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Earth Island Institute Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Earth Island Institute Inc

Earth Island Institute (the Organization) was founded in 1982 by legendary environmentalist David R.

$3.6M
Granted FY2025still arriving
44
Grants FY2025still arriving
24
States reached
$203k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Environment$2.6MCivil Rights$1.3MFood & Nutrition$449kEducation$404kInternational$310kHuman Services$299kHealth$228kPhilanthropy$216kOther$0
02FY2025 · 44 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 44 grants below total $1,642,639, the rows itemized in this filing. The $3,552,046 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $1,909,407 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k15 grants · $112k
  • $10k–50k18 grants · $223k
  • $50k–250k11 grants · $1.3M
$10,000
Median grant
24
States reached
$44M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Stand$202,500
Kansas Rural Center 1758$139,000
Iowa Valley Resource Conservation and Development$139,000
Marbleseed$139,000
Renewing the Countryside$139,000
Missouri Rural Crisis Center 1877$139,000
Indigenous Peoples Movement$120,372
Trade Justice Education Fund 1693$90,000
Climate Access$81,650
GreenFaith 967$60,000
Lake Baikal Heritage Foundation$58,480
Commonweal$25,000
Sixth Street Community Center Inc 1968$20,000
SF Parks Alliance$18,637
Healthy Homes Coalition of West Michigan$15,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY20–25, $115k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 65% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Sasha Bruce Youthworks Inc: $13k → 14%Samoa Pacific Development Corporation: $10k → 12%Wind Of The Spirit: $15k → 4%Student Organizing Inc: $8k → 16%Commonweal: $25k → 8%The Tides Center: $24k → 10%Sixth Street Community Center Inc 1968: $20k → 17%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.

Which US states its grants reach

AK
ME
VT
WA
ID
MT
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
SD
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
CO
NE
MO
VA
MD
AZ
NM
KS
NC
DC
HI
OK
LA
MS
AL
TX
FL

Grants abroad, by region: $1.8M on the FY2025 return

Schedule F, as filed: 4 regions. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

Sub-Saharan Africa$715k · 41% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: General Support

East Asia and the Pacific$590k · 34% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: General Support

Europe (including Iceland and Greenland)$284k · 16% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: General Support

South America$166k · 9% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: General Support

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. Grants abroad on Schedule F are filed by region, purpose and amount with no recipient name, so they are shown by region and cannot be placed on the country map or matched to a grantee.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

48%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.0M · 31 repeat orgs$3.2M to everyone else

31 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2025, 21 since wound down; 31 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

31
108

Total granted

$3.0M
$2.3M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

0%
+25%

Still filing today

94%
81%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 41% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $957k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EnvironmentEducationCommunity ImprovementFood & NutritionHuman ServicesArts & CultureOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • CA
    Climate Access Inc
    2× · 2024–2025 · $175k · revenue +85% · 44% of their budget
  • GE
    Global Energy Monitor
    2× · 2018–2020 · $159k · revenue ×15
  • TK
    THE KANSAS RURAL CENTER
    2× · 2022–2025 · $152k · revenue +106%

Funded once

  • TJ
    THE JMT WILDERNESS CONSERVANCYgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $460k · revenue +333% · 41% of their budget
  • GP
    GLOBAL POVERTY PROJECT INC
    one grant, 2024 · $200k · revenue 0%
  • UF
    USDA Forest Service
    one grant, 2020 · $100k
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its 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
One Earth Philanthropy

One Earth connects thinkers, doers, activists, and knowledge holders from around the world to solve humanity's greatest ecological challenges--together. Our belief is simple: The solutions to the climate crisis already exist. By connecting…

Environment
2
Sustainable Conservation

Sustainable Conservation advances the collaborative stewardship of Californias land, air, and water for the benefit of nature and people. For over three decades, Sustainable Conservation has built coalitions of people with different…

Environment
3
Western Resource Advocates

Western Resource Advocates (WRA) is a regional nonprofit advocacy organization fighting climate change and its impacts to sustain the environment, economy, and people of the West. As the region's go-to experts for more than three decades,…

Crime & Legal
4
The Climate Center

The Climate Center is a climate and energy policy nonprofit working to rapidly reduce climate pollution at scale, starting in California.

