The Sea Change Foundation is a major left-of-center foundation whose grantmaking focuses on supporting environmentalist think tanks and advocacy groups, most notably the Energy Foundation, an environmentalist pass-through funder, and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an advocacy nonprofit.

Sea Change was founded in 2006 by Nathaniel Simons, the billionaire son of Renaissance Technologies co-founder and liberal mega-donor James Simons. ¹ The foundation, based in San Francisco, California, was created as a 501(c)(3) exempt private foundation. ² The foundation’s mission is to address “serious threats posed by global climate change.” ³

Between its creation in 2006 and 2018, Sea Change has paid out $480 million in grants to other nonprofits. ⁴

Founding

Also see Nathaniel Simons

The Sea Change Foundation is funded by Nathaniel “Nat” Simons, co-founder of Prelude Ventures, a “clean technology” investment fund. ⁵ Funding from the foundation comes from the personal wealth of Simons and his wife, Laura Baxter-Simons. ⁶ The foundation also receives funding from Renaissance Technologies, the successful hedge fund that Simons’ father and major Democratic donor, James Simons, created and where Simons spent years as a portfolio manager. ⁷ Nat Simons currently serves as a board member and vice-chair of Renaissance, in addition to managing Meritage Group LP, a spin-off portfolio of hedge fund and direct investments. ⁵

Overview

The Sea Change Foundation’s philanthropic interests are climate change and clean energy policy, and it funds a wide array of environmentalist groups along with center-left think tanks and groups. ⁵ The foundation had donated over $500 million by 2018, according to Inside Philanthropy. ⁸ Furthermore, in 2018, the foundation committed to donating between $50 million and $75 million yearly towards climate mitigation and clean energy projects. ⁹

Simons has noted that much of Sea Change’s rate of giving is motivated by “urgency of the issue and the momentum generated by the Paris Climate Accord,” an international agreement joined by the United States in 2015 under President Barack Obama; President Donald Trump signaled his intent to leave the Paris Climate Accord in 2017. ^{10 11}

The foundation’s largest grant recipient is the Energy Foundation, a major left-of-center nonprofit that acts as a pass-through for foundations like Sea Change to support liberal environmental groups. Between 2007 and 2018, Sea Change paid out $125 million to the Energy Foundation. Other major grantees include the Sierra Club, World Wide Fund for Nature (formerly the World Wildlife Fund), Natural Resources Defense Council, Food and Water Watch, the League of Conservation Voters, and Center for American Progress (CAP). ¹²

Major recipients of Sea Change Foundation grants include: ^{13 14}

• Energy Foundation ($125 million)
• League of Conservation Voters Education Fund ($39 million) ¹⁵
• Partnership Project ($36 million)
• Sierra Club Foundation ($26 million)
• Natural Resources Defense Council ($21 million)
• American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy ($16 million)
• European Climate Foundation ($15 million)
• World Wildlife Fund ($14 million)
• Alaska Conservation Foundation ($12 million)
• Center for American Progress ($11 million)
• Western Resource Advocates ($11 million)
• US Climate Action Network ($9 million)
• Alliance to Save Energy ($8 million)
• Tides Foundation ($8 million), Tides Center ($1.1 million) Tides Center and Foundation are related entities; for more information, see Tides Nexus
• Regulatory Assistance Project ($7.9 million)
• Ceres ($7.6 million)
• World Resources Institute ($6 million)
• New Buildings Institute ($5.6 million)
• Environmental Defence ($4.7 million)
• National Wildlife Federation ($4.6 million)
• Southwest Energy Efficiency Project LLC ($4.3 million)
• Northwest Energy Coalition ($3.4 million)

Criticism and Controversy

Lack of Transparency

The philanthropy website Inside Philanthropy noted the quiet profile that Simons and Sea Change have taken, stating in 2014 that Sea Change had “what is quite possibly the world’s least informative website.” ¹

Russian Connections, Bermuda “Dark Money,” and the Environmentalist “Billionaire’s Club”

In 2014, the Sea Change Foundation came under scrutiny in a report released by the Republican staff of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee titled, “The Chain of Environmental Command: How a Club of Billionaires and their Foundations Control the Environment and Obama’s EPA” (archived here). The report notes that “an elite group of left-wing millionaires and billionaires . . . . directs and controls the far-left environmental movement, which in turn controls major policy decisions and lobbies on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),” identifying Sea Change Foundation as a “dominant organization in this movement” that “relies on funding from a foreign company with undisclosed donors” to funnel “tens of millions of dollars to other large but discreet foundations and prominent environmental activists who strive to control both policy and politics.” ¹⁶

