Scott Fitzmorris is co-chair of the Wallace Global Fund, a prominent supporter of left-wing causes, particularly environmentalist groups.

In January 2022, Fitzmorris was named one of the “most powerful heirs in philanthropy” by Inside Philanthropy. ¹

Family and Education

Scott Fitzmorris is the great-grandson of Henry A. Wallace, a prominent New Deal-era politician who served as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and Vice President under President Franklin Roosevelt. ²

Fitzmorris is related to Scott Wallace, a grandson of Henry Wallace, the heir to the Hi-Bred Corn Company, and a former Democratic Party candidate for U.S. Congress. Scott Wallace serves as co-chair on the Wallace Global Fund. ^{3 4}

Fitzmorris graduated from Hampshire College in 2001 with degrees in environmental psychology and photography. ⁵

Career

In 1999, while still attending Hampshire College, Scott Fitzmorris invested in Predatorwear, a ski attire company founded by his roommate, Mark Kendrick. The two ran the company until 2002 when they stepped into secondary roles. ⁶ Fitzmorris left the company in 2010. ⁷

Fitzmorris was formerly a competitive skier. In 2003, he finished fourth in the national freestyle selections, a qualifying race for the U.S. World Cups. ⁸ In 2021, Fitzmorris raised $6,300 for charity by coming in in second place at the Mothership Classic in Olympic Valley, California. ⁹

Wallace Global Fund

In January 2011, Scott Fitzmorris became co-chair of the Wallace Global Fund along with Scott Wallace. ¹⁰ In 2019, the Fund spent $18.3 million on charitable disbursements, with funds going to liberal advocacy groups including the Center for Responsive Politics, Democracy Now!, the Hopewell Fund, NEO Philanthropy, the Tides Foundation, and the U.S. Climate Action Network. ¹¹

In 2018, in response to the policies of President Donald Trump, Fitzmorris announced that the Wallace Global Fund would be contributing all its endowment gains from the previous year into social and environmental advocacy groups. The decision reportedly doubled the Fund’s grantmaking budget to $10 million. ¹²

Green New Deal

Scott Fitzmorris is a proponent of the Green New Deal. In a 2019 article, Fitzmorris and Scott Wallace argue that climate change is a major threat facing humanity, and like the Great Depression, it is caused by “basic corporate greed —enabled by a supine federal government.” Like President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, which was partially crafted by Fitzmorris’s great grandfather, Henry Wallace, the Green New Deal proposes to combat climate change through major government interventions into the economy to restrict pollution and encourage weather-dependent energy sources. ¹³

1. Callahan, David. “The Most Powerful Heirs in Philanthropy.” Inside Philanthropy. January 19, 2022. Accessed February 17, 2022. https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:6yDcs1u4g8YJ:https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2022/1/19/the-most-powerful-heirs-in-philanthropy+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us.
2. “Wallace Global Fund Awards $1.25 Million to Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.” Philanthropy News Digest. June 11, 2017. Accessed February 17, 2022. https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/wallace-global-fund-awards-1.25-million-to-standing-rock-sioux-tribe.
3. “Scott Wallace.” Universal Access Project. Accessed February 17, 2022. https://www.universalaccessproject.org/essays/scott-wallace-2/.
4. “Scott Wallace (Pennsylvania).” Ballotpedia. Accessed February 17, 2022. https://ballotpedia.org/Scott_Wallace_(Pennsylvania).
5. “Scott Fitzmorris.” LinkedIn. Accessed February 17, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-fitzmorris-935567a7/.
6. Mickle, Tripp. “Tahoe skiwear company attacks national market.” Tahoe Daily. December 29, 2004. Accessed February 17, 2022. https://www.tahoedailytribune.com/sports/tahoe-skiwear-company-attacks-national-market/.
7. “Scott Fitzmorris.” LinkedIn. Accessed February 17, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-fitzmorris-935567a7/.
8. Mickle, Tripp. “Tahoe skiwear company attacks national market.” Tahoe Daily. December 29, 2004. Accessed February 17, 2022. https://www.tahoedailytribune.com/sports/tahoe-skiwear-company-attacks-national-market/.
9.  Scacco, Justin. “Mothership Classic sets record with $181,000 raised.” Sierra Sun. April 2, 2021. Accessed February 17, 2022. https://www.sierrasun.com/sports/mothership-classic-sets-record-with-181000-raised/.
10. “Scott Fitzmorris.” LinkedIn. Accessed February 17, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-fitzmorris-935567a7/.
11. “Wallace Global Fund II Form 990-PF.” ProPublica. Accessed February 17, 2022. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/800424607/202023189349100432/full.
12. “Wallace Global Fund to Disburse All 2017 Stock Market Gains.” Philanthropy News Digest. April 11, 2018. Accessed February 17, 2022. https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/wallace-global-fund-to-disburse-all-2017-stock-market-gains.
13. Wallace, Scott; Fitzmorris, Scott. “Climate Policy Can Recreate Prosperity of the New Deal.” Common Dreams. May 9, 2019. Accessed February 17, 2022. https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/05/09/climate-policy-can-recreate-prosperity-new-deal.