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Friends of the Earth at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

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 and enhances people's well being and by building movements in the u.s.

$1.1M
Granted FY2025still arriving
21
Grants FY2025still arriving
13
States reached
$360k
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$4.1MPublic Benefit$300kFood & Nutrition$137kEducation$93kHuman Services$93kCivil Rights$85kCrime & Legal$55kCommunity Improvement$40kOther$0
02FY2025 · 21 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 21 grants below total $887,096, the rows itemized in this filing. The $1,052,897 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $165,801 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 $10k2 grants · $17k
  • $10k–50k14 grants · $238k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $272k
  • $250k+1 grant · $360k
$20,000
Median grant
13
States reached
$24M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FRIENDS OF THE EARTH (ACTION) INC$360,000
MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA$92,000
A WELL-FED WORLD$80,000
CHECK MY ADS INSTITUTE$50,000
ACTION FOR THE CLIMATE EMERGENCY$50,000
REBUILD DEMOCRACY$42,750
CHARLESTON COMM RESTO ACT BOARD$25,000
PARENTS ENGAGING PARENTS INC$20,000
SUSSEX HEALTH & ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK INC$20,000
INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT$20,000
EARTH ISLAND INSTITUTE$20,000
DELAWARE COMMUNITY BENEFITS AGREEMENT COALITION$15,000
NEBRASKA COMMUNITIES UNITED$12,360
CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY$11,000
BLACK VEG SOCIETY$11,000
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 (FY18–25, $68k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 85% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%TIDES CENTER: $25k → 10%HALIWA SAPONI INDIAN TRIBE: $13k → 20%LOWCOUNTRY ALLIANCE FOR MODEL COMMUNITIES: $10k → 12%LOWCOUNTRY ALLIANCE FOR MODEL COMMUNITIES: $10k → 12%US RIGHT TO KNOW: $10k → 10%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

ME
VT
MN
WI
NY
MA
OR
PA
NJ
CA
CO
NE
VA
MD
DE
AZ
TN
NC
SC
DC
LA
GA
FL
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 58% of Friends of the Earth’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 64% of the giving stays in DC; by stated purpose, 9%.

Friends of the Earthlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

77%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.7M · 16 repeat orgs$1.1M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +3% since the first grant, against +1% for those funded once.

16 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 10 since wound down; 15 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

16
35

Total granted

$3.7M
$789k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+3%
+1%

Still filing today

94%
89%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 62% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $340k 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
EnvironmentEducationFood & NutritionInternationalPublic BenefitHuman ServicesOther
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

  • FO
    FRIENDS OF THE EARTH (ACTION) INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $2.7M · revenue +39% · 40% of their budget
  • MM
    MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA
    2× · 2023–2025 · $174k · revenue +12%
  • GA
    Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives
    2× · 2023–2024 · $100k · revenue +3%

Funded once

  • LO
    LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS EDUCATION FUNDgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $150k · revenue +353%
  • ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATEDgraduated
    one grant, 2024 · $50k · revenue +48%
  • YF
    YES FOR HEALTH AND SAFETY OVER FRACKING
    one grant, 2017 · $50k
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
Advocates for Climate Innovation
Philanthropy
2
California Environmental Justice Alliance

Our mission is to fight against fossil fuel executives and industries that have turned our communities into dumping grounds for toxic waste, poisoning our air, water, lan, and bodies. We organize to oppose giant oil refineries, dirty…

Environment
3
Environment Now
—
4
National Caucus of Environmental Legislators

The national caucus of environmental legislators empowers a nonpartisan network of legislative champions to protect, conserve, and improve the natural and human environment.

Education
5
Science & Environmental Health Network

In service to communities, the earth and future generations, the science and environmental health network forges science, ethics, and law into tools for action.

Environment
6
The Breakthrough Institute

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

Environment
7
Ceres Inc

Ceres is a nonprofit advocacy organization working to accelerate the transition to a cleaner, more just, and resilient world. through education and research, we make the business case for action on the most pressing sustainability…

Environment
8
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
9
Conservation Law Foundation Inc

Conservation law foundation, inc. (clf) protects new england's environment for the benefit of all people and future generations. we use the law, science, and markets to create solutions that preserve and restore our natural resources,…

Environment
10
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
11
World Resources Institute

Wri is committed to creating change that improves people's lives and ensures the natural world can thrive. (see schedule o)wri's bold vision requires a formula for success we call "count it. change it. scale it.": - count it: our work is…

International
12
International Council On Environmental Economics and Development Union
Human Services
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 Savannah River Site Watch. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

63 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. 63 of the 68 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
10
Early backer (in before they grew)
63/63
Grantees still filing
29/63
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

