LinkedIn, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/betony/.
  30. “Advisory Board.” Citizens Climate Education, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020.  https://citizensclimateeducation.org/about-cce/advisory-board/.
  31. “Advisory Board.” Citizens Climate Education, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020.  https://citizensclimateeducation.org/about-cce/advisory-board/.
  32. “Governing Board.” Citizens Climate Education, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020. https://citizensclimateeducation.org/about-cce/governing-board/.
  33. “Governing Board.” Citizens Climate Education, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020. https://citizensclimateeducation.org/about-cce/governing-board/.
  34. “Governing Board.” Citizens Climate Education, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020. https://citizensclimateeducation.org/about-cce/governing-board/.
  35. “Governing Board.” Citizens Climate Education, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020. https://citizensclimateeducation.org/about-cce/governing-board/.
  36. “Governing Board.” Citizens Climate Education, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020. https://citizensclimateeducation.org/about-cce/governing-board/.
  See an error? Let us know!

Nonprofit Information

  • Accounting Period: December - November
  • Tax Exemption Received: February 1, 2010

  • 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
    2017 Dec Form 990 $4,829,149 $3,168,317 $2,983,930 $254,094 N $4,693,975 $135,174 $0 $132,000 PDF
    2016 Dec Form 990 $2,403,331 $2,293,567 $1,146,882 $78,283 N $2,240,131 $163,200 $0 $132,500 PDF
    2015 Dec Form 990 $2,303,382 $1,555,087 $967,686 $9,926 N $2,268,331 $35,051 $0 $121,846 PDF
    2014 Dec Form 990 $1,275,630 $1,113,937 $224,140 $13,891 N $1,246,058 $29,555 $17 $0 PDF
    2014 Mar Form 990 $910,968 $945,965 $51,192 $2,636 N $910,930 $0 $38 $0 PDF
    2013 Mar Form 990EZ $152,875 $88,027 $83,553 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 PDF
    2012 Mar Form 990EZ $42,561 $27,802 $18,705 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 PDF

    Additional Filings (PDFs)

    Citizens Climate Education Corporation

    1330 ORANGE AVE SUITE 309
    CORONADO, CA 92118-2949