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Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives

GAIAs mission is to strengthen grassroots social movements that advance solutions to waste and pollution, working towards a just, zero waste world where people are free from toxic pollution.

$2.2M
Granted FY2025still arriving
15
Grants FY2025still arriving
11
States reached
$145k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
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$2.5MCommunity Improvement$424kCivil Rights$348kHealth$294kEmployment$160k
02FY2025 · 15 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 15 grants below total $976,500, the rows itemized in this filing. The $2,233,147 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $1,256,647 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

  • $10k–50k4 grants · $95k
  • $50k–250k11 grants · $882k
$67,200
Median grant
11
States reached
$5.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SBCLT$145,000
Environmental Integrity Prjct$105,000
EYCEJ$81,200
BLARG$75,000
GreenLatinos$75,000
MNEJT$72,800
Breathe Free Detroit$72,800
Ironbound Community Corp$67,200
Californians Against Waste Fd$62,500
CURE$62,500
Valley Improvement Project$62,500
Zero Waste Detroit$25,000
Slingshot$25,000
Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust$25,000
JOIN for Clean Air$20,000
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 (FY20–20, $35k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%Student PIRGs: $35k → 16%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

NH
MN
MI
NY
MA
OR
PA
NJ
RI
CA
CO
MD
DC
LA

Grants abroad, by region: $1.3M on the FY2025 return

Schedule F, as filed: 6 regions. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

East Asia and the Pacific$564k · 45% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: Zero waste support

Sub-Saharan Africa$403k · 32% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: Zero waste support

Europe (including Iceland and Greenland)$155k · 12% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: Zero waste support

South America$90k · 7% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: Zero waste support

North America (Canada and Mexico)$25k · 2% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: Zero waste support

Middle East and North Africa$20k · 2% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: Zero waste 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.

78%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.9M · 10 repeat orgs$834k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +54% since the first grant, against +26% for those funded once.

10 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 4 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
8

Total granted

$2.9M
$359k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+54%
+26%

Still filing today

100%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 51% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $475k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EnvironmentPublic BenefitHuman ServicesInternationalCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • EY
    EAST YARD COMMUNITIES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
    7× · 2019–2025 · $564k · revenue +282%
  • CP
    COMMUNITY POWER
    6× · 2020–2025 · $431k · revenue +198%
  • IC
    Ironbound Community Corporation
    6× · 2020–2025 · $352k · revenue +31%

Funded once

  • TA
    TOXICS ACTION CENTER INC
    one grant, 2021 · $200k · revenue -89%
  • SO
    STUDENT ORGANIZING INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $35k · revenue +138%
  • SS
    STUDENT-LED SUSTAINABLE INITIATIVES INC PLAN - POST-LANDFILL ACTION NETWORK
    one grant, 2020 · $35k · revenue +24%
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
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
2
Environmental Law Foundation

Environmental Law Foundation's (ELF) mission is to protect the environment, communities, and consumers against harmful toxics and other environmental harms. Our work consistently improves environmental quality for those most at risk by…

Crime & Legal
3
Environmental Research Center Inc

To safeguard the public from health hazards that impact families, workers, and the environment

Environment
4
Earthworks

The Corporation is organized exclusively for charitable and educational purposes. Earthworks is dedicated to protecting communities and the environment from the impacts of irresponsible mineral and energy development while seeking…

Public Benefit
5
Nw Energy Coalition

The NW Energy Coalition is an alliance of over 100 environmental, civic, and human service organizations, utilities, and businesses in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and British Columbia, plus many individual members. The NW Energy…

—
6
Environment Now
—
7
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
8
Center for Environmental Law & Policy

The Center for Environmental Law & Policy is a statewide organization whose mission is to protect, preserve and restore Washington's waters through education, advocacy, policy reform, and public interest litigation.

Environment
9
Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice

Greenaction mobilizes community power to win victories that change govenment and corporate policies and practices to protect health and promote environmental, economic and social justice.

Environment
10
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
11
Environmental League of Massachusetts Inc

The organization's mission is to advocate for policy that meets the scale and urgency of our environmental challenges. as a massachusetts-based organization that engages in advocacy across a full spectrum of climate, environmental, and…

Environment
12
Texas Campaign for the Environment

Empowering Texans to fight pollution through sustained grassroots organizing campaigns that shift corporate and governmental policy.

Environment
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 Join for Clean Air. 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

27 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.

