Sunrise Movement Education Fund

Background

In 2014, Evan Weber and Wesleyan University classmate Matthew Lichtash joined professor Michael Dorsey to found Sunrise Movement Education Fund. ³

In 2013, Weber, Lichtash, and Dorsey won a $30,000 grant to research and draft a plan to counter climate change. The Sierra Club, a left-of-center environmentalist group, allowed the group to use its Washington, D.C. office space to draft their plan. Upon completing their written plan, the group next sought to raise public awareness on environmental policy. This led to the creation of U.S. Climate Plan Inc., also known as the Sunrise Movement Education Fund, in 2014. ⁴

Weber has worked in previous roles opposing conventional energy, including as outreach director for the Pricing Carbon Initiative, which lobbies for carbon tax policies. ⁵

Funding & Grants

The Sunrise Movement Education Fund grew substantially over the period following its founding. According to its 2024 tax filings, the organization reported revenue of $3,683,487, expenses of $4,660,283, and total assets of $10,232,131, a dramatic increase from the $65,505 in revenue and $30,546 in assets reported in 2015. ⁶

The U.S. Climate Action Network (US-CAN) awarded the Sunrise Movement Education Fund a “Member Empowerment Grant” in 2018. ⁷ USCAN claims its grants are to support “collaborations and grassroots leadership” to oppose conventional energy production and use. ⁷ According to USCAN, the grant awarded to the Sunrise Movement Education fund will support “in-person convening and coalition-building” to align activists across “environmental, labor, racial justice, and economic justice organizations.” ⁷

The Overbrook Foundation, a leftist foundation that supports environmental causes, also awarded a grant to the Sunrise Movement Education Fund in November 2018. ⁸ The Overbrook Foundation’s Environment Program awarded the grant to Sunrise, among other organizations. Overbook did not specify the amount of the grant. Overbook also awarded a $30,000 grant to Sunrise earlier in 2018 for “general operating support.” This grant was part of Overbrook’s “Corporate and Consumer Practices” grant program, which funds “activism against destructive industries.” ⁹

In 2017, the Sunrise Movement Education Fund received a $20,000 grant from the Mertz Gilmore Foundation. ¹⁰ The Mertz Gilmore Foundation awarded the grant as part of its “Climate Change Solutions” program. ¹⁰ The Mertz Gilmore Foundation is a private family foundation focused on awarding funds to organizations advancing environmental causes and “democratic values.” ¹¹,¹²

In 2019, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation gave Sunrise Movement Education Fund $500,000. ¹³

The Park Foundation, a left-of-center environmentalism-focused family foundation based in Ithaca, New York, awarded Sunrise Movement Education Fund $100,000 grants in 2022 and 2023, and a $150,000 grant in 2024 for general operating support through its Democracy program. ¹⁴

Leadership

According to tax filings, as of 2024, Aru Shiney-Ajay was executive director of the Sunrise Movement. Guido Girgenti was listed as secretary of the Sunrise Movement Education Fund board, and Keya Chatterjee was president. Evan Weber, the founder of the Sunrise Movement Education Fund, stepped down from the board in September 2024. ⁶

Mission Expansion

In September 2025, the Sunrise Movement formally expanded its mission beyond environmenalist advocacy to include what it characterized as resistance to “authoritarianism” under the second Trump administration. Executive director Aru Shiney-Ajay stated that “there is no serious way to think about stopping the climate crisis under a fascist government,” and that “the path to climate lies through getting rid of the authoritarian government we’re in.” ¹⁵

According to the Sunrise Movement’s 2025 Impact Report, the group’s student organizing program scaled to over 100 campuses and high schools, with chapters focused on “mass noncooperation” to “resist authoritarianism” and demand that institutions rebuff what it characterized as the Trump administration’s attacks on academic freedom. ¹⁶