Moore Charitable Foundation Inc.

Moore Charitable Foundation (MCF) is not a traditional grantmaker with open competitions or rolling deadlines — it is a deeply personal family foundation built around the conservation passions of its founder, Louis Bacon, billionaire hedge fund manager and lifelong environmentalist. Established in 1992 (funded from 1993–1994) and housed at Moore Capital Management's offices at 11 Times Square in New York, MCF operates as an invitation-only funder that identifies and partners with nonprofit organizations rather than reviewing applications.

The foundation's giving philosophy rests on three principles — conservation, community, and collaboration — expressed through four programmatic pillars: Open Lands (protecting forests, working lands, and wildlife corridors), Clean Water (watershed and riparian restoration, freshwater science-to-practice), Healthy Oceans (marine protected areas, species protection, enforcement), and Future Generations (youth stewardship, conservation education). These pillars are not abstract: they are anchored to six specific geographic priority areas — Long Island NY, eastern North Carolina, Colorado's San Luis Valley, northern New Mexico, the Bahamas, and Panama — where MCF has built an affiliate foundation network over three decades.

This affiliate model is central to understanding MCF's approach. The foundation has established or co-funded affiliated foundations in each priority region: Robins Island Foundation (Long Island), Orton Foundation (North Carolina/Cape Fear River), Trinchera and Tercio Foundations (Colorado), Taos Ski Valley Foundation (New Mexico), Moore Bahamas Foundation, and Islas Secas Foundation (Panama). New grantees typically enter MCF's orbit through relationships with these affiliates, not through cold outreach to MCF itself.

The typical relationship arc for a prospective MCF partner spans 12–24 months of alignment-building before any funding conversation. First-time engagement almost always begins with visibility in the conservation literature or community within MCF's priority geographies. The foundation's 2016 commitment of $1.25 million to Princeton University for a Science-to-Action Fund illustrates how MCF rewards organizations that demonstrate a research-to-practice approach to freshwater conservation — particularly in New York and North Carolina. Organizations pursuing MCF should understand that Bacon's personal passions (prescribed burning, marine protection, Rio Grande trout restoration, anti-biomass deforestation advocacy) are the surest guide to the foundation's real-time priorities.

The financial trajectory of Moore Charitable Foundation reflects accelerating resources matched by expanding ambition. Total assets grew nearly ninefold — from $54.9 million in fiscal 2012 to $485.9 million in fiscal 2024 — driven by significant capital infusions from Louis Bacon himself. IRS records document contributions of $45 million (2012), $40 million (2013), $90.7 million (2014), $30 million (2015), and $50 million (2019), creating an asset base that now generates substantial investment income through Moore Capital Management.

Annual giving trend (grants paid): - 2012: $6.7M | 2013: $8.6M | 2014: $8.6M | 2015: $12.5M - 2019: $19.2M | 2020: $16.1M | 2021: $30.6M (peak) | 2022: $21.5M | 2023: $22.0M

Total giving (including program-related expenses) has tracked slightly higher: $7.7M (2012) rising to $37.3M (2021 peak), settling to $26.2M in 2023. With $486M in assets, MCF distributes well above the required 5% private foundation minimum (~$24M threshold), giving it flexibility to sustain or grow giving in future years.

The 2021 peak — $37.3M in total giving — likely reflects both record investment returns and expanded pandemic-era giving; the normalization to $22–26M since 2022 represents the foundation's sustainable baseline rather than a strategic contraction.

Individual grant sizes, per industry reporting, range from $2,000 (community environmental education) to $500,000 (major conservation partner awards), with hundreds of grants made annually. The IRS grantee schedule reveals large aggregate payments to a small number of recipients (the affiliate foundation network likely accounts for multi-million-dollar pass-through grants), while direct grants to community nonprofits typically fall in the $10,000–$100,000 range.

Programmatically, the geographic footprint of disclosed grantees (New York and New Jersey–based entities) reflects MCF's Long Island and New York City priorities, though the affiliate foundation model channels substantial additional dollars to Colorado, North Carolina, New Mexico, the Bahamas, and Panama outside the direct IRS schedule. Organizations in Clean Water and Land/Forest programs — which map to Bacon's personal properties and advocacy (Trinchera Ranch, Robins Island) — likely receive the largest program allocations, with Healthy Oceans growing as a second tier.

Moore Charitable Foundation occupies a distinctive mid-tier niche among U.S. conservation funders: more institutionalized than a personal checkbook but far more focused and geographically specific than the megafunders in the environmental space.

