The Sierra Fund
Of the Sierra and for the Sierra
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
TSF recognizes that a focus on the impacts of the 19th century Gold Rush is a critical strategic role for our organization because the Sierra Nevada region’s mining history provides an important, and often missing context in which to address other pressing issues in both the headwaters and statewide. While global climate change may be the defining environmental issue of our day, California’s policymakers focus on climate change has failed to identify the need to address legacy mining in tandem with emerging impacts to mines, meadows, forests, and fish. The Sierra Nevada has been swept by economic and social changes precipitated by the Gold Rush that are just as disturbing as the environmental changes, and just as difficult to recover from. Only recently has the threat to the region’s natural resources, and the cruel history of its colonization, become visible to the state at large. The task of rebuilding vibrant, resilient communities in the face of decades of upheaval has just begun.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Ecosystem Resiliency Program (ERP)
The Sierra Fund’s Ecosystem Resiliency Program (ERP) employs cutting-edge replicable approaches to assess and restore headwater forests, meadows, and rivers devastated by the 19th century California Gold Rush that resulted in long lasting environmental, cultural and health impacts to the ecosystems and communities of the Sierra Nevada.
The Sierra Fund is interested restoring the processes that maintain and maximize resiliency in the Sierra Nevada region. The Sierra Fund’s projects demonstrate that achieving multiple benefits including improved water quality, water quantity, and carbon storage is not only possible but critical in the face of predicted climate change impacts on the Sierra Nevada region.
Key to this approach is engaging the First Nations of the Sierra, on whose ancestral homelands projects are planned, so that meaningful actions that work to restore ecosystem resiliency are executed in tandem with efforts to support community resiliency.
Environmentally Healthy Communities Program (EHCP)
The Sierra Fund’s Environmentally Healthy Communities Program (EHCP) advances sustainable community health outcomes in the Sierra Nevada by preventing public exposure to legacy mining contaminants found in fish and dust, engaging priority populations in projects to reduce the impacts of wildfire smoke, and supporting opportunities for indigenous people to employ traditional ecological knowledge via land stewardship.
Sierra Capacity Building
The Sierra Fund’s Capacity Building Program (CBP) increases and organizes public and private investment in the interest of the natural resources and communities of the headwaters to the benefit of the entire state. From a platform of environmental justice, The Sierra Fund advocates directly for funding, builds the visibility of the region, and strengthens opportunities for collaboration across a diverse set of stakeholders from the Sierra to the sea.
Where we work
Awards
Last Best Place Award 2004
Sierra Nevada Alliance
Leadership Award 2016
James Irvine Foundation
Leadership Award 2016
California Wellness Foundation
External reviews
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of conference attendees
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Indigenous peoples, Academics
Related Program
Ecosystem Resiliency Program (ERP)
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
The Sierra Fund’s biennial Reclaiming the Sierra conference brings together hundreds of experts to showcase their research and listen to technical presentations. This metric is based on registration.
Number of donations made by board members
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Sierra Capacity Building
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
We recruit our Board based on their capacity to lend expertise to the many facets of our work. While we encourage board giving, this approach has cultivated a sense of fiscal capability and solvency.
Number of attendees present at rallies/events
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Indigenous peoples, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Environmentally Healthy Communities Program (EHCP)
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
We strive to ensure that our work is responsive to the needs of various audiences. TSF outreach activities augment the science and policy activities around both of our major programs.
Median Donation
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Sierra Capacity Building
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
TSF is revitalizing our major donor strategy to increase the visibility of the need for residents and visitors to allocate more resources to increase resiliency in the Sierra.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
At the core of our Ecosystem Resiliency program is a keen understanding of and commitment to addressing the disturbance regimes in the Sierra Nevada including the flow regime, sediment regime, fire regime and climate regime. In restoring natural disturbance to headwater ecosystems the capacity of these systems to respond to change is restored and enhanced.
TSF’s vision for Environmentally Healthy Communities focuses on improving resiliency through environmental justice; making sure all people who live and work in the Sierra Nevada have the tools they need to protect themselves and their families from exposure to legacy mining toxics and to participate in decisions about their future access to clean water, air, soil and food.
Getting the core messages of our programs out to the rest of the state is a crucial goal of TSF. Public understanding of the vital importance of the Sierra is key to generating the resources and capacity needed for the communities to implement solutions.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Four strategic approaches represent the hallmark of our work:
1. We use rigorous science to identify and fill key data gaps needed to address identified problems and develop pilot projects that demonstrate effective solutions and invite replication. We do not pursue “random acts of conservation.”
2. We engage diverse leaders in work to articulate, advocate for, and win adoption of specific policy changes identified through our programs that are needed to advance our mission. This includes miners and environmentalists, scientists and land managers, cowboys and Indians and everyone else with a stake in the Sierra.
3. We improve visibility of the problems and solutions that we have developed to key audiences, and involve these audiences in collaborative action to implement the solutions.
4. We build regional and TSF organizational capacity to be ready to create and seize new opportunities.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
TSF uses pilot projects to understand problems and to design solutions, allowing us to leverage targeted activities to the benefit of the region. This approach allows us to cultivate interest in our projects and encourages others to replicate and extend our successes. We crystallize the results of our by creating scientifically accurate materials that explain what we have done, why it is important, and what people can do to help. We take what we have learned directly to government and business leaders to inform their decisions and support effective implementation of resulting programs and investments. We identify and pursue opportunities to expand investment in the region, to ensure that the Sierra Nevada secures the resources needed to restore resiliency. The success of our work is predicated on our collaboration with a diverse group of stakeholders including technical experts, agency staff, decision-makers, and community members.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Our Ecosystem Resiliency Program is executed through research, a bi-annual conference, public outreach, and meetings with our Working Group of advisors. Highlights include:
• Advocated for the Governor’s 2017/2018 budget to include $8 million for mine remediation and $6 million to remove mercury-contaminated sediment from Combie Reservoir.
• CA Natural Resources Agency awarded TSF $800,000 to assess and acquire a mine-scarred parcel for the Nisenan tribe.
• Policy development creating the most significant improvements to California’s Surface Mining and Reclamation Act in a lifetime.
Our Environmentally Healthy Communities Program uses outreach and organizing to empower access to information and participation in decision-making. Highlights include:
• Surveyed nearly 500 anglers to learn about mercury exposure risk.
• Posted over 100 locations with fish advisories in two languages.
• Caught more than 200 fish providing data for new fish advisories.
See https://www.sierrafund.org/projects.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
The Sierra Fund
Board of directorsas of 06/01/2023
Adrienne Alvord
Union of Concerned Scientists
Alison Harvey
United Auburn Indian Community
Adrienne Alvord
Union of Concerned Scientists
Timothy Seward
Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker, LLP
Robert Meacher
Statewide Steering Committee, Brown Administration’s Resources Agency via the Department of Conservation
Martha Lennihan
Lennihan Law (Retired)
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? No -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.
Equity strategies
Last updated: 08/19/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.