Earthjustice

Earthjustice’s initial funding came from the Ford Foundation. ² It has received significant financial support from left-of-center foundations, such as the Sandler Foundation,³ the MacArthur Foundation,⁴ the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, ^{5 6 7} and the Brainerd Foundation. ⁸

Earthjustice works with activists to achieve left-of-center climate and energy policy goals, such as two projects in 2018 and 2019 to impede production of new natural gas fired power plants in California. ⁹ A Community-Based Initiatives Program was launched in 2018 with the announced goal of helping local activists block oil and gas production. ¹⁰ Earthjustice made a priority of attempting to stop the First Trump administration from enacting its regulatory reduction and energy policy, filing more than 100 lawsuits against the administration. ¹¹

Background

Earthjustice, initially known as the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, is a public interest law firm that litigates cases related to climate and energy policy, often on behalf of left-of-center climate policy organizations such as the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Earthjustice’s work is done pro bono, with funding from cases provided by donors. Funding from the Ford Foundation helped Earthjustice mature from an organization backed by lawyers with other jobs to a law firm with broader infrastructure. Its structure as a law firm was based upon the model created by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). ^{12 13 14}

In 1997, Earthjustice, which was always an independent group despite its “Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund” name association with the Sierra Club, adopted its new name. ¹⁵

First Case

Earthjustice was founded as the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund in 1971 when the environmental activists at the Club sued to stop Walt Disney from building a ski resort in Sequoia National Park land known as Mineral King. ¹² The Club sued after spending six years opposing the resort, and lost at the U.S. Supreme Court when the justices ruled the group had no legal standing. ¹⁶

However, the Court’s decision included two notations that gave the Club the chance to again challenge the Mineral King resort. First, a dissenting Supreme Court justice said the environment should have an advocate–that trees would have to rely on third-party legal assistance. Additionally, the Court’s ruling was based on a lack of proven harm to the Club and its members. In its second challenge, the Club found nine people who claimed that their wilderness experiences would be harmed by the construction of a resort, and sued on their behalf. A lower court issued an injunction against Disney. By this time, Disney had fought to build the resort for over a decade. ² The legal battle eventually became irrelevant when Congress included Mineral King in protected lands in 1978. ¹⁷

From 1990s to Present

The Mineral King case was groundbreaking for the environmental movement, which previously had limited success with lawsuits. The representative harm strategy became a foundation of the left-of-center climate and environmental lawsuits for the next several decades. ²

Twenty-six years after its founding, the Sierra Club Defense Fund changed its name, declaring that its legal mission had gone beyond the Club’s interests. ¹⁸ At the time of the name change, Earthjustice had 50 attorneys in nine cities. ¹⁸ As of May 2020, the organization had 143 attorneys in 14 cities pursuing over 600 cases. ¹⁹ It has represented hundreds of organizations, including left-of-center climate policy organizations such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Rainforest Action Network, the League of Conservation Voters, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the Natural Resources Defense Council. ¹

Earthjustice sometimes promotes left-of-center viewpoints that are unrelated to climate and energy policy. In 2020, the organization published an analysis that compared the COVID-19 pandemic to the effects of climate change. It asserted that “America’s racist past and economic exclusion” and an alleged ongoing “influence of racism” were responsible for the pandemic disproportionately harming minority communities. ²⁰

Litigation Agenda

Earthjustice’s case study website examines its lawsuits regarding coal, bird protection, pesticides, national forest protection. ²¹ In 2014, Earthjustice won a case in which it represented the NAACP, the Sierra Club, and other organizations that opposed weakening a 2012 air toxins regulation ²²

Earthjustice was key to Massachusetts’ 2007 U.S. Supreme Court victory where the Court told the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) it had the authority to regulate the output of greenhouse gases. Originally filed by private citizens in 1999, the lawsuit took eight years to complete because the EPA said it did not have the authority to regulate greenhouse gas output. Additionally, though the case was originally filed by private organizations, it was eventually taken up by government authorities in a variety of states and municipalities, including Massachusetts. The Supreme Court did not stipulate how the EPA should regulate greenhouse gases, but merely determined that the agency had the statutory authority to do so. ²³

Earthjustice described former President Ronald Reagan‘s environmental record as “abysmal.”  ²⁴ Reagan was a supporter of the Disney ski resort as California’s governor. ²⁵

