The Sierra Fund’s various types of funds allow donors to tailor their gifts to their personal interests and also provide maximum impact.
Sierra Investment Services are at the heart of The Sierra Fund’s strategic investment plan for the Sierra. Through this program, The Sierra Fund targets grants and loans to nonprofit organizations involved in critical environmental battles throughout the region.
Donor Advised Funds provide donors with a vessel to direct and organize their investments. The Sierra Fund works with donors to identify their conservation interests, develop strategies for effective grantmaking, and identify appropriate grant recipients. New investors have targeted their philanthropic gifts toward efforts to protect the Sierra’s wild lands, rivers and working landscapes. These investments take the form of outright grants, or loans of funding that can be used and reused to support the Sierra.
At this time, The Sierra Fund manages six Donor Advised Funds. Click here to learn more about the benefits of establishing a Donor Advised Fund.
Sarah Forslund Fund for Environmental Leadership is a memorial Donor Advised Fund. The Fund betters the world through furthering the values by which Sarah Forslund lived her life: developing effective environmental leadership, supporting strong communities and preserving our natural resources.
Managed Funds and Designated Funds are permanent or temporary endowment funds the income from which is directed to a particular organization or project. In many cases, these are used when The Sierra Fund is the fiscal sponsor of a particular activity. Past and present funds of this type include:
SNC Logo Design Competition Fund – directed funding to involve Sierra students in designing a logo for the new Sierra Nevada Conservancy.
Saving the Sierra, Voices of Conservation in Action – served the financial needs of the award-winning project telling stories that document community efforts to conserve the environment, culture, and economy of the Sierra Nevada.
Agency Endowments are established by nonprofit organizations at The Sierra Fund, allowing the foundation to hold and invest endowed assets for the benefit of the nonprofit and distribute the fund’s earnings to the organization on an annual basis. Nonprofits receive the benefit of The Sierra Fund’s professional financial expertise and gain increased visibility for their endowment.