The Sierra Club Illinois Chapter was formed in 1959 with the mission to explore, enjoy, and protect Illinois. We welcome you to explore our website to find out how our volunteers and staff are working every day to protect our environment through activism, outings, politics and legislation.
We work primarily through grassroots organizing. We believe in the power of talking to people, energizing our neighbors, lobbying legislators, and electing climate champions in order to pass environmental legislation and build victories at the local, statewide, and national levels. We hope you'll join us!
About the Illinois Chapter
The Illinois Chapter began as the Great Lakes Chapter around 1959. As the organization grew and new chapters developed in surrounding states, the name was changed to the Illinois Chapter. It is now one of 64 Chapters that comprise the Sierra Club.
Each Chapter is further broken into local Groups run entirely by volunteers within their communities. In Illinois we have 14 local Groups that cover the entire state of Illinois.
The Chapter is governed by an Executive Committee (ExCom) made up of volunteer leaders from across the state. It helps set statewide priorities and provides direction for the staff. It is comprised of one individual from the 14 local Sierra Club Groups and an additional nine At-Large members elected statewide from the general membership.