MCF shares the invitation-only model with Wilburforce and Wyss — meaning that relationship capital, not application quality, is the primary determinant of access. Unlike Doris Duke's Environment Program or Richard King Mellon, which maintain active LOI portals with published deadlines, MCF has no formal entry mechanism.

Where MCF differentiates itself most is in its affiliate foundation infrastructure: MCF has built a self-reinforcing network of local foundations in its priority geographies that simultaneously channels funding and concentrates expertise. Wilburforce and Wyss rely more on direct staff-driven portfolio management. Conservation organizations already funded by NFWF, The Nature Conservancy, or Peconic Land Trust in MCF's geographies have the clearest triangulation pathway.

The most significant MCF news of 2025 centers on Louis Bacon's increasingly vocal public advocacy. On May 1, 2025, Bacon authored a prominent op-ed in the Daily Mail condemning Drax Group — the UK's largest power station — for burning southeastern U.S. wood pellets as purported 'renewable' biomass energy, which Bacon characterized as a massive environmental fraud. This publication is noteworthy because it signals MCF's move from behind-the-scenes grantmaking toward direct reputational campaigns on deforestation issues aligned with its grant portfolio.

In early 2025, Trout Unlimited awarded Louis Bacon and Trinchera Ranch (Colorado) the 2025 Western Division American Fisheries Society Conservation Achievement Award, recognizing decades of Rio Grande cutthroat trout restoration work — directly tied to MCF's Trinchera Foundation affiliate in the San Luis Valley.

In spring 2025, Bacon married Sarah Woodhead, a wildlife conservation advocate with public relations expertise, adding a family dimension to the foundation's leadership profile and potentially expanding its communications capacity.

On the international conservation front (year unconfirmed but recent), MCF-supported partners secured a 234-square-kilometer marine reserve around Ascension Island and achieved landmark CITES global trade protections for sharks and rays — flagship wins for the Healthy Oceans program.

Domestically, MCF's affiliate in the Bahamas continues to advance mangrove restoration, while the Princeton Science-to-Action Fund (established 2016 with $1.25M) remains an active vehicle for freshwater conservation research bridging New York and North Carolina.

Because MCF accepts no unsolicited proposals, 'application tips' for this funder are best understood as a relationship positioning strategy. The quality of your grant proposal matters less than whether you receive an invitation to submit one.

1. Map your geographic overlap precisely. MCF funds work in six defined priority landscapes: Long Island (NY), eastern North Carolina (Cape Fear River watershed), Colorado (San Luis Valley/Rio Grande tributaries), northern New Mexico (Taos/Carson National Forest area), the Bahamas (Lucayan Archipelago), and Panama (Bay of Chiriquí). If your organization operates in any of these areas, lead with that in any communication. If you operate nationally, identify which of MCF's four program pillars — Open Lands, Clean Water, Healthy Oceans, Future Generations — most directly applies and tie your work to a specific MCF geographic priority.

2. Engage the affiliate network before MCF proper. MCF routes significant funding through Robins Island Foundation, Orton Foundation, Trinchera Foundation, Tercio Foundation, Taos Ski Valley Foundation, Moore Bahamas Foundation, and Islas Secas Foundation. Becoming known to these affiliate boards is the most reliable introduction pathway. Attend affiliated conservancies' events, publish joint reports, or co-sponsor field days in these regions.

3. Align with Bacon's 2025 advocacy agenda. The Drax op-ed is a live signal. Organizations conducting biomass supply-chain accountability, fighting wood-pellet deforestation in the southeastern U.S., or pushing for stricter EU renewable energy sourcing standards will find genuine resonance with MCF's current posture. Frame your work in the language MCF uses: 'forest health,' 'prescribed fire,' 'ecosystem integrity,' 'marine zoning,' 'sustainable fisheries.'

4. Pursue research-to-practice partnerships. MCF's Princeton Science-to-Action Fund demonstrates appetite for academic partnerships bridging environmental research and field conservation. Universities or research institutes partnering with conservation nonprofits on freshwater or watershed issues in New York or North Carolina should explore whether a joint inquiry to MCF's program staff makes sense after a warm introduction.

5. Do not cold-call or cold-email. Despite the listed public phone number — (212) 782-7105 — MCF staff do not advance unsolicited inquiries. Social media (@MooreCharitable on Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram) offers low-stakes, visible engagement: share and tag content aligned with MCF's active campaigns. Use this for 6–12 months before pursuing an introduction.

6. Warm introductions are non-negotiable. Target Ann Stevenson-Colley (Executive Vice President) or Lawrence M. Noe (Vice President) as introduction targets via mutual contacts from the affiliate network or organizations like NFWF or The Nature Conservancy.