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Chicago environmental organizations

There are 553 environmental organizations in the greater Chicago metro area, including the cities of Chicago, Bolingbrook, Des Plaines, Elgin, Evanston, Hoffman Estates, Naperville, Schaumburg, Skokie, and Gary within the states of Illinois and Indiana. Combined, these Chicago metro environmental organizations employ 2,878 people, earn more than $394 million in revenue each year, and have assets of $1 billion.
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Types of environmental organizations in Chicago

Nonprofit typeNumberRevenues
Natural resource conservation organizations
 
185
 
$164,072,287
Botanical nonprofits and horticultural societies
 
70
 
$132,690,169
Environmental education organizations
 
62
 
$18,718,929
Pollution abatement and control organizations
 
61
 
$34,327,652
Water quality and wetland conservation organizations
 
60
 
$43,047,628
Civic environmental and open space organizations
 
56
 
$23,193,821
Garden clubs and horticultural programs
 
51
 
$277,027
Land conservation organizations
 
28
 
$28,035,405
Recycling programs
 
26
 
$10,532,001
Environmental alliances and advocates
 
26
 
$2,836,865
Showing 10 of 17 categories

Job trends for Chicago environmental organizations

Employees per organizationNumber of organizations
0
 
83
1-10
 
42
11-25
 
19
26-100
 
14
101 to 1,000
 
4
1,000+
 
0
Key takeaways for employment stats:

Sizes of environmental organizations in Chicago

Revenues per organizationNumber of organizations
< $250k
 
135
$250k to $1M
 
47
$1M to $5M
 
42
$5M to $25M
 
9
$25M to $100M
 
3
$100M+
 
0
Key takeaways for revenue stats:

Directory of environmental organizations in Chicago

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1-20 of 553

The Morton Arboretum

A tree-focused center in Lisle, IL that collects, studies, displays, and grows trees to encourage their planting and conservation.
Revenue
$53.7m
Assets
$339.3m
Employees
539
EIN
36-1505770
IRS type
501(c)(3)

Center for Neighborhood Technology

CNT creates equitable, sustainable, and resilient urban communities through innovative analysis, policy advocacy, and community collaborations.
Revenue
$5.4m
Assets
$4.2m
Employees
21
EIN
36-2967283
IRS type
501(c)(3)

The Conservation Foundation

The Conservation Foundation preserves and restores natural areas and open space, protect rivers and watersheds, and promote stewardship of our environment.
Revenue
$5.7m
Assets
$13.1m
Employees
53
EIN
23-7221206
IRS type
501(c)(3)

Climate Vault

Climate Vault reduces carbon allowances for CO2 emitters, buying offset allowances as investments to decrease future emissions and slow climate change.
Revenue
$5.3m
Assets
$9.7m
Employees
0
EIN
85-4211960
IRS type
501(c)(3)

Openlands

Openlands protects natural and open spaces, educates communities, and advocates for policies that support conservation in northeastern Illinois.
Revenue
$8.1m
Assets
$35.2m
Employees
53
EIN
36-2649603
IRS type
501(c)(3)

Elevate Energy

Elevate Energy is organization that helps people do more with less energy. We design and implement efficiency programs that lower costs, protect the environment, and ensure the benefits of energy efficiency reach those who need them most.
Revenue
$40.4m
Assets
$34.3m
Employees
209
EIN
36-4443093
IRS type
501(c)(3)

Lake Forest Open Lands Association (LFOLA)

LFOLA is an independently funded conservation and educational organization devoted to the acquisition and stewardship of our natural landscapes, and to ensuring all generations have a meaningful, lasting connection to nature and our land.
Revenue
$9.5m
Assets
$71.6m
Employees
27
EIN
36-6162709
IRS type
501(c)(3)

Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation

Illinois Foundation funds renewable energy, energy efficiency, and natural area preservation projects in the state. Headquartered in Chicago.
Revenue
$14.9m
Assets
$68.5m
Employees
8
EIN
36-4334358
IRS type
501(c)(4)

