Grants for environmental organizations

Name: Top 10 Grants for environmental organizations
Creator: Cause IQ
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

6,121 environmental organizations received at least $1.5 billion in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 20,928 grants made from 5,645 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $20,000. Of these 5,645 foundations, 61% made just a single grant to environmental orgs, and 15% made grants to four or more environmental orgs. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.

$1,513,375,910

Total grant dollars given to environmental organizations

20,928

Number of grants made annually to environmental organizations

5,645

Number of grantmakers funding environmental organizations

$20,000

Median grant size to environmental organizations

Foundations that support environmental organizations

Out of all grants made to environmental organizations, 57% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 19% of the dollar-value of grants to environmental orgs. Foundations funding environmental orgs also made grants to water and wetland protection organizations, land conservation groups, energy conservation organizations, trade / professional associations, and natural resource conservation nonprofits.

Foundation size

Foundation size	Number of grantmakers
Small	3,242
Medium	1,333
Large	1,052

Small foundations have <$10M in assets. Medium foundations have $10M to $50M in assets. Large foundations have >$50M in assets.

Foundation type

Foundation type	Number of grantmakers
Community	417
Private	2,963
Corporate	139
Other	2,126

Grants made

Grants made to environmental orgs	Number of grantmakers
1	3,460
2-3	1,283
4-10	620
11+	282

Top 10 foundations supporting environmental organizations

Grantmaker	State	Geographic focus	Percent of grant dollars to environmental orgs	Number of grants made to environmental orgs	Median grant size
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)	DC	National	10.5%	334	$45,584
The Energy Foundation	CA	National	62.5%	178	$100,000
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation	CA	National	10.3%	128	$150,000
Gordon E and Betty I Moore Foundation	CA	National	11.4%	92	$221,993
Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund	MA	National	2.3%	244	$29,390
National Philanthropic Trust	PA	National	1.2%	298	$20,000
David and Lucile Packard Foundation	CA	State	6.7%	66	$155,000
New Venture Fund	DC	National	7.0%	108	$107,943
The JPB Foundation	NY	National	8.0%	38	$500,000
Schwab Charitable Fund	CA	National	2.0%	284	$16,850

See all grantmaking to environmental organizations

Environmental organizations grantees

Environmental organizations with more than $5 million in total revenues received 52% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 34% of all environmental orgs.

Grant amounts

Size of grant	Number of grants
<$10k	3,455
$10k-$25k	7,688
$25k-$100k	6,496
$100k+	3,289

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue	Median grant size
<$100k	$12,500
$100k-$500k	$15,500
$500k-$1M	$20,000
$1M-$5M	$24,000
>$5M	$25,000

Grantee states

State of grantee	Number of grants
California	3,258
New York	1,945
District of Columbia	1,599
Virginia	1,080
Other	13,046

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee	Number of grants
Washington DC	2,582
New York City	1,700
San Francisco	1,389
Los Angeles	664
Other	11,740

Top 25 grants made to environmental organizations

Grantee	Grant size	Purpose	Grantmaker
Rare	$2,446,664	Grants To Protect the Environment	Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment
Downtown Safety Patrol	$2,433,982	Cash Given	Downtown Dallas Foundation
Downtown Safety Patrol	$2,433,982	Cash Given	Downtown Dallas Foundation
Downtown Safety Patrol	$2,433,982	Direct Support of Operations	Downtown Dallas Foundation
Powell Gardens	$2,432,150	Environment	Greater Kansas City Community Foundation
Chesapeake Bay Foundation	$2,428,745	For Grant Recipient's Exempt Purposes	Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund
Environmental Defense Action Fund (EDF)	$2,423,200	FMV	Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)
Elemental Excelerator	$2,421,050	Community & Human Services	Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund (GSPF)
Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)	$2,400,737	Environment, Animals	National Philanthropic Trust
Southface Energy Institute	$2,392,430	General Support	The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta
Lake of the Woods International Arena Board	$2,385,000	Arts and Culture	Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund (GSPF)
Sharon Land Trust	$2,359,839	General Support	Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation
Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC)	$2,331,647	Land Aquisition - Kiw & Gulf Hagas	Forest Society of Maine (FSM)
The Energy Foundation	$2,300,000	Daf - Environment	Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston
Conservation International (CI)	$2,294,337	Policy	The Pew Charitable Trusts (Pew)
Resources Legacy Fund	$2,275,000	For the Western Energy Project	William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Save the Redwoods League	$2,250,000	For Permanent Protection of the Cascade Ranch in Santa Cruz County.	Gordon E and Betty I Moore Foundation
Sustainable Markets Foundation	$2,235,000	To Support Education and Outreach To Build A Clean Energy Future	The Energy Foundation
The Conservation Fund	$2,224,434	For Grant Recipient's Exempt Purposes	Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund
Conservation International (CI)	$2,150,028	Blue Abadi Fund and Support for Marae Moana	Nia Tero Foundation
Forest Park Forever	$2,144,134	General Support	St Louis Community Foundation
Midwest Assistance Program	$2,104,905	Technical Assistance, Training and Research and Economic Development	Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP)
Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)	$2,055,042	Civil Rights, Social Action, Advocacy	Hopewell Fund
International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT)	$2,050,000	Crux Project	Aspen Global Change Institute (AGCI)
The Nature Conservancy	$2,047,000	Conservation and Science	David and Lucile Packard Foundation

See all grants to environmental organizations

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 organizations" category for this page is determined by 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.