The NRDC Action Fund is the political arm of the major environmentalist group Natural Resources Defense Council, helping its affiliated organization advance its objectives through support for environmentalist legislation and candidates. Its policy stances primarily revolve around opposing conventional energy, opposing natural resource extraction, and increasing protections for endangered animals and public lands. ^{1  2}

It has advocated in favor of environmentalist legislation like the “Green New Deal,”¹ a package of left-of-centerpolicies critics have characterized as a “radical, top-down, socialist makeover of the entire U.S. economy”³ and which proponents have called “a how-do-you-change-the-entire-economy” plan. ⁴

History

The NRDC Action Fund was launched in 1999 to give the Natural Resources Defense Council direct influence over legislation and elections. ²

Like its affiliate, the Action Fund was an outspoken opponent of former President George W. Bush and frequently lobbied against the Bush administration’s energy policies. ⁵

Though it was still active, the Action Fund was strategically “relaunched” in 2009, under the guidance of executive director Heather Taylor-Miesle. ⁶ She held her position until 2015. ⁷

The Action Fund was very supportive of the Obama administration, referring to former President Barack Obama as a “Clean Energy Champion… who took unprecedented actions in the past four years to protect our air and produce clean energy jobs.” ⁸

On February 9^th, 2016, Kevin Curtis was appointed executive director of the Action Fund, taking over for Taylor-Miesle, who had left a year prior for a position at the Ohio Environmental Council. ⁹

After the Trump administration assumed control of the White House, NRDC Action Fund returned to being critical of the Executive. In response to President Donald Trump announcing his re-election at a Florida rally, Executive Director Kevin Curtis accused the President of being “a disaster for American leadership.” ¹⁰

In 2024, NRDC has endorsed then-Vice President Kamala Harris for the 2024 Presidential election, claiming that electing Harris would be “the single biggest contribution the U.S. can make.” ¹¹

Following the start of the Second Trump Administration in January 2025, NRDC political and Advocacy Director Mike Cassesso claimed President Donald Trump lied about clean energy and his policies aim to keep Americans “reliant on expensive, polluting fossil fuels.” ¹²

Activities

The NRDC Action Fund regularly blogs about recent environmental legislation and climate change policy proposals from Democratic presidential candidates in the 2020 Presidential election. ¹³

The Action Fund also endorses candidates, but it redirects all candidate donations to GiveGreen, a partnered project of the LCV Victory Fund and NextGen Climate Action that directs donors to environmentalist candidates. ¹⁴

Leadership

Manish Bapna is the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Action Fund as well as the NRDC. She previously served as the executive vice president and managing director of the World Resources Institute (WRI). Prior to this, she served as the executive director of nonprofit Bank Information Center (BIC), which oversees environmental standards of financial institutions, and the World Bank beforehand. In addition, she had previously worked with consulting firm McKinsey & Company in 1986. ^{15 16}

Finances

According to its 2022 990 form, the group reported a revenue of $18,315,373, expenses of $16,030,501, total assets of $16,966,028, and $18,049,610 in contributions. ¹⁷

1. Haq, Aliya. “Green New Deal Rises to Scale of Climate Challenge.” NRDC. February 27, 2019. Accessed August 13, 2019. https://www.nrdc.org/experts/aliya-haq/green-new-deal-rises-scale-climate-challenge. ; Suh, Rhea. “A New Call to National Climate Action.” NRDC Action Fund. January 09, 2019. Accessed August 13, 2019. https://www.nrdcactionfund.org/a-new-call-to-national-climate-action/.
2. “NRDC Consolidated Financial Statements.” NRDC. June 30, 2014. Accessed August 13, 2019. https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/NRDC_auditedfinancialstatements_FY2014.pdf.
3. McConnell, Mitch. Twitter Post. March 25, 2019, 5:18 P.M. Accessed March 29, 2019. https://twitter.com/senatemajldr/status/1110289975386492929
4. Montgomery, David. “AOC’s Chief of Change.” Washington Post. July 10, 2019. Accessed August 20, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/magazine/wp/2019/07/10/feature/how-saikat-chakrabarti-became-aocs-chief-of-change/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.bf826bedb3f8
5. “NRDC Action Fund Archive.” NRDC Action Fund. June 2, 2004. Accessed August 13, 2019. http://web.archive.org/web/20040602190809/http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/.
6. “NRDC Action Fund Facebook 2011.” NRDC Action Fund. Accessed August 13, 2019. https://www.nrdcactionfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/ActionFundC4facebook_22hr.pdf.
7. “Heather Taylor-Miesle LinkedIn Profile.” LinkedIn. Accessed August 13, 2019. https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-taylor-miesle-5376434/.
8. Harrison, Melissa. “President Obama, Other Clean Energy Champions Win.” NRDC Action Fund. November 6, 2012. Accessed August 13, 2019. https://www.nrdcactionfund.org/news/president-obama-other-clean-energy-champions-win/.
9. Dison, Denis. “NRDC Action Fund Names New Executive Director.” NRDC Action Fund. February 09, 2016. Accessed August 13, 2019. https://www.nrdcactionfund.org/news/nrdc-action-fund-names-new-executive-director/.
10. Dison, Denis. “Trump’s Presidency Has Been a Disaster; One Term Is Enough.” NRDC Action Fund. June 18, 2019. Accessed August 13, 2019. https://www.nrdcactionfund.org/news/trumps-presidency-has-been-a-disaster-one-term-is-enough/.
11. NRDC Action Fund, “As Climate Week begins, electing Kamala Harris is ‘single biggest contribution’ U.S. can make to global climate fight,” accessed March 14, 2025, https://www.nrdcactionfund.org/news/as-climate-week-begins-electing-kamala-harris-is-single-biggest-contribution-u-s-can-make-to-global-climate-fight/. 
12. NRDC Action Fund, “Don’t fall for Trump’s latest energy and climate lies,” accessed March 14, 2025, https://www.nrdcactionfund.org/news/trump-lies-about-clean-energy-again/. 
13. “Blog.” NRDC Action Fund. Accessed August 13, 2019. https://www.nrdcactionfund.org/blog/.
14. “GiveGreen.” GiveGreen. Accessed August 13, 2019. https://www.givegreen.com/.
15. “Manish Bapna.” Natural Resources Defense Council, Accessed February 21, 2023. https://www.nrdc.org/experts/manish-bapna
16. “About Us.” Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Action Fund, Accessed April 18, 2025. https://www.nrdcactionfund.org/about/
17. Andrea Suozzo et al., “NRDC Action Fund Inc, Full Filing – Nonprofit Explorer,” ProPublica, May 9, 2013, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/133976062/202441349349305834/full.