Klein Ltd., the “foreign company with undisclosed donors” identified in the report that allegedly “exists on paper only,” is a Bermuda-based company noted as a donor to the Sea Change Foundation in its annual IRS Form 990 financial filings (private foundations, unlike other types of nonprofits, are required to disclose the names of their donors). Between 2010 and 2011, Klein Ltd. donated $23 million to Sea Change, accounting for 49 percent of its total contributions in 2010 and 33 percent of its total contributions in 2011. ¹⁷ As the report put it: ¹⁸

As a practical matter, an overseas company contributing tens of millions to organizations dedicated to abolishing the use of affordable fossil fuels is highly problematic. This is only compounded by the fact it is deliberately and completely lacking in transparency. However, it is likely this lack of transparency shields Klein Ltd. from any responsibility to the American businesses and families it hurts. . . .

The role Sea Change plays as a member of the Billionaire’s Club is deeply troubling, especially in light of recent revelations that environmental activists, many of whom are clearly
benefiting from this extreme “dark money,” do not have any moral qualms over where their money comes from – so long as it supports the far-left cause.

A graphic in the report further illustrates Sea Change Foundation’s pass-through system and how it benefits left-wing environmentalist groups such as the League of Conservation Voters and Sierra Club: ¹⁹

It should be pointed out that the vast majority of Sea Change’s funding (before, during, and after 2010-2011) comes from Nathaniel and Laura Simons as well as a handful of trusts under his name. ¹⁷ Nevertheless, Sea Change’s role as a pass-through to major left-wing activist groups has earned it scrutiny from conservative observers and watchdog groups.

In December 2015, the center-right Environmental Policy Alliance released a follow-up report to the 2014 Senate committee report that alleged Klein Ltd. connections to Russia and Russian president Vladimir Putin, proposing that Klein Ltd. and Sea Change Foundation acted as a conduit for funneling Russian government money to U.S. environmental groups in order to undermine American natural gas and oil production to Russia’s benefit (Russia remains a major oil and gas producer): ²⁰

According to its Articles of Incorporation, Klein was formed by two employees of Wakefield Quin (WQ), a Bermuda law firm. A Klein director and WQ senior counsel, along with another WQ senior counsel, have pasts that should be considered questionable at best. Both held directorship positions in a group, owned by Russian minister of telecommunications and longtime Putin friend Leonid Reiman, which was the subject of a 2008 money laundering case. The group was ultimately convicted in British Virgin Islands court. WQ’s Russian involvement doesn’t stop there. Marcuard Spectrum, a Moscow-based investment firm, operates a hedge fund in Bermuda based out of WQ’s office. Both of the aforementioned WQ lawyers are listed in leadership positions. Further, one of the founders of Marcuard is also the chair of Russian-owned oil giant Rosneft.

According to the report, the shell company Klein Ltd. was established in March 2011 by Wakefield Quin; Bermuda law allows such entities to conceal foreign sources of funding. As of 2018, Simons had renamed Klein Ltd. “Sea Change International,” reportedly in response to the negative publicity Klein Ltd. received. ¹¹ However, Sea Change International (formerly Klein Ltd.) shares the same address as Wakefield Quin and, at the time, “more than 20 other companies apparently run through the law firm.” ²¹ The Environmental Policy Alliance illustrated this relationship as follows:

In September 2018, Daily Signal investigative journalist Kevin Mooney submitted a background report to the Pennsylvania Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee titled, “Foreign Involvement on Natural Gas Development in the US & Pennsylvania” (archived here).²² Mooney’s report cited the Sea Change Foundation as a major example of foreign involvement in efforts to disrupt natural gas development in the United States, noting that firms and entities associated with the Simons family and Renaissance Technologies have been “domiciled in Bermuda, using multiple law firms, primarily Wakefield Quin” and Appleby Ltd., the former of “which has been found guilty in international court of aiding a Russian money laundering scheme.”

Sea Change and the other Simons family ventures based in Bermuda have numerous ties to Russia, most notably sharing board directors who also serve as directors of Russian banks, investment funds, and companies. Nat Simons sits on the board of Planar Technologies (which he has funded) alongside Roderick Forrest, senior counsel at Wakefield Quin. who was implicated in a money laundering scheme at Russia’s IPOC Group in 2008.

. . .