Water Quality Association

The Water Quality Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting education, statistical data, interchange of ideas and the promotion of water treatment products for members. It also offers laboratory services and independent testing ...
Revenue
$13.5m
Assets
$14.5m
Employees
88
EIN
36-2784319
IRS type
501(c)(6)

Environmental Law and Policy Center of the Midwest

Midwest eco-policy advocacy and legal organization pursuing clean energy, protecting natural resources, with scientific support, based in Chicago.
Revenue
$10.9m
Assets
$38.0m
Employees
60
EIN
36-3866530
IRS type
501(c)(3)

Chicago Botanic Garden

The Chicago Botanic Garden is a 385-acre living plant museum situated on nine islands featuring 27 display gardens and surrounded by four natural areas.
Revenue
$77.1m
Assets
$316.2m
Employees
803
EIN
36-2225482
IRS type
501(c)(3)

The Kindness Campaign

The Kindness Campaign fosters kindness, promotes health equity, and advocates for education fairness to ensure compassion and support for all individuals.
Revenue
$3.3m
Assets
$459.2k
Employees
0
EIN
82-1694708
IRS type
501(c)(3)

Lincoln Park Conservancy

Lincoln Park Conservancy improves and conserves Chicago's Lincoln Park by organizing volunteers, providing education, and promoting biodiversity.
Revenue
$2.5m
Assets
$1.8m
Employees
18
EIN
36-3320423
IRS type
501(c)(3)

Little Village Environmental Justice Org

Little Village Environmental Justice Org empowers the community in Chicago through environmental education, youth programs, and sustainable gardening.
Revenue
$4.1m
Assets
$6.2m
Employees
48
EIN
36-4259477
IRS type
501(c)(3)

Rebuilding Exchange / Evanston Rebuilding Warehouse

Evanston Rebuilding Warehouse diverts and reuses building materials to reduce waste in landfills while also providing job training and development for at risk populations.
Revenue
$3.1m
Assets
$3.0m
Employees
97
EIN
27-3797852
IRS type
501(c)(3)

Lake Michigan Air Directors Consortium

The Lake Michigan Air Directors Consortium is formed by the Air pollution control Directors of the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin to provide technical assessments for and assistance to its member states on problems o....
Revenue
$2.0m
Assets
$441.5k
Employees
12
EIN
37-1256850
IRS type
501(c)(3)

Blacks in Green

Blacks In Green designs and develops self-sustaining, African-American-owned communities that transition to sustainable energy and have green infrastructure.
Revenue
$2.3m
Assets
$2.5m
Employees
0
EIN
45-2453557
IRS type
501(c)(3)

Friends of the Forest Preserves

Friends of the Forest Preserves conserves Cook County's Forest Preserves through restoration, volunteer organizing, and community engagement.
Revenue
$4.1m
Assets
$3.0m
Employees
191
EIN
36-4519273
IRS type
501(c)(3)

Healthy Schools Campaign

Healthy Schools Campaign advocates for policies and practices that support health and learning in schools, led by Rochelle Davis in Chicago.
Revenue
$2.5m
Assets
$2.4m
Employees
17
EIN
36-4308068
IRS type
501(c)(3)

NeighborSpace

NeighborSpace is a civic environmental or open space organization in Chicago, IL whose mission is: NeighborSpace preserves Chicago community gardens as locally managed assets for everyone to enjoy.
Revenue
$2.1m
Assets
$8.0m
Employees
4
EIN
36-4105593
IRS type
501(c)(3)
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Methodology: Cause IQ mines all tax-exempt organizations that file a Form 990, Form 990-EZ, or Form 990-PF with the IRS. We collect and aggregate this information from OCR'd paper taxreturns, XML e-file taxreturns, IRS-provided extract, the Business Master File, and Cause IQ secret sauce for data cleaning, categorization, classification, analytics, etc.
This category corresponds to the "C00: Environment: General" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.
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