Warsh Mott Legacy

The Warsh Mott Legacy (WML) is a private foundation that makes grants to left-of-center international development, food policy, and legal policy organizations. WML is associated with the CS Fund, with which it shares a board of directors and staff. 1 WML made more than $2 million in grants in 2016. 2

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At-A-Glance

Type: Non-profit, 501(c)(3), Private Foundation
Website: csfund.org
Formation:

1985

Executive Director:

Bailey Malone

Executive Director‘s Compensation:

Gross Salary: $158,0443

Location: Freestone, CA View on map
Tax ID: 68-0049658
Most Recent Filing: 2025
Budget (2025): Assets: $51,126,767 Revenue: $3,711,684 Expenses: $3,760,754

Contents

    Background

    The Warsh-Mott Legacy was founded in 1985 by Maryanne Mott and Herman Warsh, four years after they founded the CS Fund. Both are private foundations, and although they are legally separate entities, they share a board of directors, staff, and common program areas. 1 They provide grants to left-of-center international development, food policy, and legal policy organizations. 4

    Warsh-Mott Family

    Maryann Mott and Herman Warsh are the daughter and son-in-law of Charles Stewart Mott, a company director and board member of General Motors who founded the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation in 1926. 5 They established the CS Fund in 1981 and the Warsh-Mott Legacy in 1985. 6

    Maryann Mott is a board member of WML, a trustee of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, board chair of the Ruth Mott Foundation,7 and an individual donor to Peace Brigades International. 8

    Herman Warsh passed away in 2006. He was a board member of High Country News, the Fund for Santa Barbara, and Pacifica Graduate Institute. He served as the chair of the board of Environmental Policy Institute as it transitioned into the advocacy group Friends of the Earth. 9

    Marise M. M. Stewart is the granddaughter of Charles Stewart Mott10 and a trustee of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

    People

    Melanie Adcock is the program director of food sovereignty at WML. She is a former advisory board member of the Center for Food Safety, and the ecological agriculture program officer of the Foundation for Deep Ecology. 11

    Bailey Malone is the executive director of WML and the treasurer of Petaluma Community Foundation. 12 She is a member of the Justice Funders Harmony Initiative 2018-2019 cohort. 13

    Shorey Myers is the program consultant for emerging technologies at WML. She became the executive director of the Jenifer Altman Foundation in 2010, which focuses most of its work on environmental issues. She is currently on the steering committee of the Health and Environmental Funders Network, and has previously worked with the Nature Conservancy (TNC), the Environmental Working Group (EWG), UCSF’s Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment (PRHE), the Institute for Children’s Environmental Health, and Environmental Health News. 14

    Grantmaking

    Legal Policy

    WML grants over $100,000 annually to Public Citizen, a liberal lobbying and advocacy organization created by left-wing activist Ralph Nader. 15 The organization pushes a broad liberal policy agenda, with a strong focus on opposing free-market interests. 16

    Food Policy

    WML provides funding to groups pushing a left-wing food policy agenda. The Center for Food Safety and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy both advocate against genetically engineered (GE) crops. 17

    Financial Statistics

    Total Assets

    Total Revenue

    Total Expenses

    YearTotal AssetsTotal RevenueTotal ExpensesFiling
    2025 $51,126,767 $3,711,684 $3,760,754 View
    2024 $51,008,295 $3,351,076 $1,251,667 View
    2023 $43,049,291 $5,656,381 $5,576,619 View
    2022 $40,295,647 $5,587,979 $1,964,750 View
    2021 $44,934,750 $852,415 $1,872,592 View

    Prior year filings: 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011

    Expenses Detail

    Grant Activity

    All-time grants given statistics from Candid dataset:

    • Total Grant Value: $20,875,912
    • Number of Grants: 394
    • Number of Recipients: 200

    Selection of highest value grants given from the last seven years:

