Sierra Club

Background

Early History

The Sierra Club was founded in 1892 in San Francisco, California. Its first president was John Muir, a Scottish-American preservationist. Muir had spent much of the previous two and half decades exploring the Yosemite Valley.² He had become an advocate of protecting the Yosemite and encouraging people to enjoy the valley.

The group started out with just 182 members and was instrumental in fighting a proposal to reduce the boundaries of Yosemite National Park. The organization won its first legislative victories with the creation of Glacier and Mount Rainier National Parks.³

In the 1900s, the Club got involved in the controversy over the construction of the Hetch Hetchy Dam, which the club strongly opposed. The dam would provide San Francisco with a new source of water. Many traditional allies of the group also supported the dam, as did most San Francisco residents. In 1913, the U.S. Congress approved the dam and handed the club its first legislative defeat. John Muir died the following year. In retaliation for the U.S. Forest Service’s support for the dam, the club supported the creation of the National Park Service in 1916 which removed significant territory from the Forest Service’s jurisdiction.²

National Growth

In 1950, the Sierra Club became a national organization when the first chapter outside California was formed. In 1952, it became a professional organization with the hiring of David Brower as executive director. The organization lobbied against the proposed Echo Park Dam in Dinosaur National Monument in Utah which was announced in 1950. In 1955, the Sierra Club and other conservationists won a victory when the dam was removed from consideration. ³

Under David Brower’s term as executive director, the group expanded its focus from land conservation in the Western United States. The group had then began to advocate in favor of coal-fired power plants as an alternative to dams. Around the early 1960’s, members of the group advocated against the development of a nuclear power plant in Bodega Bay, California. ³ In 1969, Brower resigned from his position and was replaced by Michael McCloskey whom would serve as executive director until 1985. In 1992, Carl Pope would be hired as executive director and would serve in the role until 2010. Michael Brune would later be hired to the position. In 2023, former NAACP head Ben Jealous was named the executive director of the organization ^{4 5} In July 2025, Jealous was placed on leave from the organization, with Loren Blackford serving as interim executive director as of August 2025. ⁶

Tax-Exempt Status

In 1966, while the Sierra Club was organized as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) revoked the Sierra Club’s charitable status after the organization was deemed by the IRS to have “engaged in substantial lobbying outside the scope of that which was meant to be incentivized by the (c)(3) section from which it was benefiting.” ⁷

The organization had previously taken out a full-page ads in the New York Times to oppose H.R. 4671, which, according to the group, would have “allowed the Bureau of Reclamation to build dams that would stop the Colorado River and flood parts of the Grand Canyon.” ⁸ The ads also contained “coupons to clip and mail to the President, the Interior Secretary, the Chairman of the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, and/or the reader’s (and presumed clipper’s) own Representatives and Senators.” ^{8 7}

In response to its loss of tax-exempt status, the Sierra Club gained a large amount of small-dollar donations from supporters reacting to the IRS’s actions, and transitioned to a 501(c)(4) organization that cannot accept tax-deductible contributions but can conduct unlimited lobbying activity. The group had previously formed the Sierra Club Foundation as a 501(c)(3) organization in 1960. ⁷

Though the Sierra Club remains a 501(c)(4), the Tax Reform Act of 1976 added a section to the Internal Revenue Code to prohibit groups that lose their 501(c)(3) status because of substantial lobbying from then becoming (c)(4) groups afterward. In 1987, that new section (section 504) was amended to also prohibit groups that lose their (c)(3) status because of political-campaign activity from transitioning to a (c)(4) group. ⁷

Criticism of Founder

In 2020, in response to racist comments made by founder John Muir more than a century prior, the Sierra Club joined a broader movement to condemn the positions of historical figures on race and tear down Confederate monuments. The organization stated that “As defenders of Black life pull down Confederate monuments across the country, we must also take this moment to reexamine our past and our substantial role in perpetuating white supremacy.” ⁹

