In one fell swoop, the ACLU lost 25% of it’s funding with the loss of a single donor. Another large recipient from the same donor, the Sierra Club, has also been advised of their funding cuts.
David Gelbaum, a wealthy conservationist out of California, has donated about $389 million to the ACLU, the Sierra Club, as well as an organization that provides services to military personnel from 2005 to 2009.
David Gelbaum, a major donor to the Sierra Club Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union and an organization that provides services to military personnel, said he would cut donations next year because investments in alternative-energy firms have “placed me in a highly illiquid position.”
~~~Mr. Gelbaum had been an anonymous donor to the groups but said in the letter he publicly identified himself so recipients of his funding “may ask others to step forward to help sustain them in the future.” The letter signaling cuts to the ACLU was first reported by the New York Times. [Hotlink added by Mata]
Mr. Gelbaum, a major donor to the Democratic Party, didn’t identify the clean-energy investments, but Quercus Trust, the fund that Mr. Gelbaum runs, was down almost 57% over the 18 months to late November, according to PlacementTracker.
A full quote from the afore linked Fox News article notes that his personal business loss stems primarily from his “green” investments from Quercus Trust.
“For a number of years, your organization has received very substantial charitable contributions from me,” Gelbaum said in a statement. “My investments in alternative, clean energy companies have placed me in a highly illiquid position as a result of the general credit crisis in the American and world financial systems.”
Mr. Gelbaum, the single largest anonymous donor to the ACLU, noted he was indefinitely stopping the contributions to the ACLU, and hoped others would step up to the plate to fill the financial void.
Mr. Gelbaum’s Quercus Trust was the subject of a Nov 2007 article in Greentech Media, and is comprised of at least 34 companies that have made more green investments than any other venture capital firm. The article has a list of the specific companies, ranging from solar technologies and ethanol plants to LED and tidal power start ups.
An unassuming person, sometimes the southern Californian is mistaken for his gardener, the L.A. Times said. Although Gelbaum runs the fund to make money, some predicted that the profits from the firm will end up in the coffers of environmental causes. That’s the kind of profile that either scares VCs (because Quercus can take a long view) or makes them relax (because they feel a firm like that will make too many long bets.)
~~~There are a few things to note. First, a lot of these companies are already public, but trading on bulletin boards. Second, some portfolio companies – such as LiveFuels, BlueFire Ethanol and DayStar Technologies – started early, but are now in crowded markets fending off companies that have garnered massive amounts of cash. There are also some interesting, long-term bets. Quercus clearly isn’t afraid to go deep or long. It also seems to have a strong hand in smart grid with GridPoint and Beacon, and it has some nice investments in car electronics. The firm additionally sometimes teams up with 21 Ventures.
~~~If you put these companies in categories, Quercus has 11 in solar (Ascent, Open Energy, DayStar, Emcore, Akeena, Cyrium, Solar Enertech, Spire, Sencera, Octillion, Enviromission); three in smart grid and energy services (Beacon, GridPoint, Standard Renewable); four in biofuels (LiveFuels, BlueFire, Environmental Power, Dynamotive); five in batteries, storage and electronics (Firefly, Axion, Electro Energy, Odyne, Ener1); four in buildings and efficiency (China Solar, Energy Focus, Thermoenergy, Lighting Science); four in food and water (Promethean, Thermoenergy, Worldwater, Colorep); one in ocean power (Hydro); and one in hydrogen (Nanoptek); and one in wind (Magenn).
What remains somewhat puzzling is why, in a world where political policies are pushing these type of technologies, Mr. Gelbaum’s portfolio fares so poorly. Unlike Al Gore, of late touted as the world’s first carbon billionaire, Mr. Gelbaum’s investments haven’t proven as lucrative. The Sierra Club has certainly done it’s part in clearing the path for Gelbaum’s alternative energy investments, indicated by their proud announcement that they killed operations on over 100 coal plants since 2001 this past summer.
It may be that Gore, unlike his lesser successful conservationist counterpart, Gelbaum, focused his money more on the front end of environmental money makers, such as carbon emission trading, partnerships that “identify” companies that are advancing cutting-edge green technologies, and as a high paid advisor to both Apple and Google.
Another advantage may be that Gore, a former high-powered politician, knows how to take advantage of government grants, as indicated by his absconding of more than $560 million of DOE’s $3.4 bil in smart grid allocations.
The company, Silver Spring Networks, produces hardware and software to make the electricity grid more efficient. It came to Mr. Gore’s firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of Silicon Valley’s top venture capital providers, looking for $75 million to expand its partnerships with utilities seeking to install millions of so-called smart meters in homes and businesses.
