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Enemies of Energy: Fred Taylor / Sequoia Climate Foundation

Wednesday, July 8, 2026 15:49

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Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt from Enemies of Energy, a research report created for the Capital Research Center. The page for the full report is here: Enemies of Energy.

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Donor type: direct grant maker

A February 2023 headline in Inside Philanthropy proclaimed the arrival of a “New Giant in Climate Change Philanthropy.” The first IRS filing from the Sequoia Climate Foundation (covering the year through November 2021) had just become publicly available, and in it Sequoia reported $126.3 million in grantmaking. The “new giant” grew swiftly, reporting larger and larger totals for each of the next three years: $173.7 million for 2022, $257.4 million for 2023, and $305.4 million for 2024. ^[i] ^[ii]

The cumulative total for those first four years is $862.8 million. And those big annual increases make it easy to assume that when Sequoia’s fifth IRS filing becomes publicly available it will show that the “new giant” has eclipsed $1 billion in total “climate change” grantmaking. ^[iii]

Where is the money coming from?

Inside Philanthropy explained:

While Sequoia doesn’t share who its donor or donors are, multiple partners and grantees said the foundation is an offshoot of Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, a human rights and social justice backer launched by three secretive hedge fund founders. A Sequoia representative confirmed that it “spun out” from Wellspring, originally using its back office.

That trio of donors (one of whom has since passed away) includes C. Frederick Taylor, who was listed as Sequoia’s board chair in 2021. In 2014, Bloomberg revealed Taylor as one of the donors behind the hundreds of millions of dollars that flow through the entities now known as Wellspring. He is presumably Sequoia’s benefactor, or one of them, but it’s not certain; the foundation’s funding to date has flown through an anonymous LLC, with an apparent pay-as-you-go approach. ^[iv]

The original name of the Wellspring Philanthropic Foundation was the Matan B’ Seter Foundation. In the Jewish tradition, the latter phrase means to give anonymously, and Wellspring’s presumed benefactors were initially exceptional at hiding their involvement. By the time a Bloomberg Businessweek reporter unraveled the mystery in May 2014, the foundation that became Wellspring had already topped $16.9 billion in net assets and its total cumulative grantmaking had already exceeded $13 billion. ^[v] ^[vi] ^[vii]

Since the division, the Sequoia Climate Foundation (presumably funded by Taylor) has focused a lot of its grantmaking on anti-energy groups outside of the United States. A September 2025 report from the Capital Research Center regarding Taylor explained: ^[viii]

Sequoia granted at least $252 million to CO₂-phobic causes just for the year ending December 2023. At least $143 million of this total, including the $9 million for Sunrise Australia, was shipped overseas. ^[ix]

This international focus was still prevalent in Sequoia’s most recent publicly available IRS filing, covering the year through November 2024. As one of many examples, that annual filing shows six total grants totaling $29.3 million for the Netherlands-based European Climate Foundation. Perhaps not coincidentally, the president of the American-based Sequoia Climate Foundation is listed as one of fifteen members of the European Climate Foundation’s governing board. ^[x] ^[xi]

Through the year ending November 2024, according to the IRS filing, Sequoia sent almost $33 million in cumulative grants to six of the fifteen anti-energy NGO’s profiled in this report: ^[xii]

World Resources Institute: $10.9 million
Natural Resources Defense Council: $8.1 million
Rocky Mountain Institute: $6.3 million
Environmental Defense Fund: $4.1 million
League of Conservation Voters Education Fund: $3 million
Sierra Club Foundation: $500,000

That IRS filing also shows grants totaling $24.2 million from Sequoia to three of the pass-through donors profiled on this list: ^[xiii]

S. Energy Foundation: $11.6 million
Climateworks Foundation: $10.8 million
Windward Fund (Arabella Advisors / Sunflower Services): $1.8 million

The combined total for the ten annual grants listed above was $57.2 million.^[xiv]

PDF hyperlink to full report

[i] Kavante, Michael. “There’s a New Giant in Climate Change Philanthropy. Here’s Everything We Know So Far.” Inside Philanthropy. February 9, 2023. Accessed April 2, 2026. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2022-2-9-theres-a-new-giant-in-climate-change-philanthropy-heres-everything-we-know-so-far

[ii] Sequoia Climate Foundation. (85-4095972). 2020 IRS Form 990 (Covering the year through November 2021). Accessed April 2, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/854095972/202232879349101003/full

Sequoia Climate Foundation. (85-4095972). 2021 IRS Form 990 (Covering the year through November 2022). Accessed April 2, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/854095972/202342879349100304/full

Sequoia Climate Foundation. (85-4095972). 2022 IRS Form 990 (Covering the year through November 2023). Accessed April 2, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/854095972/202422899349101117/full

Sequoia Climate Foundation. (85-4095972). 2021 IRS Form 990 (Covering the year through November 2024). Accessed April 2, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/854095972/202542869349100134/full

[iii] Sequoia Climate Foundation. (85-4095972). 2020 IRS Form 990 (Covering the year through November 2021). Accessed April 2, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/854095972/202232879349101003/full

[iv] Kavante, Michael. “There’s a New Giant in Climate Change Philanthropy. Here’s Everything We Know So Far.” Inside Philanthropy. February 9, 2023. Accessed April 2, 2026. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2022-2-9-theres-a-new-giant-in-climate-change-philanthropy-heres-everything-we-know-so-far

[v] Mider, Zachary R. “The $13 Billion Mystery Angels.” Bloomberg Businessweek. May 8, 2014. Accessed April 2, 2026. http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-05-08/three-mysterious-philanthropists-fund-fourth-largest-u-dot-s-dot-charity

[vi] Wellspring Philantropic Fund Inc. (EIN: 22-3692921). Propublica Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed April 2, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/223692921

[vii] “Why Anonymous Giving Is the Most Meaningful Kind in Jewish Philanthropy.” Colel Chabad. June 25, 2024. Accessed April 2, 2026. https://colelchabad.org/the-great-value-of-giving-charity-anonymously/

[viii] Braun, Ken. “Fred Taylor’s world war against energy.” Capital Research Center. September 30, 2025. Accessed April 6, 2026. https://capitalresearch.org/article/fred-taylors-world-war-against-energy/

[ix] Braun, Ken. “Fred Taylor’s world war against energy.” Capital Research Center. September 30, 2025. Accessed April 6, 2026. https://capitalresearch.org/article/fred-taylors-world-war-against-energy/

[x] Sequoia Climate Foundation. (EIN: 85-4095972). 2023 IRS Form 990 (covers the year through November 2024). Accessed April 6, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/854095972/202542869349100134/full

[xi] “Governance.” European Climate Foundation. Accessed April 6, 2026. https://europeanclimate.org/governance/

[xii] Sequoia Climate Foundation. (EIN: 85-4095972). 2023 IRS Form 990 (covers the year through November 2024). Accessed April 6, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/854095972/202542869349100134/full

[xiii] Sequoia Climate Foundation. (EIN: 85-4095972). 2023 IRS Form 990 (covers the year through November 2024). Accessed April 6, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/854095972/202542869349100134/full

[xiv] Sequoia Climate Foundation. (EIN: 85-4095972). 2023 IRS Form 990 (covers the year through November 2024). Accessed April 6, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/854095972/202542869349100134/full

Source: https://capitalresearch.org/article/enemies-of-energy-fred-taylor-sequoia-climate-foundation/

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