Muir, who was born in Scotland in 1838, is credited with the creation of the Sequoia National Park and Yosemite National Park, and according to the organization, “made derogatory comments about Black people and Indigenous peoples that drew on deeply harmful racist stereotypes, though his views evolved later in his life.” ^{10 11}

Internal Union Activity

In 2023, the Sierra Club announced a series of layoffs within the group for the purpose of “creating new positions, eliminating some old positions and re-imagining others,” ¹² due to a $40 million funding shortfall that was the result of, according to a spokesperson, “significant fundraising uncertainty due to overall economic trends.” ¹²

The layoffs were part of a restructuring plan to implement a “50-state strategy” for state and national-level staff, that then-executive director Ben Jealous claimed would be “critical” for the organization. ¹² According to a report by The New Republic, as of April 2024, the organization had not put a yearly budget in place, and as many as 50 to 100 employees could be laid off. According to the article, when Jealous began as executive director, he brought staff to fill vacancies within the executive team with whom he had previously worked at the NAACP as well as People for the American Way. One anonymous employee interviewed by The New Republic claimed that the new executive team had “an us-versus-them mentality. You either are on board with them and you’re the yes people or you’re not. ¹²

In April 2024, the Progressive Workers Union (PWU), which represents roughly 400 Sierra Club employees, filed a National Labor Relations Board Unfair Labor Practice charge against the Club, claiming the organization was laying off half of the union’s six-person bargaining committee. The PWU called it a retaliation “against union members for protected concerted activity though the Club denied these claims stating the group “has not advised any union leader that Sierra Club will conduct a layoff.” ¹³

Public Lands Activism

The Sierra Club has previously supported transferring the ownership of land in the Western United States to the federal government and from state governments or private ownership. It also advocated for expanding the amount of land protected by state and local governments. The club also opposes drilling and mining on public lands. ³

In 2016, the Sierra Club supported the creation of a national monument in Maine. The process of designating national monuments is a source of contention for rural lawmakers. ¹⁴

In 2025, the Sierra Club released a statement supporting former President Joe Biden for establishing new national monuments under the 1906 Antiquities Act. These included the creation of two new national monuments in California: the Chuckwalla National Monument, which covers over 600,000 acres of desert habitat; and The Sáttítla Highlands National Monument, covering more than 200,000 acres in Northern California. ¹⁵

Energy Advocacy

Opposition to Coal and Natural Gas

The Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign made up the largest portion of the group’s expenses from funds as of 2015. ¹⁶ As of 2017, 251 coal fired power plants had been retired since the campaign began in 2010. ¹⁷ Former New York City Mayor and Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg and his foundation previously contributed $80 million towards the campaign. ¹⁸

The Sierra Club has stated its opposition to the usage and production of natural gas. It has supported regulation measures towards fracking and other methods of drilling for natural gas. It also opposes the exporting of natural gas. ^{19 20}

From 2007 through 2010, the Sierra Club took over $25 million from the natural gas industry. Most of the donations came from Aubrey McClendon, the CEO of Chesapeake Energy, which is involved in fracking. The money was used to help promote the “Beyond Coal” campaign. ²¹

Opposition to Oil Use

The group opposes almost all means of transporting oil. The Sierra Club opposed pipeline projects such as the Keystone pipeline and Dakota Access pipeline²² while also attempting to block moving crude oil via rail. ²³ The club has opposed oil drilling on public lands as well. ²⁴

The group supported the sweeping offshore oil-drilling ban imposed by the Biden administration, which included a permanent ban on offshore oil drilling in most U.S. coastal waters, but conceded that the ban was likely to be reversed by the second Trump administration and that the ban “was also not as dramatic as it might seem, as nearly all the country’s existing offshore oil and gas drilling occurs in the western and central Gulf of Mexico” (designated the “Gulf of America” by the second Trump administration) which was not covered by the ban. ¹⁵

