Friends of the Earth is mapped on Muckety.

Self-description: Friends of the Earth defends the environment and champions a healthy and just world.

Actual: Rabidly anti-capitalist attack group founded by the late David Brower and hijacked from him by power players who wanted to relocate from its original San Francisco base to Washington, D.C. and "mainstream" itself in order to get foundation grants.

NoDOG Connection: Friends of the Earth sent trainers to the Oil and Gas Accountability Project and the Dogwood Initiative 2004 Denver, Colorado workshop, Corporate Energy Campaigning: Using financial pressure for conservation.

Active in the 1999 anti-Exxon Mobil campaign (StopEsso, United Kingdom): Friends of the Earth UK is the operative group with activism by FOE US. FOE US gave $40,000 in 1999 to the Institute for Policy Studies, another attack group.

Politics: The furthest to the political left of mainstream green groups, according to the Washington Post ("From Fringe To Political Mainstream," by Michael Weiskopf, Washington Post, April 19, 1990, p. A1).

Background: Created in July 1969 by the late eco-guru David Ross Brower (1912-2000) after he was fired as the Sierra Club's executive director. Brower led FOE (apt acronym) in increasingly radical directions and fighting his own board of directors for ten eventful years before he stepped down as president in November 1979 but remained chairman of the board.
Rafe Pomerance, founder of Clean Air Coalition took over in 1980. Brower kept wrangling with FOE's board and staff, and they kicked him off the board of his own creation in 1984. He went to court and won his seat back, so the board decided to move the group from San Francisco to New York as a symbol of going "mainstream", which outraged Brower, who forced a recall vote against his board in 1986, but lost by 180 votes. Brower was out. Geoffrey Webb, former conservation staffer, took over as Acting Director for a short time, replaced with Michael S. Clark of the Environmental Policy Institute in 1989.
That year, Friends of the Earth merged with the Environmental Policy Institute and the Oceanic Society to form the new and improved Friends of the Earth. Under the merger, which was approved by the respective boards of directors in January 1989, Friends of the Earth is the membership organization, the Friends of the Earth Foundation was "folded into" the Environmental Policy Institute and maintained its 501(c)(3) tax status, and the Oceanic Society maintained its own 501(c)(3) tax status.
In 1994, Dr. Brent Blackwelder became president of FOE, a position he has held ever since.

Friends of the Earth Revenue and Expenses 2008

Revenue Expenses

Contributions $3,735,509

Government Grants $0

Program Services $0

Investments $63,591

Special Events ($33,667)

Sales $0

Other $268,807

Program Services $3,362,659

Administration $350,806

Other $258,477

Total Expenditures $3,971,942

Total Revenue $4,034,240 NET GAIN/LOSS
$62,298

Chief Executive (salary $125,975, benefits $10,096)
Profile in his own words
"Brent Blackwelder, President [Ph.D. in philosophy, University of Maryland, 1975], has served as an environmental advocate in Washington for over 30 years. He was a founder of the Environmental Policy Institute, which merged with Friends of the Earth and the Oceanic Society in 1989. He has worked with citizen organizations to save rivers and to eliminate more than 150 destructive dams and stream channelization projects. Brent served as Chairman of the Board of the League of Conservation Voters and American Rivers, Inc."

Blackwelder's network of associations is mapped on Muckety.

