Southern Alliance for Clean Energy Action Fund (SACE Action Fund), the political arm of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), is a non-partisan, non-profit (c4) organization striving to make clean energy solutions a top priority for our region’s elected leaders. SACE Action Fund engages in public education, legislative action, and electoral accountability in the Southeast to connect with concerned citizens and decision-makers about energy policy.
In 2020/2021 through strategic, coordinated, and aligned plans with partner organizations at the (c)4 state table, SACE’s North Georgia organizing made a valuable contribution to the victory of Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Osoff in the 2021 U.S. Senate runoff elections. Georgia’s huge potential for progress on advancing clean energy and mitigating the impacts of global warming was demonstrated during the 2020 election and ensuing runoff when SACE identified new ways and opportunities to use our institutional knowledge and member base to advance our mission by mobilizing voters in the runoff. We reached thousands of our members throughout Georgia; published educational materials about where the candidates stood on climate and energy issues as well as a voter information hub; and promoted the significance of the election in overcoming Georgia’s long history of voter suppression. From late November through Election Day on January 5, 2021, more than 50 SACE Action Fund staff, members, and volunteers knocked on nearly 500 doors, placed over 14,000 phone calls, and sent over 18,000 text messages encouraging voter turnout. These efforts led to nearly 8,000 contacts and conversations with Georgia voters. Voter turnout in runoff elections is typically much lower than in general elections, but in the race between Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican David Perdue, the runoff election ballots cast were only 5,000 fewer than were cast in the 2020 general election.
In the fall of 2019, the SACE Action Fund engaged in the Knoxville mayoral campaign as the election of a new mayor who will help guide the future of energy and climate policy in Knoxville for years to come. SACE Action Fund worked to provide Knoxville-area voters with information about the candidates’ positions on climate and energy issues affecting the Knoxville community.
While our scope is regional, few states are as critical to the energy policy discussion as Florida. As the nation’s third most populous state, Florida is the largest electricity market in the United States that does not have a coherent energy policy. The state also has a lot to lose from inaction on energy issues: the impact of sea level rise and increasingly powerful storm surges threaten millions of Floridians who live in low-lying areas.
The SACE Action Fund was proud to be a founding member of Floridians for Solar Choice, a grassroots citizens-led coalition seeking to open Florida’s solar market so that more homes and businesses can generate electricity by harnessing the power of the sun. Learn more about the Floridians for Solar Choice effort.
The SACE Action Fund was proud to be a leader among organizations supporting the YesOn4 campaign in the summer of 2016, which garnered more than 73% of the vote in order to provide tax breaks to companies and homeowners that buy and install solar devices and equipment. Learn more about Amendment 4.
Also in 2016, the SACE Action Fund engaged in the NoOn1 fall 2016 campaign designed to oppose Amendment 1 on Florida’s November ballot – a deceptive amendment backed by the monopoly utilities, which sought to stifle solar power and keep Floridians captive power consumers. Learn more about Amendment 1 and the barriers it sought to erect in Florida.