Opposition to Nuclear Energy

As recently as June 2023, the Sierra Club website stated that nuclear power is “a uniquely dangerous energy technology for humanity” and that the “Sierra Club remains unequivocally opposed to nuclear energy.” The statement invited opponents of nuclear energy to join the Sierra Club’s Nuclear Free Campaign Grassroots Network, and redirected to a website for the Network. ^{25 26}

Litigation and Attorney Fees

According to an April 2026 report from Open the Books, since 2013, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has paid millions in attorney legal fees representing environmental nonprofits involved in law litigation against the U.S Government under the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Endangered Species Act (also dubbed as “sue and settle” practices). The reporting showed the highest amount between 2013 and 2025 was paid during the Biden Administration with the five litigants receiving the largest attorney fee payouts being Northwest Environmental Advocates (over $1.26 million), the Sierra Club (over $1.2 million), the Center for Biological Diversity (over $1.03 million), the Environmental Law and Policy Center ($868,842), and the State of California ($653,000). ²⁷

Other Activism

Foreign Policy

The Sierra Club opposed President Donald Trump’s 2017 order barring travel to the United States of nationals from seven countries. It also threw its support behind the so-called “resistance” of left-wing groups that were opposing the Trump administration. “Everyone who values a just and free United States of America should continue to resist hateful actions like this one, which is why the Sierra Club proudly stands in solidarity with Muslims, people of color, immigrants, women, and all those threatened by Trump’s administration,” wrote then-Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune on his blog²⁸

During the George W. Bush administration, the Sierra Club was a co-sponsor of pro-abortion access events. It also joined anti-war coalitions that opposed the Iraq War. ²⁹

Government Oversight

In 2024, the Sierra Club was a party to the U.S. Supreme Court case U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club, in which the Sierra Club had challenged the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Freedom of Information Act practices. The 7 to 2 majority opinion issued by the U.S. Supreme Court was the first opinion authored by Justice Amy Coney Barrett and sided with the government agency, stating that “the public policy of facilitating agency candor in exercising its expertise in preliminary agency deliberations can outweigh such transparency and accountability concerns.” ³⁰ In 2025, the Sierra Club sued the second Trump administration over the removal of government webpages containing federal climate and environmental justice information that the group described as “tantamount to theft.” Then-Sierra Club president Ben Jealous stated that, “Simply put, these data and tools save lives, and efforts to delete, unpublish or in any way remove them jeopardize people’s ability to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live safe and healthy lives.” ³¹

According to a report by The Breakthrough, between 2010 and 2024, both the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Sierra Club combined made up roughly 25 percent of all litigation and lawsuits in district and appellate courts that used the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) during that period of time to delay or cancel fuel reduction projects intended to slow the spread of wildfire and reduce its damage to local ecosystems. ³²

Not Above the Law Coalition

The Sierra Club is a member of the Not Above the Law Coalition, which supported the indictment of then-former President Donald Trump on federal charges related to document retention and other criminal charges, and continued to organize events to oppose the Trump administration following Trump’s return to the Presidency. Members of the coalition include Common Cause, Daily Kos, the Defend Democracy Action Project, Greenpeace USA, Indivisible, J Street, the League of Conservation Voters, MoveOn, NextGen America, Our Revolution, People For the American Way, People Power United, Public Citizen, Public Wise, the Secure Elections Network, Stand Up America, the Congressional Integrity Project, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, and the Workers Circle. ³³

The Not Above the Law Coalition was among several left-wing advocacy groups that organized national “Hands Off!” protests in April 2025 in opposition to the Trump administration’s efforts to downsize the federal government, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s role as a White House advisor as well as with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Several such protests were held at Tesla dealerships to advocate against Musk’s involvement in the administration. ^{34 35}