Education
5
Groundswell International Inc

Groundswell International strenghtens communities to build healthy farming and food systems from the ground up.

International
6
The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.

International
7
Multinational Exchange for Sustainable a Mesa andor Mesa Inc

MESA connects and cultivates sustainable farmers and food systems leaders around the world.

Education
8
Climate Foundation

To research and develop healthy climate solutions comprising global food security, ecosystem regeneration and carbon balance in seas and soils.

Science & Tech
9
Taproot Earth

Taproot Earth works with communities to support strategies around the use of water, energy and land.

Environment
10
Friends of the Earth

Friends of the earth strives for a more healthy and just world by defendng the environment and human health while advancing social and economic justice by conducting research and education, transforming the economy so it protects the…

Environment
11
CarbonPlan

Improving the transparency and scientific integrity of climate solutions through open data and tools.

Environment
12
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Foundation

To engage and catalyze global seafood supply chains in rebuilding depleted fish stocks and reducing the environmental impacts of fishing and fish farming.

Animals
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (See) Inc; the most unlike its peers is International Indigenous Fund for Development and Solidarity Batani. 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

144 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 144 of the 174 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.

6
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
45
Early backer (in before they grew)
144/144
Grantees still filing
89/144
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE JMT WILDERNESS CONSERVANCY: $459,569 · EnvironmentTHE JMT WILDERNESS CONSERVANCYSTAND: $262,500 · EnvironmentSTANDGlobal Energy Monitor: $158,708 · EnvironmentGlobal Energy MonitorTHE SURFRIDER FOUNDATION: $142,500 · EnvironmentTHE SURFRIDER FOUNDATIONIOWA VALLEY RESOURCE CONSERVATION & DEVELOPMENT: $139,000 · EnvironmentIOWA VALLEY RESOURCE CONSERVATION & D…Upstream Policy Institute Inc: $80,000 · EnvironmentLAKE BAIKAL HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $74,300 · Environment+36 more: $785,002 · Environment+36 moreINDIGENOUS PEOPLES MOVEMENT: $1,185,572 · OtherINDIGENOUS PEOPLES MOVEMENTTHE KANSAS RURAL CENTER: $152,000 · OtherMissouri Rural Crisis Center: $139,000 · Other+93 more: $1,547,494 · Other+93 moreRENEWING THE COUNTRYSIDE: $139,000 · EducationCOMPLIANCE AND CAPACITY SKILLS INTE: $110,748 · EducationNavajo Preparatory School Inc: $21,000 · EducationGREENWAVE ORGANIZATION CORP: $20,000 · EducationThe Black Culinarian Alliance Inc: $20,000 · EducationThe Swaliga Foundation: $15,000 · EducationHawaii Farmers Union Foundation: $14,000 · Education+8 more: $74,777 · EducationTIDES CENTER: $149,190 · Human ServicesSEVENTH GENERATION FUND FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES INC: $30,000 · Human ServicesCOMMONWEAL: $25,000 · Human ServicesSIXTH STREET COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $20,000 · Human ServicesWIND OF THE SPIRIT IMMIGRANT RESOURCE CENTER INC: $15,000 · Human ServicesSASHA BRUCE YOUTHWORK INC: $12,756 · Human ServicesTHE TRANSGENDER RESOURCE CENTER OF NEW MEXICO: $10,000 · Human ServicesSamoa Pacific Development Corporation: $10,000 · Human Services+2 more: $15,900 · Human ServicesGLOBAL POVERTY PROJECT INC: $200,000 · Social ScienceMARBLESEED INC: $139,000 · HealthTHE PRAXIS PROJECT INC: $18,500 · HealthNORTHEAST OHIO BLACK HEALTH COALITION INC: $10,000 · HealthNONTOXIC CERTIFIED INC: $8,000 · HealthEMPOWER HOUSE SA: $6,500 · HealthNot One More Project: $6,500 · HealthHoola Veteran Services: $6,500 · HealthClimate Access Inc: $174,650 · Science & TechCARBON CYCLE INSTITUTE: $15,000 · Science & Tech
Environment$2,101,579Other$3,024,066Education$414,525Human Services$287,846Social Science$200,000Health$195,000Science & Tech$189,650