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

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
27/27
Grantees still filing
18/27
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

COMMUNITY POWER: $430,900 · EnvironmentCOMMUNITY POWEROregon Physicians for Social Responsibility: $294,000 · EnvironmentOregon Physicians for Social ResponsibilityTOXICS ACTION CENTER INC: $199,600 · EnvironmentTOXICS ACTION CENTER INCNew Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance: $150,000 · EnvironmentNew Jersey Environmental Justice AllianceCLEAN UP THE RIVER ENVIRONMENT: $137,500 · EnvironmentCLEAN UP THE RIVER ENVIRONMENTECOLOGY CENTER: $125,000 · EnvironmentECOLOGY CENTERENVIRONMENTAL INTEGRITY PROJECT: $105,000 · EnvironmentENVIRONMENTAL INTEGRITY PROJECTGRASSROOTS ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION INC: $75,000 · EnvironmentGreenLatinos: $75,000 · Environment+10 more: $313,972 · Environment+10 moreEAST YARD COMMUNITIES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: $563,600 · OtherEAST YARD COMMUNITIES FOR ENVIRONMENTA…Ironbound Community Corporation: $351,600 · OtherIronbound Community CorporationTHE MAURICE & JANE SUGAR LAW CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL JUSTICE: $348,400 · OtherTHE MAURICE & JANE SUGAR LAW CENTER FO…SOUTH BALTIMORE COMMUNITY LAND TRUST INC: $347,500 · InternationalSOUTH BALT…United Workers Association Inc: $160,000 · Public BenefitUNITED STATES PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP EDUCATION FUND INC: $20,000 · Public BenefitSTUDENT ORGANIZING INC: $35,000 · Human ServicesMOVEMENT STRATEGY CENTER: $10,000 · Community Improvement
Environment$1,905,972Other$1,263,600International$347,500Public Benefit$180,000Human Services$35,000Community Improvement$10,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetEAST YARD COMMUNITIES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: $563,600 over 7y, 8.2% of budgetCOMMUNITY POWER: $430,900 over 6y, 10% of budgetIronbound Community Corporation: $351,600 over 6y, 0.6% of budgetTHE MAURICE & JANE SUGAR LAW CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL JUSTICE: $348,400 over 5y, 8.7% of budgetSOUTH BALTIMORE COMMUNITY LAND TRUST INC: $347,500 over 4y, 8.1% of budgetOregon Physicians for Social Responsibility: $294,000 over 5y, 25% of budgetTOXICS ACTION CENTER INC: $199,600 over 1y, 13% of budgetUnited Workers Association Inc: $160,000 over 2y, 8.3% of budgetNew Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance: $150,000 over 2y, 5.8% of budgetCLEAN UP THE RIVER ENVIRONMENT: $137,500 over 2y, 4.0% of budgetECOLOGY CENTER: $125,000 over 2y, 5.0% of budgetSTUDENT ORGANIZING INC: $35,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetSTUDENT-LED SUSTAINABLE INITIATIVES INC PLAN - POST-LANDFILL ACTION NETWORK: $35,000 over 1y, 6.1% of budgetZERO WASTE DETROIT: $25,000 over 1y, 37% of budgetCONSERVATION LAW FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCENTER FOR COALFIELD JUSTICE: $23,972 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetUNITED STATES PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP EDUCATION FUND INC: $20,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetTHE SURFRIDER FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE NEIGHBORHOOD RECYCLING CORPORATION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMOVEMENT STRATEGY CENTER: $10,000 over 1y, 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.

United States Energy …Natural Resources Def…Amalgamated Charitabl…Rockefeller Philanthr…Tides FoundationThe Energy FoundationThe Schmidt Family Fo…Park Foundation IncSocial and Environmen…PatagoniaorgThe Partnership Proje…Movement Strategy Cen…
United States Energy FoundationCA33.5× affinity14 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: United States Energy Foundation · Natural Resources Defense Council Inc · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc · Tides Foundation · The Energy Foundation · The Schmidt Family Foundation · Park Foundation Inc · Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (See) Inc · Patagoniaorg · The Partnership Project Inc · Movement Strategy Center

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 Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 39%
  • Ironbound Community Corporation: 100% of income from government
  • New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance: 39% of income from government
  • South Baltimore Community Land Trust Inc: 11% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
7report 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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives?

Find your warmest path to Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives 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 27 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 Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives’ filings →

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