Earthjustice regularly opposed the environmental policies of the George W. Bush administration. Timber deregulation in 2008 drew a lawsuit. ²⁶ The administration settled on timber regulations in 2003. ²⁷ And Earthjustice filed a number of lawsuits in 2001 against the Bush administration, as well as pointing to what it claimed was a reduction in pollution enforcement by the administration. ²⁸

While Earthjustice filed “hundreds of lawsuits” against the Obama administration, Earthjustice’s then-president said in 2016 that the group was “profoundly grateful” to the administration for its prioritizing climate policy record. ²⁹

Opposition to the Trump Administrations

First Trump Administration

Earthjustice made a priority of attempting to stop the first Trump administration from enacting its regulatory reduction and energy policies. Over 100 lawsuits were filed against the administration during President Donald Trump‘s first term; as of May 2020, 49 of them had received a court decision, with Earthjustice claiming victory in 39 of them. ¹¹

A 2016 Obama-era moratorium on leasing public land to coal miners was overturned early in the Trump administration, but an Earthjustice lawsuit led a judge to order reinstatement of the Obama-era rule. ³⁰ Trump’s decision to allow oil and gas exploration and drilling in Alaska was likewise halted after a judge ruled that the moratorium should stay in place. ³¹ Earthjustice also convinced a court that Trump-era deregulation of chemical plant disaster plan requirements was unlawful. ³² In February 2020, Earthjustice argued that a 2017 rule which did not allow people receiving Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants and other funding to serve on agency advisory committees went too far in terms of protecting taxpayers from ethics issues. ³³

One of Earthjustice’s energy pipeline victories overturned a Trump administration rule which allowed the Dakota Access Pipeline to be built. A court determined in 2020 that a full environmental survey should be done first, something which the Obama administration required in 2016. ³⁴ In a similar battle over four Obama-era conservation and energy efficiency regulations which were implemented in December 2016–in between Trump’s victory and his instatement into office–Earthjustice convinced a court to order the Trump administration to publish the standards in a public space. According to the judge, the Trump administration’s failure to publish the standards was “a violation of federal duties under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act.”  ³⁵

Earthjustice won cases favoring animal habitat rights and hunting restrictions against the first Trump administration. ³⁶

In 2019, Earthjustice also took on the Trump administration’s revocation of a California waiver that allowed California to enact greenhouse emissions standards that were more stringent than federal standards. Earthjustice said the administration’s action risked similar standards in other states. ³⁷

Second Trump Administration

In February 2025, Earthjustice announced that it had filed a legal challenge against President Donald Trump for ordering the revocation of President Joe Biden’s rules protecting ocean areas from future oil and gas drilling. Earthjustice said it was serving as co-counsel alongside the NRDC in a related lawsuit against the Trump administration for its attempt to open the Arctic Ocean to drilling by reviving an order from his first term that sought to undo Obama-era offshore protections. Earthjustice and the NRDC were representing numerous groups, including the League of Conservation Voters, Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), the Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Greenpeace, and the Alaska Wilderness League in the suit. ^{38 39}

In February 2025, Earthjustice and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University sued the Trump administration U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for removing its webpages dedicated to climate change, such as portals for farmers to access “billions of dollars” for conservation practices and tools such as the U.S. Forest Service’s Climate Risk Viewer, an action the plaintiffs alleged was unlawful. The lawsuit aimed to secure a court order to require the USDA to restore the pages and to bar it from removing additional climate change resources. The suit was filed on behalf of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York (NOFA-NY), the NRDC, and the Environmental Working Group. The suit proved successful: in May 2025, the USDA restored the pages, having filed a letter in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York promising it would comply with federal laws on “posting decisions” in the future. ^{40 41 42}

In March 2025, Earthjustice announced it was suing the Trump administration and the Department of Agriculture for blocking the Rural Energy for America Program grants that had been appropriated by the U.S. Congress as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) during the Biden era, which Earthjustice alleged was unlawful. Earthjustice represented five farms in Maryland, Massachusetts, and Mississippi, and three nonprofit groups (Cultivate KC, Faith In Place, and GreenLatinos) in the case. ^{43 44}

In May 2025, Earthjustice sued the Trump administration on behalf of a coalition of organizations and in partnership with multiple states for freezing $5 billion that was allocated to create a national network of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, a move Earthjustice alleged was illegal. The funding for the proposed network, known as the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program, was a Biden-era project for the Federal Highway Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation which received funding from the U.S. Congress in 2021. All 50 states, as well as Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, developed proposals to build EV infrastructure. ^{45 46}

