EIN 11-6107128

Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)

IRS 501(c) type
501(c)(3)
Num. employees
901
Year formed
1967
Most recent tax filings
2022-09-01
Description
EDF protects natural systems through science and economics, fighting climate change, securing food and water, and building resilient communities.
Also known as...
Environmental Defense Fund Incorporated
Total revenues
$284,762,302
2022
Total expenses
$272,766,121
2022
Total assets
$452,168,552
2022
Num. employees
901
2022

Program areas at EDF

Regions - Climate: To stabilize the climate, we must eventually stop putting more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than we take out through reforestation, agricultural practices that increase carbon in soils, and carbon-capture technologies that are emerging. Our strategies are designed to address long-lived climate pollutants - carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion and deforestation, as well as nitrous oxide from agriculture - that warm the atmosphere for a century or more. They also address emissions of potent, short-lived climate pollutants such as methane. Reducing short-lived pollutants will lessen the risks from extreme weather and sea level rise for people and ecosystems alike and help forestall dangerous climate tipping points that can accelerate warming over the coming centuries. Energy, transportation, land use: these are the building blocks of economies around the world. Changes to business as usual in these sectors can have far-reaching impacts. By leveraging market forces through well-designed policies and private-sector action, EDF links climate progress in strategically important parts of the globe to politically potent local goals for poverty alleviation, health, jobs and economic growth.
People and Nature - From forests to farms to coasts, EDF works to protect and restore vital ecosystems to fight climate change, promote food and water security and build resilient communities. In the U.S., EDF's cutting-edge science is quantifying the threats climate change poses for staple crops - wheat in Kansas, corn in Iowa and soybeans in Minnesota - and finding ways to help farmers adapt and thrive. This year, the Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance, which EDF co-founded, advocated for federal funding of projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sequester carbon. In tropical nations, we are working with more than 100 communities across 12 countries to highlight the role of seafood in meeting nutritional needs, including: - Indonesia, to help sustainably manage the blue swimming crab fishery in two key provinces where crabs provide livelihoods to hundreds of thousands of people; - Belize, to help develop a finfish management plan that further establishes the country as a model for climate-resilient fisheries management; - Chile, Peru and Ecuador, to launch a multinational scientific collaboration to predict and alert countries to the impacts of climate change on ocean health and fisheries that feed hundreds of thousands of people. In the U.S., we launched the Coalition for Sustainable Aquaculture to advocate for rigorous standards for offshore aquaculture that would facilitate a homegrown industry in healthy, more climate-friendly seafoods while benefiting historically disadvantaged and excluded communities. In California's Central Valley, over a million people are without a reliable source of drinking water. This year, the California Department of Water Resources teamed up with EDF to work toward making an open-source water accounting and trading platform - which EDF developed - available to more than 260 groundwater sustainability agencies, responsible for managing up to 60% of California's water supply. In tropical forests, EDF is helping ensure Indigenous peoples have the local control and financial resources to keep forests thriving for us all. Our Tropical Forest Credit Integrity Guide, developed by Indigenous peoples' organizations and a group of leading environmental nonprofits, including EDF, sets out five principles to help companies invest in forest conservation that delivers lasting climate and biodiversity benefits and directly supports forest communities. The LEAF Coalition, which we helped launch last year, continued to grow in size and scope. The program, backed by the U.S., the U.K., Norway and some of the world's biggest companies, including Amazon, is the largest-ever public-private investment in tropical forests. It has now received 37 proposals from jurisdictions in Africa, Asia and the Americas seeking to sell forest credits that would preserve more than half a billion hectares of forest - an area larger than the European Union.
RESEARCH AND EDUCATION - In FY2022, climate was EDF's single largest area of education, with mailings and online information educating EDF members and the general public about the science of climate change and the needed policy response, as well as other critical environmental issues. Four issues of the quarterly Solutions magazine were part of this program, both online and in print.
Energy transition
Healthy communities

Grants made by EDF

GranteeGrant descriptionAmount
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA)$5,739,686
Tides Foundation$3,312,700
Harvard University$918,604
...and 175 more grants made totalling $22,602,449

Who funds Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)

Grants from foundations and other nonprofits
GrantmakerDescriptionAmount
Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundFor Grant Recipient's Exempt Purposes$25,505,267
Robertson FoundationSupport for Oil and Gas, China, Science and Economic Programs.$12,000,000
QuadriviumGeneral$8,051,000
...and 512 more grants received totalling $142,920,790
Federal funding details
Federal agencyProgram nameAmount
Department of AgricultureENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY INCENTIVES PROGRAM$642,027
U. S. Agency for International DevelopmentUSAID FOREIGN ASSISTANCE FOR PROGRAMS OVERSEAS$107,267
Department of AgricultureSOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION$32,632
...and 1 more federal grant or contract

Personnel at EDF

NameTitleCompensation
Jay KnottSenior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Off.$456,646
N Louis MkanganwiChief Financial Officer$207,947
Amy MiddletonChief Marketing
Marc CimaChief Information Officer
Ryan HamiltonChief of Staff
...and 29 more key personnel

Financials for EDF

RevenuesFYE 09/2022
Total grants, contributions, etc.$278,414,224
Program services$0
Investment income and dividends$3,897,997
Tax-exempt bond proceeds$0
Royalty revenue$180
Net rental income$413,229
Net gain from sale of non-inventory assets$1,074,520
Net income from fundraising events$0
Net income from gaming activities$0
Net income from sales of inventory$0
Miscellaneous revenues$962,152
Total revenues$284,762,302

Form 990s for EDF

Fiscal year endingDate received by IRSFormPDF link
2022-092023-03-30990View PDF
2020-092021-08-06990View PDF
2019-092021-01-27990View PDF
2018-092019-09-14990View PDF
2017-092018-11-15990View PDF
...and 8 more Form 990s
Data update history
June 16, 2023
Posted financials
Added Form 990 for fiscal year 2022
June 14, 2023
Updated personnel
Identified 1 new personnel
June 10, 2023
Used new vendors
Identified 4 new vendors, including , , , and
May 24, 2023
Updated personnel
Identified 5 new personnel
May 13, 2023
Used new vendors
Identified 2 new vendors, including , and
Nonprofit Types
Social advocacy organizationsEnvironmental organizationsHeadquarter / parent organizationsCharities
Issues
EducationEnvironmentVoting rights
Characteristics
Political advocacyOperates donor advised fundsLobbyingOperates internationallyNational levelReceives government fundingEndowed supportTax deductible donations
General information
Address
257 Park Ave South
New York, NY 10010
Metro area
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA
County
New York County, NY
Website URL
edf.org/ 
Phone
(212) 505-2100
Facebook page
EnvDefenseFund 
Twitter profile
@envdefensefund 
IRS details
EIN
11-6107128
Fiscal year end
September
Taxreturn type
Form 990
Year formed
1967
Eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions (Pub 78)
Yes
Categorization
NTEE code, primary
C60: Environmental Education
NAICS code, primary
813319: Social Advocacy Organizations
Parent/child status
Central organization
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