Friends of the Earth Board of Directors 2008

Name Title Compensation

NORMAN DEAN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR $127,374

BRENT BLACKWELDER PRESIDENT $125,975

PATRICIA MATTHEWS DIRECTOR $0

AVIS OGILVY MOORE DIRECTOR $0

MARION EDEY DIRECTOR $0

JAYNI CHASE DIRECTOR $0

RUSSELL LONG DIRECTOR $0

HARRIETT CROSBY VICE CHAIR $0

MICHAEL J. HERZ CHAIRMAN $0

PEYTON WEST DIRECTOR $0

CLARENCE DITLOW SECRETARY $0

JEFF GLUECK DIRECTOR $0

ARLIE SCHARDT DIRECTOR $0

DAN GABEL DIRECTOR $0

DAVID ZWICK TREASURER $0

DOUGLAS LEGUM DIRECTOR $0

RICK TAKETA VICE CHAIR $0

DORIA STEEDMAN DIRECTOR $0

WHITEY BLUESTEIN DIRECTOR $0

Foundation grants to Friends of the Earth 2004-2007

Donor Foundation

Amount

Year

Grant Description

MARISLA FOUNDATION
Laguna Beach
California

$30,000

2006

Public lands campaigns defending public lands and wildlife habitat from jet skis and ATV's

ORCHARD FOUNDATION
South Portland
Maine

$20,000

2006

Global Warming Litigation

WALLACE GLOBAL FUND
Washington
Dist Of Columbia

$12,000

2006

Global biofuels impacts database project

WALLACE GLOBAL FUND
Washington
Dist Of Columbia

$60,000

2006

New power players in development finance promoting community rights

CHARLES STEWART MOTT FOUNDATION
Flint
Michigan

$158,333

2005

To promote reform of Japanese export credit agencies and advocate for support of common international environmental standards

CHARLES STEWART MOTT FOUNDATION
Flint
Michigan

$110,000

2005

To develop coordinated strategies to reform the international financial institutions

FORD FOUNDATION
New York
New York

$100,000

2005

For research community training monitoring and advocacy on public budgets of oil rich akwa ibom state in the Niger delta

CHARLES STEWART MOTT FOUNDATION
Flint
Michigan

$225,000

2005

To support efforts to reform international financial institutions and trade policies in order to preserve the natural environment

THE ENERGY FOUNDATION
San Francisco
California

$50,000

2005

To press for an update to the federal fuel economy test procedure and promote nonpetroleum fuels in California

RICHARD AND RHODA GOLDMAN FUND
San Francisco
California

$100,000

2005

Clean Vessels Campaign, to reduce the environmental impacts of large commercial vessels, cruise ships and fast ferries on the West Coast

EDWARDS MOTHER EARTH FOUNDATION
Seattle
Washington

$40,000

2004

Wind use as a clean, renewable energy source; research, education and advocacy.

JOHN MERCK FUND
Boston
Massachusetts

$35,000

2004

To investigate and publicize instances of food product contamination and health impacts from crops genetically engineered to produce medicines and chemicals

FARVIEW FOUNDATION
St. Paul
Minnesota

$10,000

2004

Support for environmental projects

MORIAH FUND INC
Washington
Dist Of Columbia

$30,000

2004

For support its Promoting Sustainability in International Public Finance

CHARLES STEWART MOTT FOUNDATION
Flint
Michigan

$225,000

2004

To support efforts to reform international financial institutions and trade policies in order to preserve the natural environment

DEER CREEK FOUNDATION
St. Louis
Missouri

$20,000

2004

For research, public education, legislative monitoring, and media work to expose significant corporate influence at the Department of the Interior which undermines the enforcement of environmental laws

WALLACE GLOBAL FUND
Washington
Dist Of Columbia

$70,000

2004

Promoting sustainable development in international public finance year 2

ROCKEFELLER BROTHERS FUND INC
New York
New York

$100,000

2004

To the work of its Export Credit Agency reform campaign

CHARLES STEWART MOTT FOUNDATION
Flint
Michigan

$125,000

2004

To develop coordinated strategies to reform the international financial institutions

CAROLYN FOUNDATION
Minneapolis
Minnesota

$25,000

2004

For promotion of renewable energy

CHARLES STEWART MOTT FOUNDATION
Flint
Michigan

$100,000

2004

To promote reform of Japanese export credit agencies and advocate for support of common international environmental standards

BACK TO GREEN GROUP INDEX
BACK TO GUIDE
BACK TO GREEN TRACKING LIBRARY TOP PAGE