Foundation News

On September 15, the Sierra Club Foundation’s directors gathered in Yellowstone National Park for our quarterly board of directors meeting. In between outings to learn about and enjoy one of our nation’s premier national parks during this centennial year of the National Park Service, we discussed Foundation business and reviewed fiscally sponsored Sierra Club programs.

Sierra Club executive director Mike Brune and Sierra Club deputy executive director Bruce Hamilton joined us in the morning for a collaborative conversation on goal setting for 2017. We talked about the distinction between aspirational goals and achievable ones. We reflected on lessons learned this year and new developments that will impact our organizations next year. It’s always productive for us to meet with Club leaders to ensure we are working together strategically toward conservation, energy, and justice goals.

Over lunch, Lena Moffitt, director of the Sierra Club Dirty Fuels Initiative, updated us on protests against the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline, which would cut through North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois to transport crude oil. Led by the Standing Rock Sioux, the fight has engaged more than 90 other tribes, and the Sierra Club is getting involved to elevate the voices of those most directly impacted by the pipeline.

We were pleased to have Bruce Hamilton join us again in the afternoon with a food and agriculture project consultant to brainstorm on building a campaign to address the connections between food and climate. The Club is conducting an in-depth issue and landscape analysis of food and agriculture and the role it can best play to address them. The topic area is relatively new for the Club on a national level, and we appreciate that they are taking the time to carefully consider all issues and stakeholders.

At this meeting, we were sad to say goodbye to Peter Martin, who served as executive director of the Foundation since 2008. We are truly grateful for his vision and leadership over the past 8 years of his tenure and wish him the best in the next phase of his journey. We discussed the executive director hiring process and interim transition plan, and post-board meeting, we were happy to announce our new executive director Dan Chu, who will be transitioning from his role as the senior campaign director for Sierra Club’s Our Wild America Campaign at the end of November. During the transition, we are pleased to have our talented and committed board director Allison Chin serving as the interim executive director. We welcome them both!

Our next board of directors meeting will be in November in Oakland, CA. I’ll be sure to continue sharing highlights from these meetings.