When 17 states announced their plan to challenge the Trump administration, Earthjustice joined the suit and partnered with a coalition of nonprofits, including CleanAIRE NC, Climate Solutions, the NRDC, Plug In America, the Sierra Club, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, the Southern Environmental Law Center, and the West End Revitalization Association. The suit was successful, with a judge ruling that the Department of Transportation was to be barred from withdrawing funds interfering with projects outlined in NEVI. As of February 2026, states were unlocking funds to spend on charging stations, but a January 2026 analysis estimated that only two percent of the total funds had been spent. ^{46 47 48}

In May 2025, Earthjustice sued the Trump administration for attempting to open the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument (which covers 490,000 square miles of ocean and island habitats in the Pacific Ocean) to commercial fishing, a move Earthjustice alleged was illegal. In August 2025, the federal district court in Honolulu, Hawaii ruled in Earthjustice’s favor and barred commercial fishing in the region. ⁴⁹

In June 2025, Earthjustice sued the USDA to restore more than 600 grants to groups that were engaged in sustainable agricultural initiatives, including specialty crop research, urban forestry, extreme heat protection for vulnerable communities, and help for beginner farmers and low-income communities. Earthjustice was co-counsel on the case alongside FarmSTAND and the Farmers Justice Center, and they represented Agroecology Commons, Oakville Bluegrass Collective, and the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN). ^{50 51}

In August 2025, a federal judge ruled in Earthjustice’s favor, restoring the funds for the represented groups. Earthjustice filed an additional request for the court to bar the USDA from its “pattern” of terminating grants, which would restore all farming grants paused by the Department. ⁵²

In June 2025, Earthjustice announced it was suing the Trump administration’s April exemptions for “dozens” of coal-fired plants from strong pollution limits outlined in the 2024 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS). Earthjustice added that the lawsuit was filed a day after the Trump administration announced it would repeal the 2024 MATS, as well as the 111 Power Plant rule regarding coal and gas-fired plants. Earthjustice characterized these actions as part of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin’s practice of permitting business to simply email their requests for exemptions from various clean air standards to the EPA. ^{53 54}

Earthjustice’s suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (D.C.) on behalf of the Air Alliance Houston, the Clean Air Council, Downwinders at Risk, the Montana Environmental Information Center, and the Sierra Club, among others. Additionally, Earthjustice’s suit was co-counseled by the NRDC; Donahue, Goldberg and Herzog, which was representing the CBD and the Environmental Defense Fund; the Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC), which was representing the Environmental Integrity Project and the Dakota Resource Council; and the Clean Air Task Force, which was representing Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future. ⁵³

In June 2025, Earthjustice and several attorneys filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity and the Friends of the Everglades to block the construction of the South Florida Detention Facility, colloquially known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” a migrant detention center in Florida’s Everglades region that had been proposed by the Florida State government under Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). The lawsuit aimed to halt all construction and to impose a rigorous environmental review by federal and state regulatory bodies in the belief that the proposed facility would not only be “cruel” but would threaten the wetland ecosystem. ⁵⁵

Despite the lawsuit, the detention facility was constructed in a matter of days and was housing 900 detainees as of July 2025, with state officials announcing that they wanted to increase capacity to 4,000 detainees by the end of August. In late August 2025, a federal judge ordered the state of Florida and the Trump administration to halt construction of the facility, pause the admission of new detainees, and wind down operations over the course of 60 days, as per the request from Friends of the Everglades and CBD. Earthjustice called the decision a “victory.” But in September 2025, a federal appeals panel in Atlanta blocked the judge’s ruling, citing insufficient legal standards and the “significant cost” the dismantling would incur on the state of Florida. As of February 2026, the detention facility was operating. ^{56 57 58 59 60}

In October 2025, Earthjustice and the Coffey Burlington law firm represented Friends of the Everglades in opening a lawsuit against the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) for allegedly spending “millions of taxpayer dollars” on the migrant detention facility without disclosing finances, with the request that financials be disclosed. ⁶¹

