How do I find funders for a mid-size environment nonprofit?

Start with the funders most focused on mid-size environment organizations, currently Marine Stewardship Council, Paul Simons Foundation Inc, Green Earth Charitable Organization. Donor-advised funds and mega-funds are excluded, so these are funders that genuinely back organizations your size, not pass-through accounts.

How much grant money goes to mid-size environment organizations?

$12.9B reached 4,208 mid-size environment organizations from 18,601 funders. Money parked in the regranting layer is netted out.

How recent is this data?

It is read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file filings across recent fiscal years. US charity filings lag 12 to 24 months.

Causes · Environment · mid-size

Who funds mid-size environment organizations

The funders that back mid-size environment organizations are specialists, not generalists: Marine Stewardship Council gives them 67.9× the national rate, with 100% of its grants going here.

$12.9B

granted

4,208

organizations

18,601

funders

The short version

18,601 funders gave $12.9B to 4,208 mid-size environment organizations (mid-size ($1M to $10M)) across recent IRS filings.
The most focused funder is Marine Stewardship Council, giving 67.9× the national rate to mid-size environment organizations.
The largest non-DAF funder is United States Energy Foundation, at $302M.
The mid-size environment organization drawing the most is Clearpath Inc, at $64M.

Funders most focused on mid-size environment organizations

Not the biggest checks, the most committed: each gives this size and cause an outsized share of its budget against the national rate, shrunk toward that rate so a small specialist needs real volume to rank.

Marine Stewardship Council67.9×$40M · 100% of its giving Paul Simons Foundation Inc67.8×$47M · 99% of its giving Green Earth Charitable Organization64.3×$23M · 100% of its giving Minnesota Propane Education Promotion and Safety Council Inc58.8×$12M · 100% of its giving Isaac Bernheim Trust57.2×$11M · 100% of its giving Clean and Prosperous America Education Fund55.4×$9M · 100% of its giving The Piedmont Foundation54.9×$9M · 99% of its giving The Stronghold Fund54.2×$9M · 99% of its giving

Largest funders by dollars

Real grantmakers giving the most to mid-size environment organizations (donor-advised and mega-funds excluded).

1United States Energy Foundation$302M 2National Fish and Wildlife Foundation$266M 3Freedom Together Foundation$171M 4Windward Fund$145M 5The Schmidt Family Foundation$142M 6Gordon E and Betty I Moore Foundation$97M 7Resources Legacy Fund$96M 8The Nature Conservancy$92M

Mid-size environment organizations that draw the most

Sized by grant dollars received. Pick one to see exactly who funds it.

4,198 other mid-size environment organizations$12B

Questions and answers

How do I find funders for a mid-size environment nonprofit?: Start with the funders most focused on mid-size environment organizations, currently Marine Stewardship Council, Paul Simons Foundation Inc, Green Earth Charitable Organization. Donor-advised funds and mega-funds are excluded, so these are funders that genuinely back organizations your size, not pass-through accounts.
What counts as a mid-size organization here?: Size is the organization's median total revenue across its filings: mid-size ($1M to $10M). Cause is where each grant is placed by its stated purpose and the recipient's mission, falling back to the recipient's IRS activity category where that is unclear.
How much grant money goes to mid-size environment organizations?: $12.9B reached 4,208 mid-size environment organizations from 18,601 funders. Money parked in the regranting layer is netted out.
How recent is this data?: It is read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file filings across recent fiscal years. US charity filings lag 12 to 24 months.

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions

grants reported with no recipient in the public record

The regranting layer

51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer

The DAF merry-go-round

$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds

The camps

funders cluster by geography, not ideology

By state

where grant money is based, and what stays home

State money flows

the interactive map of money crossing state lines

Size is median total revenue; each grant is placed by its stated purpose and the recipient's mission, falling back to the recipient's IRS activity category where that is unclear. Read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file XML across recent fiscal years, among (c)(3) funders and recipients resolved by EIN, with the regranting layer netted out. Source: IRS Form 990 downloads.