Grants for environmental education programs

558 environmental education organizations received at least $15.6 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 1,315 grants made from 991 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,190. Of these 991 foundations, 85% made just a single grant to envirnmental ed orgs, and 2% made grants to four or more envirnmental ed orgs. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.
$15,588,498
Total grant dollars given to environmental education programs
1,315
Number of grants made annually to environmental education programs
991
Number of grantmakers funding environmental education programs
$1,190
Median grant size to environmental education programs

Foundations that support environmental education organizations

Out of all grants made to environmental education programs, 75% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 84% of the dollar-value of grants to envirnmental ed orgs. Foundations funding envirnmental ed orgs also made grants to land conservation groups, multiservice human service organizations, natural resource conservation nonprofits, youth development programs, and educational service providers.

Foundation size

Foundation sizeNumber of grantmakers
Small
 
749
Medium
 
124
Large
 
118
Small foundations have <$10M in assets. Medium foundations have $10M to $50M in assets. Large foundations have >$50M in assets.

Foundation type

Foundation typeNumber of grantmakers
Community
 
32
Private
 
862
Corporate
 
52
Other
 
45

Grants made

Grants made to envirnmental ed orgsNumber of grantmakers
1
 
845
2-3
 
123
4-10
 
17
11+
 
6

Top 10 foundations supporting environmental education organizations

GrantmakerStateGeographic focusPercent of grant dollars to envirnmental ed orgsNumber of grants made to envirnmental ed orgsMedian grant size
Seattle FoundationWAState0.1%40$2,250
Clif Bar Family FoundationCANational2.2%20$3,500
JP Morgan Chase FoundationNYNational0.0%16$310
Shell Oil Company FoundationTXNational0.0%14$450
The Troy FoundationOHMetro0.2%11$1,000
Salesforce Com FoundationCANational0.0%11$200
Liberty Hill FoundationCAMetro0.1%9$1,000
Abbvie FoundationILNational0.0%9$100
Alliant Energy FoundationWIState0.6%8$1,746
Baird FoundationWINational0.1%8$250

Environmental education organizations grantees

Environmental education programs with more than $5 million in total revenues received 88% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 34% of all envirnmental ed orgs.

Grant amounts

Size of grantNumber of grants
<$10k
 
1,311
$10k-$25k
 
0
$25k-$100k
 
0
$100k+
 
4

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenueMedian grant size
<$100k
 
$1,300
$100k-$500k
 
$1,350
$500k-$1M
 
$1,512
$1M-$5M
 
$1,500
>$5M
 
$1,000

Grantee states

State of granteeNumber of grants
California
 
218
District of Columbia
 
138
Massachusetts
 
81
New York
 
78
Other
 
800

Grantee metros

Metro area of granteeNumber of grants
Washington DC
 
171
San Francisco
 
93
New York City
 
72
Los Angeles
 
72
Other
 
712

Top 25 grants made to environmental education programs

GranteeGrant sizePurposeGrantmaker
Environmental Defense Action Fund (EDF)$3,799,008Operations SupportEnvironmental Defense Fund (EDF)
Environmental Defense Action Fund (EDF)$3,799,008FMVEnvironmental Defense Fund (EDF)
Environmental Defense Action Fund (EDF)$2,693,524FMVEnvironmental Defense Fund (EDF)
Environmental Defense Action Fund (EDF)$2,559,449FMVEnvironmental Defense Fund (EDF)
Wilderness Youth Project$5,000Childrens' HealthFerguson Foundation
Pine Mountain Settlement School$5,000C60 Environmental Education and Outdoor Survival ProgramsCommunity Foundation of Louisville
Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center of Virginia$5,000The Speak Out! ProjectCharlottesville Area Community Foundation
Rockfish Valley Foundation$5,000General PurposeCharlottesville Area Community Foundation
Cincinnati Nature Center (CNC)$5,000Promote Charitable PurposeStella M Buerger Charitable Trust
Malama Kauai$5,000DonationAlohaCare
Highlander Research and Education Center$5,000General SupportMorris Family Fund
Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC)$5,000Financial AidRuth H and Warren A Ellsworth Foundation
Wilderness Inquiry$5,000General FundingThe Helgeson Foundation
Heal The Bay$5,000General SupportDavid Geffen Foundation
Thorne Ecological Institute$5,000General Operating SupportThe Community Foundation
Thorne Ecological Institute$5,000General Operating SupportThe Community Foundation
Mystic River Watershed Association$5,000To Support Community Organizing in East Boston for Waterfront and Public Space Improvements.GreenRoots
Green Works in Kansas City$5,000Unrestricted GeneralTaylor and Patti Abernathy Charitable Trust
National Ability Center$5,000Support for People of All Abilities for Affordable Adaptive SportsThe Vivint Giveback Foundation
North Carolina Outward Bound School (NCOBS)$5,000General Operating SupportTrailsend Foundation
Marine Science Institute$5,000Voyage and Land Programs for Low Income High School Students.Danford Foundation
North Carolina Outward Bound School (NCOBS)$5,000General PurposeTriangle Community Foundation
Slide Ranch$5,000EducationHarold L Wyman Foundation
Christodora$5,000General Operating SupportJ M Kaplan Fund
Tin Mountain Conservation Center Incorporated (TMCC)$5,000Support High School Environmental Education Programs in North CountryCogswell Benevolent Trust
Methodology: To determine grants and grantees, Cause IQ analyzes electronically-filed Form 990, Form 990-EZ, and Form 990-PF financial disclosure documents, matching grantees to specific organizations using EINs and fuzzy matching logic. The "Environmental education programs" category for this page is determined by the "C60: Environmental Education" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.