Tax-Exempt Status Advocacy

The Sierra Club has opposed efforts of the second Trump administration and congressional Republicans to examine or rescind tax-exempt status for activities including “support for terrorism.” The group joined a broad coalition of more than 200 tax-exempt organizations “ranging from the American Library Association to the Sierra Club” opposing the inclusion of language added to the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” large omnibus legislation that included many priorities of the second Trump administration, that would “allow the Treasury secretary to suspend the tax-exempt status of organizations the administration says are ‘terrorist supporting.’” The language specifically “would allow the Treasury secretary to suspend the tax-exempt status of charities the secretary determines have provided ‘material support or resources’ to an organization the government has designated as a terrorist organization.”  ³⁶

#NoKings Protests

In June 2025, the Sierra Club participated in organizing or supporting protests branded under the “#NoKings” banner, a national day of demonstrations positioned as a defense of democratic norms against President Donald Trump. These events were part of a larger mobilization involving over 70 Democratic Party affiliates and allied organizations across at least 19 U.S. states and multiple international locations, according to publicly available event listings on Mobilize.us, a Democratic Party-aligned organizing platform. ^{37 38}

Ben Jealous Firing

In July 2025, Jealous was placed on leave from the organization when the executive committees and leaderships of several state chapters requested a vote of no confidence criticizing Jealous’ tenure such as fundraising efforts as well as hiring a registered lobbyist for cryptocurrency firm Crypto.com. Leadership stated, “We can no longer trust Mr. Jealous and his executive team’s management of the Sierra Club and demand they all resign to institute new leadership.” ⁶That same month, a group of 100 employees had sent a letter to the Sierra Club’s board of directors stating, ““Mr. Jealous failed to articulate any concrete strategy or theory of change for how we will effectively fight the Trump administration’s dismantling of decades of hard-won environmental protections.” ⁶

Jealous was officially fired from his position in August that year, after the board voted unanimously on the firing. Sierra Club spokesperson Jonathon Berman commented that Jealous had been fired “following extensive evaluation of his conduct.” ³⁹ Other reporting showed that Jealous had been the subject of a misconduct complaint filed by an employee earlier in 2025 alleging sexual harassment and bullying. However, Jealous later claimed that the firing had been due to racism, alleging “No one can be surprised that the Sierra Club has resorted to personal attacks. That’s how racial retaliation works. When you’re being discriminated against, they don’t accuse you of being Black.” ⁴⁰ Civil rights activist Al Sharpton later released a statement claiming, “[t]here are serious racial implications in firing a Black man of Ben’s caliber, in this fashion, at a time when diversity is under attack. It also runs counter to the Sierra Club’s own principle of eradicating racism.” ⁴⁰ As of October 2025, Jealous announced he would file legal action over his termination, hiring LA-based employment firm Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai, LLP and later commented “I have begun the process under my contract to fight this decision. I am confident that we will prevail.” ^{41 42}

Leadership

As of August 2025, Loren Blackford serves as the interim executive director of the Sierra Club. ⁶

Ben Jealous was the previous executive director of the Sierra Club, being hired to fill the position in 2023. ⁵ In July 2025, Jealous was placed on leave from the organization when the executive committees and leaderships of several state chapters requested a vote of no confidence criticizing Jealous’ tenure such as fundraising efforts as well as hiring a registered lobbyist for cryptocurrency firm Crypto.com. Leadership stated, “We can no longer trust Mr. Jealous and his executive team’s management of the Sierra Club and demand they all resign to institute new leadership.” ⁶That same month, a group of 100 employees had sent a letter to the Sierra Club’s board of directors stating, ““Mr. Jealous failed to articulate any concrete strategy or theory of change for how we will effectively fight the Trump administration’s dismantling of decades of hard-won environmental protections.” ⁶ Jealous was the former president of the NAACP and ran unsuccessfully as the Democratic nominee for Governor of Maryland in 2018, losing to then-Governor Larry Hogan (R). Jealous was the president of People for the American Way from 2020 to 2022. ^{43 44}

