Sequoia Climate Foundation, a growing giant in climate philanthropy founded in 2020, is close to generating $300 million in annual revenue and is said to have secretive billionaire and quant hedge fund founder C. Frederick Taylor as one of its primary backers.
The Irvine-based grantmaker is focused on supporting major climate initiatives and efforts developed and pursued by various centers, funds, universities, coalitions and other foundations from around the world.
Sequoia’s annual revenue reached $289 million in the fiscal year 2023, according to its latest 990 filing. While the filing isn’t up to date, it still ranks No. 1 on the Business Journal’s annual lists of nonprofits with revenue of $281 million, according to its recent 990 filing.
Taylor, whose worth the Business Journal estimated to be about $4.4 billion in July, is listed as chair and director on the nonprofit’s 990 filing for 2023. He is known as a major philanthropist, although like his Irvine-based quantitative investing firm TGS, his giving efforts are highly discreet and largely under the radar.
The organization declined to comment on recent filings and activity.
According to its 990 filing, Sequoia awarded about 170 grants totaling $257 million in fiscal year 2023 to more than 100 groups based in multiple countries. The awards ranged from $120,000 to upwards of $13 million each.
The Deciding Factors
Sequoia chooses recipients depending on the speed, scale, cost and probability of success of their efforts, according to its website. The foundation says it has given $926 million in 330 grants as of May 2024.
The top recipients from 2023 included the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors in New York and the Stichting European Climate Foundation in the Netherlands.
The purposes of the grants are typically to accelerate, support or enable various strategies, actions and research dedicated to environmental causes and reducing polluting systems.
Trade publication Inside Philanthropy estimated that Sequoia would give $267 million in 2024, placing the firm among the largest environmental-focused giving groups in the world.
Sequoia says on its website that it was founded “as the philanthropic need and opportunity to tackle the scope, pace and complexity of the climate crisis grew.”
Sequoia President Christie Ulman “oversees the foundation’s efforts to prevent the worst impacts of climate change, guides its investments in rapid decarbonization, and leads its strategy of impact-driven philanthropy.”
Previously, she was the climate director at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation in London and worked on climate issues at the U.S. Department of Energy, the Treasury Department and the White House.
Ulman and her team can be found on several panels at climate talks and conferences in New York, London and Dubai each year.
A Single Contributor
Sequoia’s 990 form lists a single contributor for the $281 million Sequoia received in fiscal 2023, before interest—Twenty-One Holdings LLC in the care of the Lowenstein Sandler law firm in Roseland, New Jersey.
Twenty-One Holdings has been listed as the sole contributor since fiscal year 2021, whose contributions have increased each year.
The donor is “deeply passionate about averting the worst impacts of the climate crisis,” according to Sequoia’s website.
The foundation started with a single contribution of $181 million, before interest, that first year. In fiscal 2022, that amount grew to $206 million, and in 2023 it reached $281 million.
The grantmaker is said to havorke Taylor as its primary backer, first reported by Inside Philanthropy in 2024.
Taylor, the “T” in TGS, is one of Orange County’s most under-the-radar billionaires. He co-founded TGS with the late David Gelbaum and Andrew Shechtel over 30 years ago.
Along with a data center for its operations, on the opposite side of the San Diego (405) Freeway from its current 115,000-square-foot base at Spectrum Terrace, the company is set to build a new office campus on land it bought in the Irvine Spectrum two years ago.
The quantitative finance hedge fund recently filed plans with the City of Irvine to develop a new, 207,395-square-foot office complex.
Sequoia is based at a smaller office park in Irvine that TGS previously used as its base.
Global Network of Recipients
According to its 990 filings, between fiscal years 2021 and 2023, Sequoia awarded between 100 to 200 grants per year to groups dedicated to major climate initiatives.
The foundation states that it “engages with and supports a variety of ambitious organizations and coalitions that seek to catalyze rapid emissions reductions, transform global markets, and ultimately accelerate the global transition to clean energy.”
Country lines do not limit Sequoia’s network of recipients.
From American universities and transportation councils in Washington, D.C., to think tanks in Germany and climate groups in Singapore, the local nonprofit aims to support as many global efforts as it can.
“To maximize our impact, we assess our opportunities and strategies in our grantmaking through four criteria: scale of emissions reductions, speed at which we can realize impact, cost effectiveness and leverage for our scarce resources, and investing where we have the highest probability of success,” according to Sequoia’s website.
Firms such as New York’s Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors received six grants totaling $18.7 million in 2023 for a range of causes, such as supporting the Energy Transition Fund and the Plastic Solutions Fund.
Stichting European Climate Foundation was the top recipient in 2023, according to the 990 filing. Sequoia awarded the group more than $38 million across 12 grants throughout the fisÂcal year. Purposes listed included increasing public engagement, supporting communications, advancing clean energy transition efforts and providing general operating support.