FRIENDS OF THE EARTH (ACTION) INC: $2,710,000 · OtherFRIENDS OF THE EARTH (ACTION) INC+17 more: $503,700 · Other+17 moreLEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS EDUCATION FUND: $150,000 · EnvironmentLEAGUE OF CONSERVATION…SOUTH WARD ENVIRONMENTAL ALLIANCE: $142,800 · EnvironmentSOUTH WARD ENVIRONMENT…GOODPOWER EDUCATION FUND INC: $100,000 · EnvironmentGOODPOWER EDUCATION FU…Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives: $100,000 · EnvironmentGlobal Alliance for In…West Harlem Environmental Action Inc: $77,000 · EnvironmentWest Harlem Environmen…GreenLatinos: $70,000 · EnvironmentGreenLatinosENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $50,000 · EnvironmentSavannah River Site Watch: $50,000 · Environment+14 more: $228,300 · Environment+14 moreMEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA: $174,000 · EducationCheck My Ads Institute: $50,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH: $25,000 · EducationINDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK: $22,000 · EducationPARENTS ENGAGING PARENTS: $20,000 · Education+3 more: $26,000 · EducationA Well-Fed World: $80,000 · Food & NutritionSOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE AGRICULTURE PROJECT INC: $25,000 · Food & NutritionNebraska Communities United: $12,360 · Food & NutritionBLACK VEGETARIAN SOCIETY OF MARYLAND: $11,000 · Food & NutritionCHESAPEAKE INSTITUTE FOR LOCAL SUSTAINABLE FOOD AND AGRICULTURE I: $11,000 · Food & NutritionIDEAGARDEN INSTITUTE INCORPORATED: $10,000 · Food & NutritionTHE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC: $50,000 · InternationalINTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT: $35,000 · InternationalINSTITUTE FOR GOVERNANCE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: $15,000 · InternationalAlliance for Global Justice Corp: $10,000 · InternationalCENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW INC: $7,500 · InternationalHarambee House Inc: $30,000 · Human ServicesTIDES CENTER: $25,000 · Human ServicesLOWCOUNTRY ALLIANCE FOR MODEL COMMUNITIE: $20,000 · Human ServicesHALIWA SAPONI TRIBE INC: $13,000 · Human ServicesUS RIGHT TO KNOW: $10,000 · Human ServicesCATALYST CALIFORNIA: $50,000 · Public BenefitOil Change International Inc: $11,000 · Public BenefitGROWW EDUCATION INC: $9,486 · Public BenefitSOUTHERN VISION ALLIANCE: $8,000 · Public Benefit
Other$3,213,700Environment$968,100Education$317,000Food & Nutrition$149,360International$117,500Human Services$98,000Public Benefit$78,486

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 budgetFRIENDS OF THE EARTH (ACTION) INC: $2,710,000 over 9y, 40% of budgetMEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA: $174,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetLEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS EDUCATION FUND: $150,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetSOUTH WARD ENVIRONMENTAL ALLIANCE: $142,800 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetGOODPOWER EDUCATION FUND INC: $100,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetGlobal Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives: $100,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetIronbound Community Corporation: $100,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetA Well-Fed World: $80,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetWest Harlem Environmental Action Inc: $77,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC: $75,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGreenLatinos: $70,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetNAMATI INC: $55,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCATALYST CALIFORNIA: $50,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSavannah River Site Watch: $50,000 over 1y, 57% of budgetINTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT: $35,000 over 2y, 4.4% of budgetGREENFAITH INC: $30,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetHarambee House Inc: $30,000 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetCOHARIE INTRA-TRIBAL COUNCIL INC: $25,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetHEALTHY GULF: $25,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTIDES CENTER: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE AGRICULTURE PROJECT INC: $25,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetSOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC: $22,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetINDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK: $22,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetEarth Island Institute Inc: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLOWCOUNTRY ALLIANCE FOR MODEL COMMUNITIE: $20,000 over 2y, 3.1% of budgetDEMOCRACY INITIATIVE EDUCATION FUND: $20,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetSUSTAINABLE MARKETS FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPARENTS ENGAGING PARENTS: $20,000 over 1y, 6.3% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATES NY INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetSOUTHERN ALLIANCE FOR CLEAN ENERGY: $15,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR GOVERNANCE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: $15,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetHALIWA SAPONI TRIBE INC: $13,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetRainforest Action Network: $12,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLOUISIANA BUCKET BRIGADE: $11,800 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetCENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY INC: $11,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOil Change International Inc: $11,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetHONOR THE EARTH: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAlliance for Global Justice Corp: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetIDEAGARDEN INSTITUTE INCORPORATED: $10,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetWATERKEEPER ALLIANCE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUS RIGHT TO KNOW: $10,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetThe Sanders Institute: $10,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetLEADERSHIP COUNSEL FOR JUSTICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY: $8,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMARYLAND PESTICIDE EDUCATION NETWORK INC: $8,000 over 1y, 2.6% 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.

Tides FoundationThe Schmidt Family Fo…Windward FundUnited States Energy …ImpactassetsincPatagoniaorgAmalgamated Charitabl…New Venture FundClimateworks Foundati…Solutions Project IncThe Energy FoundationNatural Resources Def…
Tides FoundationCA28.5× affinity18 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Tides Foundation · The Schmidt Family Foundation · Windward Fund · United States Energy Foundation · Impactassetsinc · Patagoniaorg · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · New Venture Fund · Climateworks Foundation · Solutions Project Inc · The Energy Foundation · Natural Resources Defense Council Inc

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 Friends of the Earth funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Friends of the Earth. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 80%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 100%
  • Ironbound Community Corporation: 100% of income from government
  • Lewis & Clark College: 2% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
8get no government money at all
6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely 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 68 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