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Non-profit

ClearPath Foundation

Website:

clearpath.org
Location:

Washington, DC
Tax ID:

46-3891359
Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)

Budget (2017):

Revenue: $783,835
Expenses: $12,231,863
Assets: $164,364,006
Formation:

2014
Type:

Right-leaning Environmental Funder
Founder, Main Funder:

Jay Faison
Executive Director:

Rich Powell

ClearPath Foundation (sometimes called the 2040 Foundation) is a right-leaning advocacy nonprofit created in 2014 by North Carolina entrepreneur Jay Faison, a conservative climate change activist. The group aims to encourage the adoption of global warming and anti-fossil fuel policies among Republicans and conservatives.

ClearPath Action is the group’s super PAC affiliate, focused on supporting sympathetic Republicans running for Congress. ClearPath Action Fund for Conservative Clean Energy is the group’s 501(c)(4) lobbying affiliate.

Creation and Funding

Background

In 2015, North Carolina businessman Jay Faison sold the majority of his stake in SnapAV, an audio-visual company he founded, for $175 million, using that sum to fund his new global warming advocacy group: ClearPath. Of that sum, Faison directed $10 million into the ClearPath Action Fund for Conservative Clean Energy, a 501(c)(4) lobbying nonprofit. [1]

“I always felt a little alone out there as a Republican, and so I started ClearPath to create a dialogue around this in a way that hadn’t been done before and sort of be part of the solution,” Faison said in an interview, adding he’d like to see the party’s candidates debate the solutions to climate change, not the science. “We think that there are real Republican solutions to the problem.”

Financial Overview

ClearPath Foundation received $165.6 million in revenues in 2014 (all of it from grants) in 2014, and has relied upon investment income in the years since then. [2] In 2014, ClearPath Foundation received its seed funding from the Foundation for the Carolinas (a donor-advised fund provider), which gave the group a single grant of $22,451,669, funds which almost certainly originated with Faison. [3]

In 2015, ClearPath reported investment income of $5.3 million and expenditures of $17 million. The group paid out $8.5 million in grants in 2015. [4]

In 2016, ClearPath reported total revenues of $8.8 million (almost all of it from investment income) and expenditures of $12.7 million. The group paid out $4.7 million in grants in 2016. [5]

In 2017, ClearPath reported total revenues of $784,000 (all of it from investment income) and expenditures of $12.2 million. The group paid out $4.8 million in grants in 2017. [6]

Lobbying

Summary

ClearPath Foundation has two registered lobbying firms as of January 2020: Holland & Knight LLP, and Natural Resources Results LLC. [7] [8]

In 2017, ClearPath Foundation reported spending $30,000 in lobbying expenditures to support budget increases for “energy programs” at the U.S. Department of Energy in the FY2019 federal budget. [9]

In 2018, ClearPath Foundation reported spending $30,000 in lobbying expenditures to support budget increases for “energy programs” at the U.S. Department of Energy in the FY2019 federal budget. [10]

In 2019, ClearPath Foundation reported spending $40,000 in lobbying expenditures related to nuclear energy. [11]

Bills Lobbied For

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, in 2019 the ClearPath Foundation lobbied for the following bills: [12]

  • Middle Class Savings Act (H.R. 589)
  • Affordable and Safe Prescription Drug Importation Act (S. 97)
  • Premium Reduction Act of 2019 (S. 1868)
  • Energy Storage Tax Incentive and Deployment Act of 2017 (S. 1868)

Leadership

Founder: Jay Faison

For more information, see Jay Faison

ClearPath Foundation is led by North Carolina businessman Jay Faison. In 2015, he sold the majority of his stake in audio-visual equipment manufacturer Snap AV to found the environmentalist group ClearPath Foundation. [13]

Faison is a major Republican Party donor, and he has said that his organization is not interested in seeking support among Democrats. “I support a free enterprise system unshackled from bad regulation and big labor unions,” he wrote in Politico shortly after launching ClearPath, “but I also believe that my party needs a fresh approach” toward reversing climate change. [14]

Executive Director: Rich Powell

Rich Powell is executive director of ClearPath Foundation and its super PAC affiliate, ClearPath Action. Powell is a former employee of McKinsey & Company (2010-2014), where he worked in Energy and Sustainability Practices. Since 2019, he has been a member of the 2019 Advisory Committee for the Export-Import Bank of the United States. [15]