In September 2025, Earthjustice joined the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), Public Rights Project, and Lawyers for Good Government in filing an appeal challenging a federal district judge’s dismissal of their previous challenge posed to the second Trump administration EPA’s termination of the Environmental and Climate Justice Program (ECJ Program), a termination they alleged was unlawful. The federal judge had dismissed the case because they claimed they did not have jurisdiction over the matter, a claim that a senior attorney at the SELC claimed was false. The ECJ Program, created by the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), consisted of at least $2.8 billion in U.S. Congressional appropriations to fund various anti-pollution and “climate justice” activities. The plaintiffs’ counter-appeal was filed on behalf of a coalition of nonprofit groups, local government offices, and Native American tribes that had been receiving ECJ grants. The appeal also requested a court order that would require the EPA to continue to provide the promised funding until a final court decision is reached. ^{62 63}

In November 2025, Earthjustice announced it was suing the Trump administration for directing the U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to hold an auction sale for an 80-million-acre offshore oil patch in the Gulf of Mexico, which Earthjustice alleged was being done with no environmental review. Earthjustice also noted that BOEM had announced it was no longer complying with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which would have necessitated the government to analyze potential environmental harms caused by the sale. Earthjustice filed the suit with the CBD, the NRDC, and the Sierra Club on behalf of Friends of the Earth and Healthy Gulf. Earthjustice noted the Trump administration had plans to drill at least an additional 1.27 billion acres of ocean, implying it might launch future lawsuits against those efforts. ^{64 65}

In December 2025, Earthjustice filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for its approval of ConocoPhillips’ exploratory drilling project on Western Arctic lands. ⁶⁶

In February 2026, Earthjustice announced it was representing conservation groups Friends of the Earth and the CBD in their challenge in Alaskan federal court regarding an oil and gas lease sale in the Western Arctic commenced by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The sale concerned roughly 5.5 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, and the BLM said it would be taking bids from oil and gas companies in March 2026. The legal challenge revived Earthjustice’s paused lawsuit from 2020 against the first Trump administration regarding a larger portion of the Reserve. The challenge alleged that the federal government was failing to uphold mandates that ecological and cultural values must be preserved in the Reserve by pursuing a lease. ^{67 68}

In February 2026, Earthjustice announced it was suing the EPA of the Trump administration for repealing the “endangerment finding,” or the EPA’s determination in 2009 under the Obama administration that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled correctly regarding Massachusetts v. EPA (2007) in deciding that carbon emissions and other “greenhouse gases” constituted “air pollutants” as defined by the Clean Air Act. ^{69 70}

Earthjustice’s suit was part of a broad coalition of left-wing health and environmental nonprofit organizations that filed the case in the D.C. Circuit, alleging that the Trump administration’s rescission of the endangerment finding was illegal. Earthjustice represented the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice (CCAEJ), the Clean Air Council, Friends of the Earth, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Rio Grande International Study Center (RGISC), and the Union of Concerned Scientists. ^{71 72}

Additionally, Clean Air Task Force represented the American Public Health Association, the American Lung Association, the Alliance of Nurses for a Healthy Environment, and Clean Wisconsin. Other plaintiffs included the CBD, the Conservation Law Foundation, the Environmental Defense Fund, ELPC, the NRDC, Public Citizen, and the Sierra Club. ^{71 72}

In February 2026, Earthjustice announced that it and the NRDC were representing the Sierra Club in its lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for approving Venture Global’s application to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from a future facility, known as CP2 LNG, then being constructed in Louisiana. ⁷³

In 2026, Earthjustice signed a Request for Correction filed under the federal Information Quality Act urging the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to review the scientific basis for the classification of the Rice’s whale (Balaenoptera ricei) as a distinct endangered species. The request argued that the underlying research and subsequent regulatory actions warranted further examination regarding scientific methodology, transparency, and potential conflicts of interest. ⁷⁴

Partnerships

Native Tribes

Earthjustice regularly works with Native American tribes to protect their lands from being used for energy pipelines and other economic development. ⁷⁵

In 2015, Earthjustice joined the Creative Action Network to create an art protest initiative designed to protect wolves. The effort was specifically designed to oppose U.S. Congressional efforts to take wolves off the endangered species list. ⁷⁶

A spokesperson for Earthjustice was quoted as opposing the federal government’s virtual meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, asserting that technological difficulties among Native American tribes meant that tribe members could not attend such meetings and would thus be denied an effective voice on matters affecting tribes. ⁷⁵

Local Activists

Earthjustice works with local activists to achieve left-0f-center climate and energy policy goals, such as two projects in 2018 and 2019 to impede production of new natural gas fired power plants in California. ⁹ The Community-Based Initiatives Program was launched in 2018 with the announced goal of helping local activists block oil and gas production. ¹⁰