    AmountYearFunderSubject
    $517,5002024 Tides FoundationDONOR ADVISED FUND
    $300,0002021 Government Accountability ProjectGeneral Support
    $210,0002022 Our World is Not for Salefiscal sponsor Global Exchange; General Support
    $175,0002022 Defending Rights and DissentGeneral Support
    $150,0002022 WILLIAM J BRENNAN JR CENTER FOR JUSTICE INCLiberty and National Security Program
    $135,0002022 The American Constitution Society for Law and PolicyGeneral Support
    $135,0002022 Constitutional Accountability CenterGeneral Support
    $120,0002022 Center for Food SafetyNanoAction: Ensuring Strong Regulations on Emerging Technologies
    $120,0002022 Center for International Environmental Law IncAdvancing a Precautionary Approach to Nanomaterials in the EU and Global Policy Arenas
    $120,0002022 Sierra Clubfiscal sponsor Sierra Club Foundation; A Living Economy Program
    $120,0002021 INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORKGeoengineering Outreach Coordinator
    $100,0002021 The Xerces Society for Invertebrate ConservationPollinator Conservation in Agriculture Program
    $100,0002020 PartnershipforciviljusticefundDefending democracy by protecting protest and enforcing constitutional rights
    $100,0002020 Trade Justice Education FundEducation and campaign for progressive vision for trade policy
    $90,0002022 CENTER FOR MEDIA JUSTICESurveillance Program
    $90,0002022 Free PressSurveillance Program
    $90,0002021 National Security Archive Fund IncOpen Government and Accountability Project
    $90,0002021 Piper FundRight to Protest Fund – Grant Made Through Proteus Fund, Inc.
    $88,0002021 Friends of the Earth EuropeBlock Impossible Burger Authorization
    $85,6002021 Southeastern African American Farmers Organic Network | SAFFONGrowing the Afroecology Initiative – Grant Made Through Inquiring Systems, Inc
    $83,6402021 Friends of Action Group on Erosion Technology and ConcentrationThe Territorial Defense of Maize – Grant Made Through Friends of Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration, Inc. | Friends of ETC
    $82,4002021 Rural Women's AssemblyWe Are the Seeds – Grant Made Through South Africa Development Fund
    $80,0002021 Biofuelwatch USGeneral Support – Grant Made Through Global Justice Ecology Project
    $80,0002021 WhyHunger Inc.Advancing Food Sovereignty and Agroecology in the US
    $70,0002024 Global ExchangeOUR WORLD IS NOT FOR SALE

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    Financials, employee compensation, and grant information provided by Candid.

    Mentioned in this Article

    References

    1. csfund.org. Accessed August 15, 2019. http://csfund.org/about/
    2. Warsh Mott Legacy, Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2016, Part VX Line 3a
    3. Warsh Mott Legacy, Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2016, Part VIII Line 1
    4. csfund.org. Accessed August 15, 2019. http://csfund.org/program-areas/
    5. “History and Founder.” Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Accessed August 15, 2019. https://www.mott.org/about/history/
    6. “About.” CS Fund. 2019. Accessed August 15, 2019. http://csfund.org/about/
    7. “Board of Trustees.” Ruth Mott Foundation. Accessed August 15, 2019. https://www.ruthmottfoundation.org/who-we-are/board-of-trustees/
    8. “Annual Review 2005-6.” Peace Brigades International. Accessed August 28, 2019. https://www.peacebrigades.org/fileadmin/user_files/international/files/annual_reviews/pbireview2005_6.pdf
    9. “Herman E. Warsh 1924-2006.” CS Fund. 2019. Accessed August 15, 2019. http://csfund.org/herman-e-warsh-1924-2006/
    10. “Marise M. M. Stewart.” Activist Facts. 2019. Accessed August 15, 2019. https://www.activistfacts.com/person/223-marise-mm-stewart/
    11. “Melanie Adcock.” Activist Facts. 2019. Accessed August 15, 2019. https://www.activistfacts.com/person/1888-melanie-adcock/
    12. “Board of Trustees.” Petaluma Community Foundation. 2017. Accessed August 30, 2019. https://www.petalumacf.org/board-of-trustees
    13. “Meet the Harmony Initiative Class of 2018-2019.” Justice Funders. September 25, 2018. Accessed August 30, 2019. http://justicefunders.org/meet-the-harmony-initiative-class-of-2018-2019/
    14. “Team.” The Jenifer Altman Foundation. Accessed August 30, 2019. https://jaf.org/page/team
    15. Warsh Mott Legacy, Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 Part XV, Line 3.
    16. “About.” Public Citizen. 2019. Accessed August 15, 2019.  https://www.citizen.org/about/
    17. “Consumer Info About Food from Genetically Engineered Plants.” U.S. Food and Drug Administration. January 4, 2018. Accessed August 15, 2019.  https://www.fda.gov/food/food-new-plant-varieties/consumer-info-about-food-genetically-engineered-plants