Mr. Gore and his partners decided to back the company, and in gratitude Silver Spring retained him and John Doerr, another Kleiner Perkins partner, as unpaid corporate advisers.
The deal appeared to pay off in a big way last week, when the Energy Department announced $3.4 billion in smart grid grants. Of the total, more than $560 million went to utilities with which Silver Spring has contracts. Kleiner Perkins and its partners, including Mr. Gore, could recoup their investment many times over in coming years.
I can’t say I lament the loss of funds to either ACLU or the Sierra Club, but our military personnel are the ones that take the largest hit from the fall of this philanthropic angel.
Mr. Gelbaum’s largest donations — some $247 million — went to the Iraq Afghanistan Deployment Impact Fund at the California Community Foundation (IADIF), which helps service members and veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Oh that would Gelbaum’s more successful conservationist, Al Gore, step up to *that* plate. I shan’t be holding my breath.
Read full text of Gelbaum’s statement here.
Read the abridged report from IADIF on their efforts to aid military service men and women, including their involvement resulting in more than 50 pieces of legislation (including
the new GI Bill).
Vietnam era Navy wife, indy/conservative, and an official California escapee now residing as a red speck in the sea of Oregon blue.
Interesting choice of charities. Could it be said that he lost a lot of green trying make things green? Is he a victim or a perpetrator?
Considering the sizeable amount to the military vs ACLU/Sierra Club, I’m quite sorry to see him lose, viking. And I have nothing against alternative energy. I just have a problem with mandates to destroy affordable energy, and replace it only with expensive alternative energies, in the name of man/Gore-made crises of warming alarmism.
I’d say the ultimate victims will be the IADIF and our military beneficiaries. And while I may have arguments about the value of the ACLU and Sierra Club with Mr. Gelbaum personally, his heavily weighted wallet focus on our military over them certainly wins my heart.
I’ll take Gelbaum over Gore any day. One genuinely balanced and unselfish. The other a power mongrel.
Mr. Gelbaum has discovered, unfortunately, the realities of green tech and alternative energy development, and that it’s not ready to take center stage.
Many of the envisioned projects, solar and wind development, need more research and development. As a whole, solar panel technology still needs to become more efficient and cost effective. A single panel, for example, costs more today than a panel made when solar made its initial big splash in the mid-1970s. Similarly, wind technology needs to become more efficient in that wind farms don’t gobble up large tracts of land. And, then, there’s battery technology that needs rapid, generational upgrades if green tech and alternative energy are to be successful. At present, it takes several large solar arrays or several very large wind farms to replace one, medium-sized coal-fired plant.
The “ventures” of Al Gore simply are a self-enrichment scheme, taking away funding from energy R&D.
I, too, am sorry to see him lose in the general sense. It would be better if the economy was growing and most investments were doing well and he could be generous to any charities he chose. I am also pleased (and a little surprised) that he is so generous to military charities. More power to him.
The development of ALL energy sources, alternative and traditional, is the path to a cleaner planet. But the leftist idea that alternative energy can replace traditional sources is fantasy. Some people need a large dose of reality to bring them out of Fantasyland. Mr. Gelbaum is obviously a very smart man. Perhaps this encounter with financial reality will lead him (and the charities he can’t finance) to a wider acceptance of the need for energy from whatever source is available.
Interesting you bring up Mr. Gore. I was just thinking today how destructive he has been to our country ever since he contested the 2000 election, a precipitating event that has lead to the nasty, mean-spirited politics we see today between the parties. Even Nixon conceded gracefully, and went on to be elected president. And then I heard on the radio news what a great person Gore is with the Emmy, and The Oscar, and The Nobel. Sheesh.
Just when our troops need us the most – money and volunteers are in short supply and the needs are there, those don’t go away. Sigh.
Checked in at FreeRepub, where Curt links most of our posts. You’d be surprised at how many didn’t read my entire post and find out that of the $389 mil donated by Gelbaum, that almost 2/3rds of it went to the military needs. Most were ecstatic at the ACLU and Sierra Club losing the other 1/3 of funding… never knowing that the biggest losers for the donation cuts were our own military.
That’s what happens when you make snap judgments, stopping at headlines or the first few paragraphs, eh?
While I love FR and do my best to ensure readers of many sites read the excellent stuff you, Mike, Word, Skye, and Aye do, I knew the backlash would occur because some readers just do not read a whole post, nor click the links…..as you well know Mata. I saw the headline and immediately knew the military part would be ignored. But the good part is there were a few that clicked over and understood it for what it was.