In 2017, Powell received total compensation of $546,798. [16] In 2016, he received total compensation of $355,597, a single-year increase of $191,201. [17]

References

  1. Darren Goode. “Republican pledges $175 million to push party on climate.” Politico. June 8, 2015. Accessed January 9, 2020. https://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/republican-climate-change-jay-faison-118755 ^
  2. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). ClearPath Foundation. 2014. Part I. Line 8. ^
  3. Data provided by FoundationSearch. ClearPath Foundation. Accessed January 9, 2020. www.FoundationSearch.org. ^
  4. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). ClearPath Foundation. 2015. Part I. Lines 10, 13, 18. ^
  5. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). ClearPath Foundation. 2016. Part I. Lines 12, 13, 18. ^
  6. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). ClearPath Foundation. 2017. Part I. Lines 12, 13, 18. ^
  7. “U.S. Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act: Lobbying Registration: Holland & Knight LLP.” Filed August 1, 2019. Accessed January 9, 2020. http://disclosures.house.gov/ld/ldxmlrelease/2019/RR/301062054.xml ^
  8. “U.S. Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act: Lobbying Registration: Natural Resources Results LLC.” Filed September 27, 2017. Accessed January 9, 2020. http://disclosures.house.gov/ld/ldxmlrelease/2017/RR/300900990.xml ^
  9. “U.S. Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act: Lobbying Report, 2017 Q.4.” Accessed January 9, 2020. http://disclosures.house.gov/ld/ldxmlrelease/2017/Q4/300927480.xml ^
  10. “U.S. Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act: Lobbying Report, 2018 Q.1.” Accessed January 9, 2020. http://disclosures.house.gov/ld/ldxmlrelease/2018/Q1/300942236.xml ^
  11. “U.S. Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act: Lobbying Report, 2019 Q.3.” Accessed January 9, 2020. http://disclosures.house.gov/ld/ldxmlrelease/2019/Q3/301063590.xml ^
  12. “ClearPath Foundation: Bills Lobbied, 2019.” Center for Responsive Politics. Accessed January 9, 2020. https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/lobby.php?id=D000068060 ^
  13. Lauer, Daniel, and Hayden Ludwig. “The Myth Of The Conservative Carbon Tax: A Who’s Who Of The Ecoright.”  October 12, 2018. Accessed January 9, 2020. Capital Research Center. https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-myth-of-the-conservative-carbon-tax-part-4/. ^
  14. Lauer, Daniel, and Hayden Ludwig. “The Myth Of The Conservative Carbon Tax: A Who’s Who Of The Ecoright.”  October 12, 2018. Accessed January 9, 2020. Capital Research Center. https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-myth-of-the-conservative-carbon-tax-part-4/. ^
  15. “Rich Powell: Executive Director.” ClearPath. Accessed January 9, 2020. https://clearpath.org/about-us/rich-powell/ ^
  16. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). ClearPath Foundation. 2017. Part VII (Compensation of Officers, Directors, Trustees, etc.). ^
  17. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). ClearPath Foundation. 2016. Part VII (Compensation of Officers, Directors, Trustees, etc.). ^

Directors, Employees & Supporters

  1. Rich Powell
    Executive Director
  2. Jay Faison
    Founder, Main Funder
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Nonprofit Information

  • Accounting Period: December - November
  • Tax Exemption Received: August 1, 2014

    • 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 $783,835 $12,231,863 $164,364,006 $71,890 Y $0 $0 $920,278 $1,970,288 PDF
    2016 Dec Form 990 $8,818,559 $12,706,630 $158,459,709 $510,636 Y $0 $0 $3,049,913 $0 PDF
    2015 Dec Form 990 $5,284,086 $17,277,505 $161,923,207 $21,077 Y $0 $0 $-1,230,296 $336,304 PDF
    2014 Dec Form 990 $165,599,943 $241,776 $165,885,794 $527,627 N $165,599,943 $0 $0 $55,000 PDF
    2013 Dec Form 990EZ $0 $0 $1 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 PDF
    Map image for ClearPath Foundation

    ClearPath Foundation

    611 Maryland Ave NE
    Washington, DC 20002