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE JMT WILDERNESS CONSERVANCY: $459,569 over 1y, 41% of budgetSTAND: $262,500 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetGLOBAL POVERTY PROJECT INC: $200,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetClimate Access Inc: $174,650 over 2y, 44% of budgetGlobal Energy Monitor: $158,708 over 2y, 24% of budgetTHE KANSAS RURAL CENTER: $152,000 over 2y, 5.2% of budgetTIDES CENTER: $149,190 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE SURFRIDER FOUNDATION: $142,500 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetMARBLESEED INC: $139,000 over 1y, 6.0% of budgetIOWA VALLEY RESOURCE CONSERVATION & DEVELOPMENT: $139,000 over 1y, 8.6% of budgetCOMPLIANCE AND CAPACITY SKILLS INTE: $110,748 over 2y, 5.7% of budgetUpstream Policy Institute Inc: $80,000 over 2y, 4.5% of budgetUNITED STATES PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP EDUCATION FUND INC: $80,000 over 1y, 4.9% of budgetLAKE BAIKAL HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $74,300 over 3y, 49% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO PARKS ALLIANCE: $72,667 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetCOMMON VISION: $63,872 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetWEST OAKLAND ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS PROJECT (WOEIP): $61,072 over 2y, 3.0% of budgetCalifornians Against Waste Foundation: $60,000 over 1y, 9.2% of budgetRenew Missouri Advocates: $56,319 over 1y, 11% of budgetEARTHON FOUNDATION USA: $54,026 over 1y, 27% of budgetHEALTH CARE WITHOUT HARM: $50,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC: $40,250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY ALLIANCE WITH FAMILY FARMERS: $37,015 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetSOUTHWEST ORGANIZING PROJECT: $35,863 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetMOVEMENT STRATEGY CENTER: $35,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetOhio Ecological Food and Farm Assoc: $34,500 over 4y, 4.6% of budgetSANTA MONICA BAY RESTORATION FOUNDATION: $34,493 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetILLINOIS STEWARDSHIP ALLIANCE: $33,000 over 3y, 2.1% of budgetSEVENTH GENERATION FUND FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES INC: $30,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetZero Waste Washington: $30,000 over 1y, 5.2% of budgetNORTHEAST ORGANIC FARMING ASSOC OF NY I: $27,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetLAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT: $26,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetCOMMONWEAL: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSAN DIEGUITO RIVER VALLEY LAND CONSERVANCY: $23,852 over 1y, 4.2% of budgetSOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC: $23,352 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetDAKOTA RESOURCE COUNCIL: $23,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetCENTER FOR COALFIELD JUSTICE: $22,600 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetNavajo Preparatory School Inc: $21,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSIXTH STREET COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $20,000 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetUFW FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetOrganizacion en California de Lideres Campesinas Inc: $20,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetGREENWAVE ORGANIZATION CORP: $20,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetCENTER FOR RURAL AFFAIRS: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY VISION CAPITAL & CONSULTING: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMULTIPLIER: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetThe Black Culinarian Alliance Inc: $20,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetINQUIRING SYSTEMS INC: $19,225 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetVIRGINIA ORGANIZING INC: $18,500 over 3y, 0.1% 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.

Farm Aid IncWindward FundPatagoniaorgThe Schmidt Family Fo…Clif Family FoundationRockefeller Philanthr…United States Energy …Natural Resources Def…Rsf Social Finance IncTides FoundationAmalgamated Charitabl…Resources Legacy Fund
Farm Aid IncMA45.6× affinity20 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Farm Aid Inc · Windward Fund · Patagoniaorg · The Schmidt Family Foundation · Clif Family Foundation · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc · United States Energy Foundation · Natural Resources Defense Council Inc · Rsf Social Finance Inc · Tides Foundation · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Resources Legacy 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 Earth Island Institute Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Earth Island Institute Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 70%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 28%
  • Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts Inc: 40% of income from government
  • World Farmers Inc: 39% of income from government
  • Oregon Tilth Inc: 34% of income from government
  • Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont: 31% of income from government
  • Samoa Pacific Development Corporation: 28% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • The Huub Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Interfaith Works: 4% of income from government
  • Urbanpromise Trenton Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
7get no government money at all
37report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
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.

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 174 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

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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 endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home