Related Organizations

In 2020, the Sallan Foundation, a New York-based environmental organization, liquidated itself and transferred its assets to Earthjustice. The Sallan Foundation had an archive of the climate movement housed at Columbia University. It had characterized the first Trump administration as an “assault on climate science and capable climate action.” Its executive director, Nancy E. Henderson, went on to create Nancy E. Anderson Associates, which aims to advocate for the creation of “climate-smart cities.” ^{77 78 79}

According to its tax filings, Asociacion Interamericana Para La Defensa Del Ambiente’s (AIDA) accounting books were in the care of Earthjustice from 2016 to 2023. ^{80 81}

Earthjustice has a 501(c)(4) social welfare counterpart known as Earthjustice Action. It engages in lobbying efforts, political advocacy, and campaigns to influence government policy regarding environmental matters. In 2024, it endorsed then-Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election. ^{82 83}

As of 2023, Earthjustice was also formally related to the Washington Forest Law Center (WFLC), a public interest law firm based in Seattle, Washington. As of 2026, the WFLC had rescinded its status as an independent, tax-exempt organization and had become a legal collaborative trade name owned and operated by attorney Peter Goldman. ^{82 84 85}

Leadership

Staff and Board

As of 2026, Abigail Dillen is the president of EarthJustice, a position she has held since 2018. ⁸⁶ A former climate and energy vice president and an attorney for Earthjustice’s anti-coal initiatives, Dillen first joined Earthjustice in 2000. ⁸⁷ Dillen is married to Jasmit Singh Rangr. ⁸⁸

As of 2026, Drew Caputo is Earthjustice’s vice president of Litigation for Lands, Wildlife and Oceans. He began his legal career with Earthjustice before spending 13 years with another environmental group and eight years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in San Francisco, California. ⁸⁹

As of 2026, Jill Tauber is leading Earthjustice’s climate and energy litigation as vice president. In 2020, her Earthjustice bio stated that her department’s goal was to use the legal system “to achieve a swift and equitable shift from fossil fuels to 100% clean energy and to curb the devastating effects of climate change.” She was previously managing attorney for Earthjustice’s clean energy litigation, where she represented clients who wanted to force public utilities to adopt environmentalist energy sources. ⁹⁰

Fern Shepard, a former Earthjustice board chair, is a trustee of the organization. She continued worked as president of Rachel’s Network as of 2026. ^{91 92 93}

As of 2023, Stuart Clarke was the chair of Earthjustice’s board of trustees. Clarke had been on the board since 2020. At that time, he was also a program director of the William Penn Foundation, a position he had held since 2021. In January 2026, he became the program director of the Hive Fund for Climate and Gender Justice. He had previously worked as the executive director of the Town Creek Foundation for fifteen years. ^{94 95 96}

Earthjustice board members often represent other influential groups and/or industries. Examples in 2020 included the Sandler Foundation’s executive president, a former senior executive of Toyota’s North American operations, former and then-current hedge fund industry representatives, and college professors. ⁹¹

In January 2024, Earthjustice appointed three new trustees to its board: Melanie Newman, Greg Avis, and Chris Hensman. At the time, Newman was serving as the senior vice president of communications at Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund; Avis was a managing partner of the investing firm Bangtail Partners and the co-founder and former managing director of Summit Partners; and Hensman was the chief strategy officer at Houston Habitat for Humanity. ⁹⁷

In July 2024, Earthjustice appointed two new trustees to its board: David Yeh and Rehka Rao. Yeh is a venture capitalist who led sustainable infrastructure and investments in the Obama administration. At the time of his appointment, he was an advisor and board member of Darthmouth College’s Irving Institute for Energy and Society, Confluence Philanthropy, and the Climate Trust, as well as several climate-related startups. Rao is a lawyer and environmental policy advocate. At the time of her appointment, she was the U.S. electricity senior initiative director for Climate Imperative. ⁹⁸

Founders

Earthjustice’s founders were Phil Berry, Fred Fisher, and Don Harris. Former Sierra Club legal experts, they founded the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund in 1971. ⁹⁹

Berry was previously chair of the Sierra Club Legal Committee and was elected president of the Sierra Club in 1969. He was also president of the Club again in 1991. ¹⁰⁰

Fisher was board chair of the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund from 1995 to 2000. ¹⁰⁰