Funding

The Sierra Club Foundation is the tax-exempt charitable arm that provides financial support for the Sierra Club. According to its 2015 annual report, the foundation provided $54,164,581 in grants. The foundation’s single largest grant was for the “Beyond Coal” campaign which received $26,351,587 in grants.⁴⁵

In 2015, the foundation raised $87,863,342. The foundation spent $63,424,535 in that year. Finally, the organization closed the year with $113,229,011 in assets, an increase from $89,083,509 the year before.⁴⁶

The foundation and club have received funding from several corporations and corporate philanthropies. Among the donors to the Sierra Club Foundation in 2015 were Aveda, the Craigslist Charitable Fund, REI, and Whole Foods Market. In addition, Adobe, Coca-Cola Company, Boeing, eBay, ExxonMobil, Gap, the GE Foundation, Microsoft, Pepsi, Pfizer, Wells Fargo, and Norfolk Southern matched donations by employees to the Club⁴⁷

The foundation is also heavily backed by other foundations, left-wing organizations, and even some government agencies. Among the donors to the foundation in 2015 were Bloomberg Philanthropies, the MacArthur Foundation, the BlueGreen Alliance, the State of Montana, the Turner Foundation, the United Nations Foundation, the Tides Foundation, the TomKat Charitable Trust, the Oppenheimer Family Foundation, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Pinkus Foundation. ⁴⁸

In 2015, the Washington Times’s Drew Johnson wrote that some Sierra Club donors were possibly benefitting financially from their donations. Among those Johnson looked into were Nathaniel Simons, Roger Sant, and Michael Bloomberg. Johnson also found that executives from “green energy” companies such as Solar City, Solaria, and Sun Run also sat on Sierra Club’s board. ⁴⁹

The largest single donor was David Gelbaum, a man who has invested $500 million in clean energy companies. He donated $100 million to the Sierra Club Foundation. ⁵⁰

Election Activity

Political Endorsements

In 1984, the Sierra Club, for the first time in its then-92-year history, endorsed a presidential candidate when they supported the campaign of Democrat former Vice President Walter Mondale when he ran against Republican incumbent President Ronald Reagan after the group had previously opposed the Reagan Administration‘s environmental policies. ⁵¹

Since 1984, the group has either endorsed or supported the Democrat presidential candidate through the 2024 election while also criticizing Republican candidates for president. During the 2000 presidential election, the group released a statement claiming that “[then]-Gov. George Bush as president would be a ‘dire’ situation for the country’s environment” while endorsing the campaign of then-Vice President Al Gore (D). The group similarly endorsed the campaigns of then-U.S Senator and later then-President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and the campaigns of then-former Vice President Joe Biden. ^{52 53 54 55 56}

During the 2024 presidential election, the group initially endorsed then-President Biden’s reelection during a joint endorsement alongside the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Action Fund, NextGen PAC, and NRDC Action Fund. Then-Sierra Club executive director Ben Jealous claimed in a statement that “President Biden has acted courageously during a critical inflection point in the climate fight.” ⁵⁷

Following then-President Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race in July 2024, the Sierra Club joined with the same organizations to jointly switch their endorsement to then-Vice President Kamala Harris. ¹

Political Expenditures

Also see Sierra Club Independent Action (PAC)

Sierra Club Independent Action is the Sierra Club’s 527 political action committee affiliate through which the organization conducts political spending. Previously, the PAC has spent between $500,000 and $1 million during each two-year election cycle supporting the campaigns of Democrats while running running attack ads against Republican candidates. During the 2020 election cycle, the PAC notably raised and spent over $5 million combined. ⁵⁸

The Sierra Club itself is a 501(c)(4) organization that can engage in independent political expenditures, and conducts a smaller amount of outside spending towards elections separate from its PAC. Of the $4.2 million spent by the Sierra Club and its affiliates in the 2020 election cycle, the 501(c)(4) Sierra Club reported $306,000 in communications expenses. The group also spent relatively little on independent expenditures in 2022 and 2024. ⁵⁹