Zg Foundation

During 2022, it disbursed $1,080,000 in unrestricted funding to nine organizations. Grants ranged from $30,000 to $250,000. ²

Financial Management

All the foundation’s funding is derived from the investments it holds. ^{3 2}

Most of its investments are handled by BBR Partners, a firm which describes itself as “a boutique wealth management firm” providing “highly customized investment strategies, meticulously bespoke advice and simplified complexity for a select group of wealthy families.” ⁴ The minimum investment to work with the firm is $30 million. It follows a portfolio strategy with emphasis on tax efficiency. ⁵

The foundation’s accountant is Marcum LLP. Marcum is ranked in the Top 20 of all US accounting and advisory firms. It offers services not only to businesses but to the nonprofit sector and to high-net-worth individuals. ⁶ Marcum advocates ESG investments, investments which align with a client’s core values, as long as they are consistent with a high return. ⁷

Zg Foundation’s address is “in care of” Marcum LLP. ²

Grantees

The foundation awarded an unrestricted $90,000 grant to EcoTrust. EcoTrust is a forest preservation nonprofit based in the Pacific Northwest. ^{8 2}

Ecotrust, and its for-profit affiliate, Ecotrust Forest Management, reached a $4.4 million settlement in 2020 with the State of Oregon after the Oregon Department of Justice determined they had inflated the costs of two projects, one to reopen a sawmill and the other to purchase land. ⁹

Forest Trends, recipient of a $250,000 unrestricted grant, is active worldwide. ^{2 10} It is an alliance of global conservation organizations, international forest product firms, multilateral development banks, private investors, and major left-of-center philanthropic foundations. It champions creative finance as the key to forest preservation. ¹¹

Left-of-center investigative journalist Chris Lang accuses Forest Trends of promoting the commodification of nature and of pursuing destructive policies targeted to maximizing returns for wealthy investors but which do little or nothing to conserve forests, benefit the public, or slow climate change. ¹²

Additional grantees include the Open Space Institute ($200,000), Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) ($35,000), Protect Our Winters (POW) ($50,000), and Project Drawdown. ²

To halt global warming, Project Drawdown ($125,000) advocates an end to fossil fuel use. It claims this can be achieved painlessly and at a reasonable cost through using “science to guide climate action.” ¹³

Leadership

Craig Harrison, Zg Foundation’s president, is the founder and CEO of C Technologies, Inc., a manufacturer of spectroscopy products used in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. ^{14 15}

C Technologies was acquired by the life sciences company Repligen Corporation in 2019 ¹⁶ for approximately $240 million: $192 million in cash and $48 million in Repligen common stock. ¹⁷

Repligen’s annual report notes that “Climate change, climate change-related regulation and sustainability concerns could adversely affect our businesses and the operations of our subsidiaries, and any actions we take or fail to take in response to such matters could damage our reputation.” ¹⁸