Harris was on Earthjustice’s board for 35 years and was board chair of the group from 1971 to 1989. ¹⁰⁰

Funding

Earthjustice’s initial funding came from the Ford Foundation, which helped it fight the Mineral King case and generally develop its groundbreaking environmental strategy. ² The Foundation grant was $98,000 – approximately $630,000 in 2020 dollars. ^{101 102}

The organization regularly receives significant funding from outside foundations. The Sandler Foundation, which helped found groups like the Center for American Progress, gave $3 million from 2009 to 2015. ³ The Sandler Foundation website describes Earthjustice as “the premier nonprofit environmental law organization” and stated that its financial assistance has focused on improving Earthjustice’s internal infrastructure. ¹⁰³

Examples of other major left-of-center foundation donors include:

The JPB Foundation, which gave $2 million dollars in 2017. ¹⁰⁴

The William + Flora Hewlett Foundation gave $350,000 in 2012. ¹⁰⁵

The MacArthur Foundation donated $4.69 million from 1987 to 2018, including three million dollars in 2018. ⁴

The Conservation Alliance donated nearly $300,000 from 2012 to 2019. ¹⁰⁶

The Educational Foundation of America gave $225,000 to Earthjustice in 2014. ¹⁰⁷

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, which donated $510,000 in two grants in 2017 and $500,000 in 2018. ^{108 6 7}

The Gordon and Llura Gund Foundation gave $888,349 in appreciated stock in 2018. ¹⁰⁹

The Isdell Foundation gave $315,000 in 2019 and $1 million in 2021. ^{110 111}

The Brainerd Foundation has given approximately $1.6 million in annual donations since 2001. ⁸

The Paul and Antje Newhagen Family Foundation gave $350,000 in 2020. ¹¹²

The Kenbe Foundation gave $100,000 in 2020 and $100,000 in 2021. ^{113 114}

The Social Justice Charitable Corporation gave $100,000 in 2020, $87,500 in 2021, and $100,000 in 2022. ^{115 116 117}

The Amy and Steve Unfried Foundation gave $150,000 in 2020, $175,000 in 2021, and $150,000 in 2023. ^{118 119 120}

The Horizon Climate Initiative gave $150,000 for Earthjustice’s work in “promoting a cost-effective and clean electricity system” in 2023. ¹²¹

The Dianne and David Stern Foundation gave a total of $2.7 million in 2023. ¹²²

The Brant Foundation gave a total of $1,431,828 from 2016 to 2024. ^{123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130}

The Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust gave $1.6 million in 2023 and $900,000 in 2024. ^{131 132}

The East Yard Communities For Environmental Justice gave $125,658 in 2024. ¹³³

The McClain Roberts Foundation gave $125,000 in 2024. ¹³⁴

Financials

According to an Axios report, Earthjustice’s revenues jumped in 2016 and 2017 due to environmental activists’ concerns about President Donald Trump’s focus on federal deregulation of industries that affect the environment. ¹³⁵ Revenues increased from over $47 million in 2015 more than $90 million in 2016. ¹³⁶ 2017 revenues were more than $74 million, more than 50 percent above 2015 revenues. ¹³⁷ Two-thirds of Earthjustice’s expenses in 2015, 2016, and 2017 were employee pay, benefits, and other compensation. ^{138 136}

In 2023, Earthjustice reported revenues of $139,607,013, expenses of $152,119,684, and net assets of $244,019,416. Of its expenses, salaries and other forms of employee compensation accounted for $108 million, or roughly 71 percent of its total. ¹³⁹

In 2023, Earthjustice claimed to have spent $82.8 million on providing “free legal representation” for citizen groups, scientists, environmental organizations, and other groups. It spent $37.89 million on providing “increased public, media, and policy maker awareness of environmental issues and the role of law in solving them.” Earthjustice spent $1.3 million on digital marketing costs on Meta platforms that year. It spent an additional $1.4 million on lobbying efforts at the local, state, and federal levels. ^{140 141 142}

Grantmaking

In 2023, Earthjustice gave $185,000 to Asociacion Interamericana Para La Defensa Del Ambiente (AIDA), $315,000 to its 501(c)(4) counterpart Earthjustice Action, $150,000 to Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (SEE), $257,000 to the Partnership Project, $1 million to the Tides Foundation, $12,600 to Climate Generation, $25,000 to the Alaska Wilderness League, and $50,000 to Coming Clean. ¹⁴³