Subsequent investigations have found that lawyers and employees with Wakefield Quin have been associated with Russian energy companies and have worked with Leonid Reiman, a former Russian minister of telecommunications and longtime [Vladimir] Putin ally. There is what members of Congress describe as a “paperless money trail” that flows from Putin’s government in Russia into the shell company in Bermuda, from there into the Sea Change Foundation and from the Sea Change Foundation into U.S. environmental groups in the form of grants.

Funding

Financial Overview

Between fiscal years 2006 and 2018, the Sea Change Foundation reported $702 million in total revenues and paid out $510 million, including $480 million in grants to other organizations. ⁴

Donors to Sea Change Foundation

Between 2006 and 2018, the Sea Change Foundation received $413 million in donations, primarily from Nathaniel and Laura Simons, trust funds associated with them, and from James Simons.

Grants from Sea Change Foundation

Between 2007 and 2018 (the foundation did not pay out grants in 2006), Sea Change Foundation paid out $450 million in grants to other organizations, the vast majority of which are focused on climate change and other environmentalist causes. ^{13 14}

Board and Key Staff

Nat Simons serves as president of the Sea Change Foundation. ⁶ The only other board member is his wife, Laura Baxter-Simons, who is listed as Secretary. ⁷

Stephen Colwell is the current Executive Director of the foundation. Colwell previously served as Executive Director of the Coral Reef Alliance and the Ocean Foundation as well as an advisor to other environment-focused grant-makers including the David and Lucile Packard and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundations. ²⁴

Other key staff members of the foundation include:⁶

• Shawn Reifsteck is the group’s Chief Operations Officer.
• Sandra Doyle, Satkartar Khalsa, and Clifford Chen are listed as Sea Change’s program strategists

Affiliations

The Sea Change Foundation’s involvement with environmental policy efforts and funding from overseas companies came under scrutiny in a 2014 report released by the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee titled, “How a Club of Billionaires and Their Foundations Control the Environmental Movement and Obama’s EPA.”²⁵

The report states that an elite group, referred to as the “Billionaire’s Club,” directs and controls the center-left environmental movement, which in turn controls policy decisions of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The report also cites that “a dominant organization in this movement is the Sea Change Foundation, a private California foundation, which relies on funding from a foreign company with undisclosed donors. In turn, Sea Change funnels tens of millions of dollars to other large but discreet foundations and prominent environmental activists who strive to control both policy and politics.”²⁵

The foreign company in question is Klein Ltd., a Bermuda-based company that funnels anonymous donations for philanthropic efforts. The report finds that the company was one of the sources of the Sea Change Foundation’s funding in 2010 and 2011, contributing over $23 million to fight domestic fossil energy production. ²⁵

1. Williams, Tate. “The Quiet Hedge Fund Heir Who’s Engaged in Massive Climate Giving.” Inside Philanthropy. April 3, 2014. Accessed March 21, 2017. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/wall-street-wallets/2014/4/3/the-quiet-hedge-fund-heir-whos-engaged-in-massive-climate-gi.html
2. “Sea Change Foundation.” Foundation Center. Accessed February 25, 2017. https://fconline.foundationcenter.org/grantmaker-profile?collection=grantmakers&key=SEAC007.
3. “Sea Change Foundation.” Sea Change Foundation. Accessed February 25, 2017. http://www.seachange.org/.
4. Return of Foundation Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Sea Change Foundation. 2006-2018. Part I. Lines 12, 25, 26, 30.

   Note that Sea Change Foundation’s fiscal year runs from July 31 to August 1; consequently, its Form 990 reports run from July 31, 2005 to August 1, 2019. The recorded Form 990 years are used here.

5. Exploratorium. December 21, 2015. Accessed February 25, 2017. https://www.exploratorium.edu/about/board-directors/nat-simons.
6. “Sea Change Foundation – 990 Form.” GuideStar. Accessed February 25, 2017. http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2015/204/952/2015-204952986-0c9c8674-F.pdf.
7. “Sea Change Foundation: Grants for Climate Change.” Inside Philanthropy. Accessed February 25, 2017. http://www.insidephilanthropy.com/fundraising-for-climate-change/sea-change-foundation-grants-for-climate-change.html.
8. Callahan, David and John Freund. “Future of Big Philanthropy: 15 Heirs of Top Mega-Givers to Watch Closely.” Inside Philanthropy, September 4, 2020. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2020/9/4/heirs-to-big-philanthropy-15-kids-of-top-mega-givers-to-watch-closely.
9. Williams, Tate. “Top Climate Change Donors Pull Back the Curtain on Their Past and Future Giving.” Inside Philanthropy, July 20, 2018. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2018/7/20/top-climate-change-donors-pull-back-the-curtain-on-their-past-and-future-giving.
10. “Statement by President Trump on the Paris Climate Accord.” White House (Trump administration). June 1, 2017. Accessed October 27, 2020. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-president-trump-paris-climate-accord/
11. Tate Williams. “Top Climate Change Donors Pull Back the Curtain on Their Past and Future Giving.” Inside Philanthropy. July 20, 2018. Accessed October 27, 2020. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2018/7/20/top-climate-change-donors-pull-back-the-curtain-on-their-past-and-future-giving
12. Return of Foundation Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Sea Change Foundation. 2006-2018. Schedule I.
13. Return of Foundation Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Sea Change Foundation. 2006-2018. Schedule I.

