Non-profit

Forsythia Foundation

Website:

www.forsythiafdn.org/

Location:

Washington, DC

Tax ID:

81-3990775

Budget (2022):

Revenue: $2,101,787
Expenses: $1,782,605
Assets: $31,728,876

Type:

Environmental Grantmaking Organization

Formation:

2016

Executive Director:

Shelley Hearne

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The Forsythia Foundation is a grantmaking foundation founded by environmentalist Alison Carlson to support action against allegedly toxic chemicals. 1 Forsythia is a client of Arabella Advisors, a philanthropic consulting group for major left-of-center nonprofits; as of 2023, Arabella held Forsythia’s books and was paid $166,405 in fees by the foundation. 2

Background

Alison Carlson, the wife of financier John Burbank, created Forsythia Foundation. Carlson became an environmentalist activist after undergoing fertility problems which may have been connected to environmental pollutants. In 2003, Carlson became a senior fellow for the Commonweal Institute’s Collaborative on Health and the Environment where she organized research efforts into environmental contaminants that have negative effects on reproductive health. The program would eventually evolve into the Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). 3 4

In 2007, Carlson and her husband founded the Passport Foundation, a grantmaking foundation targeting environmentalist causes, with an endowment of $30 million. 5

Grants

The Forsythia Foundation has donated to left-of-center environmentalist and higher-education organizations. In 2019, Forsythia donated $1,097,000. The largest recipient was UCSF which received $250,000. Other grants went to Consumer Reports for $100,000, the Healthy Building Network for $100,000, Earthjustice for $90,000, the Center for Environmental Health for $75,000, the Environmental Working Group $50,000, the Green Science Policy Institute for $50,000, the Commonweal Institute for $30,000, the Environmental Health Strategy Center $25,000, and the Upstream Policy Institute for $2,000. 6

In 2019, Forsythia gave $200,000 to Resolve Inc. to advocate for new food chemical standards at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Forsythia gave Toxic-Free Future $50,000 to support a multi-state municipal government agreement regarding pollution. 6

The Forsythia Foundation and the Passport Foundation funded numerous organizations that provided financing for Dark Waters, a Hollywood eco-thriller starring Mark Ruffalo. 5

Leadership

Shelley is executive director of the Forsythia Foundation as of 2023. In 2023, she received $151,200 in compensation. 7 Prior to Forsythia, Hearne worked at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Natural Resources Defense Council, Pew Charitable Trusts, and Trust for America’s Health. 8 9

In 2013, Hearne became a principal at Thinkwell Strategies, a consulting group, and she has remained at Thinkwell ever since. According to her LinkedIn profile, through her role as principal of Thinkwell Hearne is “part time executive director of Forsythia Foundation. 9

References

  1. “Doing Good Better.” Arabella Advisors. 2020. Accessed October 27, 2022. https://www.arabellaadvisors.com/impact/2021/.
  2.  Forsythia Foundation, Return of a Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2023, Part VII Line 3 and Part VI-A Question 14 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/813990775/202403169349101110/full
  3. “Alison Carlson.” Forsythia Foundation. Accessed October 26, 2022. http://www.forsythiafdn.org/alison-carlson/.
  4. Adeniji, Ade. “Safer Made: Why this Philanthropist is Laser-Focused on Environmental Health.” Inside Philanthropy. July 18, 2017. Accessed October 25, 2022. https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:xkTGs3ofxssJ:https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2017/6/27/safer-made-why-a-philanthropist-champions-environmental-health&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us.
  5. Stilson, Robert; Ludwig, Hayden. “Eco-Hysteria in the Theater: “Dark Money” Pipeline.” Capital Research Center. May 27, 2020. Accessed October 26, 2022. https://capitalresearch.org/article/eco-hysteria-in-the-theater-part-1/.
  6. “Forsythia Foundation.” ProPublica. Accessed October 27, 2022. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/813990775/12_2018_prefixes_80-82%2F813990775_201712_990PF_2018120315968227.
  7. Forsythia Foundation, Return of a Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2023, Part VII Line 1 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/813990775/202403169349101110/full.
  8. “Forsythia Foundation.” ProPublica. Accessed October 26, 2022. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/800609967.
  9. “Shelley Hearne.” LinkedIn. Accessed October 27, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelley-hearne-15052464/.
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Nonprofit Information

  • Accounting Period: December - November
  • Tax Exemption Received: December 1, 2016

  • 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
    2022 Dec Form PF $2,101,787 $1,782,605 $31,728,876 $26,671 $0 $0 $0 $0 PDF
    2021 Dec Form PF $3,853,270 $1,588,439 $34,667,692 $11,823 $0 $0 $0 $0 PDF
    2020 Dec Form PF $4,257,787 $1,657,687 $32,413,562 $22,524 $0 $0 $0 $0
    2019 Dec Form PF $4,494,029 $1,501,864 $29,853,644 $62,706 $0 $0 $0 $0

    Additional Filings (PDFs)

    Forsythia Foundation


    Washington, DC