Funder Spotlight: How the Moore Foundation Works to Conserve the Natural World
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The foundation is the largest private supporter of conservation in the Amazon. Photo: worldclassphoto/shutterstock
IP Funder Spotlights offer up quick looks at the grantmakers that are on our radar, including a few key details on how they operate and what they’re up to right now.
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation is a $7 billion grantmaker that picks its battles, even in its largest priority, environmental conservation. Moore favors going narrow but deep, backing major groups with big gifts to pursue measurable goals on its chosen topics. Here's what you need to know about Moore's conservation grantmaking:
What this funder cares about
Gordon and Betty Moore were inspired to make conservation a focus of their philanthropy after seeing wilderness gobbled up in a rush of development during their lifetimes. “Jungles have become golf courses; beaches, condominium developments; and the oceans have been overfished and become garbage dumps,” reads their Statement of Founders’ Intent, a guide the couple wrote for their foundation’s staff and trustees.
The foundation’s environmental conservation program—which accounted for 43% of the foundation’s giving, the largest share, in 2020—has three primary initiatives. One is all about the eight countries and one territory that make up the Andes-Amazon region. Another is concerned with conservation and markets, such as fostering sustainable production of products like beef, soy and fish. The third initiative supports the health of marine ecosystems in the North American Arctic and British Columbia. The foundation also has a special projects portfolio, which makes one-time investments in new conservation approaches, whether they be new technologies or unusual collaborations.
Why you should care
While it considers itself a conservation grantmaker, the Moore Foundation ranks in or near the top 10 largest funders in a wide range of environmental areas, including climate, animals and wildlife, as well as ocean and freshwater grantmaking.
With billions in assets, the grantmaker likes to go big with its grantees. If you can win a grant from Moore, the relationship tends to be long term and fruitful. The foundation’s average grant term is two years, and we are talking big bucks. Dozens of organizations have received grants of $1 million or more. Conservation International, as one outlying example, has received more than $600 million over the years.
Where the money comes from
Gordon Moore co-founded Intel, the technology giant whose advances in memory and microprocessors laid the foundation for modern computing. His legacy lives on in “Moore’s Law”—a prediction that computing processor power would double every year. The foundation is headquartered in Palo Alto in the heart of Silicon Valley.
Gordon, now in his 90s, and his wife, Betty, have a fortune estimated by Forbes at $11 billion. The couple signed the Giving Pledge in 2012. Their letter notes they gave “half our wealth” to their foundation in 2001. They have also given, individually and via the foundation, hundreds of millions to Caltech, the University of California at Berkeley and other universities. The Moores have two children, both of whom serve on the foundation’s board of trustees.
Where the money goes
The foundation’s issue focus is narrow. Would-be grantees will need to fit into one of the grantmaker’s existing initiatives. The Moore Foundation practices what it calls “outcome-based” philanthropy, focused on specific, measurable, achievable, results-oriented and time-bound goals (i.e., the SMART framework). As one might expect, the foundation says measurement and evaluation are “part of our DNA.” Generally, Moore prioritizes large, established organizations and prefers to make grants where it expects long-term returns.
Despite Moore’s Silicon Valley roots, staff from the environment conservation program say they are wary of overemphasizing high-tech solutions. “I would say the foundation views technology as an important tool in a diverse conservation tool-kit,” Aileen Lee, chief program officer for the initiative, recently told MongaBay. “But at the same time, it’s not a ‘silver bullet,’ and I’m wary of technocratic approaches that try to make it one.”
Open door or barbed wire?
Moore puts up a bit of a wall, but you might say it’s a wall with a mail slot. It doesn’t accept unsolicited applications, but does permit 100-word inquiries by email from prospective grantees. It cautions that only those who adhere to the limit will receive a response.
There’s plenty of intel (zing!) to draw on for hopeful applicants. The foundation’s comprehensive grant database can be searched by year, program or initiative, organization name and more. Listings start in 2001—the year the foundation was founded—and run nearly to the present. Detailed biographies, including current responsibilities, are provided for virtually all staff members.
Recent updates
For a more detailed look at what Moore has funded recently, check what it posts each month on recent grantee accomplishments. For instance, the foundation was part of a coalition of private funders who supported the acquisition of the 200-acre, $1.13 million Fitzsimmons Ranch, which will become part of Sonoma County’s regional park system. Further afield in the Amazon, the foundation backed a team of researchers who studied whether formalizing mining would help reduce environmental degradation.
One cool thing to know
The Moore Foundation cares a lot about the world’s largest rainforest. It’s the largest private supporter of conservation in the Amazon, with more than half a billion dollars in grants to the region since 2001. It has helped conserve 170 million hectares of land, an area more than four times the size of California. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon began falling dramatically a few years into the foundation’s work and continued to decline for nearly a decade, before climbing again in recent years. While these recent setbacks have shown the limits of philanthropy, the foundation is continuing its work in the Amazon, covering everything from Indigenous land stewardship to international alliances.
Where we think they should go next
Moore does not share many details about where its endowment is invested, other than to say that they aim to maximize grantmaking capacity. The foundation may be missing out on a lot of potential impact investing power. It’d be great to see Moore mobilize its $7 billion endowment in pursuit of its goals—just as peers like Kresge Foundation have done—and share its lessons and successes along the way. In addition to impact investing, it could join the growing number of institutions who have divested from fossil fuels.
With precious little time left for humanity to transform society in the face of climate change, Moore could also do even more grantmaking on the climate emergency. Its narrow but deep approach could have lasting impact on any number of topics, and its focus on scientific research and long-term outlook could be particularly helpful in niche areas. The foundation’s environmental conservation plan has had as many as seven initiatives in the past—perhaps it’s time for one or two more?
