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· Public charity

Clean Economy Fund

Cleanecon works to advance economic growth, shared prosperity, and a safe climate through groundbreaking policy change.

$3.8M
Granted FY2025still arriving
15
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$660k
Largest
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2024 to 2025.

Environment$4.0MHealth$50kEducation$20k
02FY2025 · 15 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $20k
  • $50k–250k7 grants · $850k
  • $250k+7 grants · $3.0M
$200,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$2.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THIRD WAY INSTITUTE$660,000
CLEARPATH INC$660,000
BIPARTISAN POLICY CENTER INC$420,000
ROCKY MOUNTAIN INSTITUTE$400,000
POLICY ACTION FOR A CLEAN TOMORROW INC$300,000
CLEAN ENERGY BUYERS INSTITUTE$266,503
THIRD WAY INSTITUTE$250,000
FEDERATION OF AMERICAN SCIENTISTS$200,000
CENTER FOR CLIMATE AND ENERGY SOLUTIONS$150,000
NATURAL RESOURCE DEFENSE COUNCIL$150,000
BIPARTISAN POLICY CENTER INC$100,000
CLEAN AIR TASK FORCE$100,000
CLEAN ENERGY BUSINESS NETWORK$100,000
FOUNDATION FOR AMERICAN INNOVATION$50,000
ROOSEVELT INSTITUTE$19,800
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY24–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 99% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%CLEAN AIR TASK FORCE: $100k → 16%FOUNDATION FOR AMERICAN INNOVATION: $50k → 10%NATURAL RESOURCE DEFENSE COUNCIL: $150k → 17%POLICY ACTION FOR A CLEAN TOMORROW INC: $300k → 14%ROCKY MOUNTAIN INSTITUTE: $400k → 12%ROOSEVELT INSTITUTE: $20k → 17%SEEC INSTITUTE: $100k → 14%THIRD WAY INSTITUTE: $660k → 14%BIPARTISAN POLICY CENTER INC: $420k → 14%CLEAN ENERGY BUYERS INSTITUTE: $267k → 14%THIRD WAY INSTITUTE: $250k → 14%CENTER FOR CLIMATE AND ENERGY SOLUTIONS: $150k → 14%CLEAN ENERGY BUSINESS NETWORK: $100k → 14%BIPARTISAN POLICY CENTER INC: $100k → 14%CLEARPATH INC: $660k → 14%CONSERVATIVE CLIMATE FOUNDATION: $100k → 14%FEDERATION OF AMERICAN SCIENTISTS: $200k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Advocates for Climate Innovation
Philanthropy
2
Climate Parliament Inc

Researching policy ideas on climate and clean energy in India, engaging legislators and business leaders to discuss those ideas.

International
3
Third Way

To research and develop centrist policy ideas.

Civil Rights
4
Fresh Energy

Shape and drive bold policy solutions to achieve equitable carbon-neutral economies.

Environment
5
Clean Energy Group Inc

Clean energy research and advocacy. Clean Energy Group promotes effective clean energy policies, develops low carbon technology innovation strategies and promotes new financial tools to strengthen the economy and stabilize climate change.

Environment
6
The Climate Group Inc

Climate group advances climate action by mobilizing business and government leadership to drive systemic decarbonization across energy, transport, and industry, while engaging the public through large-scale convenings and global platforms.…

Environment
7
Technology Policy Institute
International
8
Breakthrough Energy Foundation

Working with our world-class network of innovators, business and industry leaders, and policy experts, we accelerate the innovation of climate technologies at every stage - from discovery to development to deployment.

Public Benefit
9
Climate Catalyst Inc

Climate catalyst sparks collective action to tackle the biggest climate challenges we face today: cutting emissions in heavy industries.

Environment
10
Climate Institute

The climate institute is organized for the purpose of educating the general public and policy makers as to the gravity of potential climate change, exploring the policy implications of the latest scientific findings on climate modelling…

Environment
11
Solar Energy Industries Association

Seia is the driving force behind solar energy and storage, building a stronger solar industry to power america through advocacy and education. representing organizations that promote, manufacture, install and support the development of…

—
12
The Breakthrough Institute

The Breakthrough Institute is a research center that identifies and promotes technological solutions to environmental and human development challenges.

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Clearpath Inc; the most unlike its peers is Natural Resources Defense Council Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

14 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 14 of the 15 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
14/14
Grantees still filing
7/14
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CLEARPATH INC: $660,000 · EnvironmentCLEARPATH INCPolicy Action for A Clean Tomorrow Inc: $300,000 · EnvironmentPolicy Action for A Clean Tomorrow IncCE BUYERS INSTITUTE: $266,503 · EnvironmentCE BUYERS INSTITUTECENTER FOR CLIMATE AND ENERGY SOLUTIONS INC: $150,000 · EnvironmentCENTER FOR CLIMATE AND ENERGY SOLUTIONS INCNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $150,000 · EnvironmentNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INCCLEAN AIR TASK FORCE INC: $100,000 · EnvironmentCLEAN AIR TASK FORCE INCConservative Climate Foundation Inc: $100,000 · EnvironmentConservative Climate Foundation IncTHIRD WAY INSTITUTE: $910,000 · Civil RightsTHIRD WAY INSTITUTEBIPARTISAN POLICY CENTER INC: $520,000 · Public BenefitBIPARTISAN POL…Rocky Mountain Institute: $400,000 · OtherRocky Mountain…CLEAN ENERGY BUSINESS NETWORK: $100,000 · OtherCLEAN ENERGY B…FEDERATION OF AMERICAN SCIENTISTS: $200,000 · InternationalSEEC Institute Inc: $100,000 · EducationTHE ROOSEVELT INSTITUTE: $19,800 · EducationFOUNDATION FOR AMERICAN INNOVATION: $50,000 · Health
Environment$1,726,503Civil Rights$910,000Public Benefit$520,000Other$500,000International$200,000Education$119,800Health$50,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetRocky Mountain Institute: $400,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetPolicy Action for A Clean Tomorrow Inc: $300,000 over 1y, 47% of budgetFEDERATION OF AMERICAN SCIENTISTS: $200,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetCENTER FOR CLIMATE AND ENERGY SOLUTIONS INC: $150,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $150,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetConservative Climate Foundation Inc: $100,000 over 1y, 7.0% of budgetSEEC Institute Inc: $100,000 over 1y, 11% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Breakthrough Energy FoundationWA17.8× affinity6 shared granteesties to 10 of 10Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Breakthrough Energy Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation · Clean Future Forum Inc · Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc · Jewish Communal Fund · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Clean Economy Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Clean Economy Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
    04Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Clean Economy Fund?

    Find your warmest path to Clean Economy Fund through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

    Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 15 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Clean Economy’s filings →

    More from the funding graph