    Note that Sea Change Foundation’s fiscal year runs from July 31 to August 1; consequently, its Form 990 reports run from July 31, 2005 to August 1, 2019. The recorded Form 990 years are used here.

14. Information provided by Foundation Search. Search conducted October 26, 2020. www.FoundationSearch.org
15. Note that a number of Sea Change Foundation grants list League of Conservation Voters instead of League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, improperly referring to LCVEF’s 501(c)(4) advocacy arm. As private foundations are largely barred from donating to 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations and these grants misidentify LCV as a “public charity,” they have been counted as benefiting LCVEF.
16. United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Minority Staff Report. “The Chain of Environmental Command: How a Club of Billionaires and their Foundations Control the Environment and Obama’s EPA.” July 30, 2014. Accessed October 28, 2020. Original URL: https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/6ce8dd13-e4ab-4b31-9485-6d2b8a6f6b00/chainofenvironmentalcommand.pdf. Archived URL: https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2020/10/chain-of-environmental-command-2014-report.pdf
17. Return of Foundation Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Sea Change Foundation. 2010, 2011. Schedule B.

    For a complete list of Sea Change’s donors between 2006 and 2018, see Donors to Sea Change Foundation.

18. United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Minority Staff Report. “The Chain of Environmental Command: How a Club of Billionaires and their Foundations Control the Environment and Obama’s EPA.” July 30, 2014. Accessed October 28, 2020. Original URL: https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/6ce8dd13-e4ab-4b31-9485-6d2b8a6f6b00/chainofenvironmentalcommand.pdf. Archived URL: https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2020/10/chain-of-environmental-command-2014-report.pdf

    See PDF page 72.

19. United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Minority Staff Report. “The Chain of Environmental Command: How a Club of Billionaires and their Foundations Control the Environment and Obama’s EPA.” July 30, 2014. Accessed October 28, 2020. Original URL: https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/6ce8dd13-e4ab-4b31-9485-6d2b8a6f6b00/chainofenvironmentalcommand.pdf. Archived URL: https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2020/10/chain-of-environmental-command-2014-report.pdf

    See PDF page 74.

20. “From Russia With Love? Examining Links Between US Environmental Funder and the Kremlin.” Environmental Policy Alliance. December 2015. https://www.biggreenradicals.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Klein_Report_12-2015.pdf
21. Kevin Mooney. “Foreign Involvement on Natural Gas Development in the US & Pennsylvania”. Pennsylvania Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee. Submitted September 25, 2018. Accessed October 28, 2020. Original URL: https://environmental.pasenategop.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2018/09/mooney.pdf. Archived: https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2020/10/Mooney.-Foreign-Involvement-on-Natural-Gas-Development-in-the-US-PA.pdf

    See PDF page 7.

22. Kevin Mooney. “Foreign Involvement on Natural Gas Development in the US & Pennsylvania”. Pennsylvania Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee. Submitted September 25, 2018. Accessed October 28, 2020. Original URL: https://environmental.pasenategop.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2018/09/mooney.pdf. Archived: https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2020/10/Mooney.-Foreign-Involvement-on-Natural-Gas-Development-in-the-US-PA.pdf
23. Return of Foundation Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Sea Change Foundation. 2006-2018. Schedule B.

    Note that Sea Change Foundation’s fiscal year runs from July 31 to August 1; consequently, its Form 990 reports run from July 31, 2005 to August 1, 2019. The recorded Form 990 years are used here.

24. “Stephen Colwell.” Global Philanthropy Forum. Accessed February 25, 2017. https://philanthropyforum.org/people/steve-colwell/.
25. “How a Club of Billionaires and Their Foundations Control the Environmental Movement and Obama’s EPA.” 2014. Accessed February 25, 2017. https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/6ce8dd13-e4ab-4b31-9485-6d2b8a6f6b00/chainofenvironmentalcommand.pdf.