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Horizon Climate Initiative

Horizon climiate initiative (hci) is dedicated to bending down the arc of greenhouse gas pollution by ending practices that favor fossil fuel generation at the expense of consumers and clean energy

$1.1M
Granted FY2024still arriving
10
Grants FY2024still arriving
9
States reached
$325k
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, FY2023 to 2024.

Environment$1.9M
02FY2024 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $40k
  • $50k–250k8 grants · $746k
  • $250k+1 grant · $325k
$100,000
Median grant
9
States reached
$524k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ROCKY MOUNTAIN INSTITUTUE$325,000
FREEDOM VIRGINIA$130,000
OHIO CITIZENS UTILITY BOARD$120,000
CITIZENS ACTION COALITION INDIANA EDUCATIONAL FUND$100,000
RESOURCE MEDIA$100,000
RENEW AMERICAN PROSPERITY$100,000
CITIZENS UTILITY BOARD OF MICHIGAN$81,730
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW STATE ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT CENTE$63,800
ALLIANCE FOR AFFORDABLE ENERGY$50,000
SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION$40,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY23–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 74% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $40k → 10%NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: $200k → 17%ROCKY MOUNTAIN INSTITUTUE: $325k → 17%EARTHJUSTICE: $150k → 14%CITIZENS UTILITY BOARD OF MICHIGAN: $82k → 9%RESOURCE MEDIA: $100k → 8%CITIZENS ACTION COALITION INDIANA EDUCATIONAL FUND: $100k → 16%OHIO CITIZENS UTILITY BOARD: $120k → 15%FREEDOM VIRGINIA: $130k → 19%RENEW AMERICAN PROSPERITY: $177k → 6%NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW STATE ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT CENTE: $64k → 17%ROCKY MOUNTAIN INSTITUTUE: $250k → 17%CITIZENS UTILITY BOARD OF MICHIGAN: $20k → 9%RENEW AMERICAN PROSPERITY: $100k → 6%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

MI
NY
OR
IN
OH
CA
CO
VA
DC
LA
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 grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

50%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$954k · 3 repeat orgs$954k to everyone else

3 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 0 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
2

Total granted

$954k
$350k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+26%
+36%

Still filing today

100%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 46% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $604k went to new ones.

50%100%’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’23’24
EnvironmentPublic BenefitCommunity ImprovementEducationOther
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

  • Rocky Mountain Institute
    2× · 2023–2024 · $575k · revenue +26%
  • RA
    RENEW AMERICAN PROSPERITY INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $277k · revenue -43% · 100% of their budget
  • CU
    CITIZENS UTILITY BOARD OF MICHIGAN
    2× · 2023–2024 · $102k · revenue +111%

Funded once

  • NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INCgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $200k · revenue +29%
  • EARTHJUSTICEgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $150k · revenue +36%
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
Fresh Energy

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

Environment
2
Advocates for Climate Innovation
Philanthropy
3
Third Way

To research and develop centrist policy ideas.

Civil Rights
4
The Ohio Environmental Council

To protect the environment and health of all ohio communities through legal and policy advocacy, decision-maker accountability, and civic engagement.

Environment
5
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
6
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
7
Alliance for Sustainable Energy Llc

The mission of the alliance for sustainable energy llc (alliance) is to operate the u.s. department of energy's national renewable energy laboratory to advance the science and engineering of energy efficiency, sustainable transportation,…

Science & Tech
8
Texas Clean Energy Coalition
—
9
Climate Parliament Inc

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

International
10
Citizens Action Coalition Inc

To initiate & coordinate citizens action directed to improving the quality of life of all inhabitants of the state of indiana through principled advocacy of public policies to preserve democracy, conserve natural resources, and to protect…

—
11
F Minus

F Minus opens a new front in the climate fight: a call for divestment from fossil fuel lobbyists. Launched in 2023, F Minus is using its revolutionary database of state-level lobbyists for upstream and midstream oil, gas, and coal…

Environment
12
Watttime Corporation

To raise awareness about the potential to reduce environmental harm by shifting electricity use to particular times; to encourage the development and spread of common protocols for this practice.

Science & Tech
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Citizens Utility Board of Ohio; the most unlike its peers is New York University. 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

12 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/12
Grantees still filing
4/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

RENEW AMERICAN PROSPERITY INC: $277,000 · EnvironmentRENEW AMERICAN PROSPERITY INCNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $200,000 · EnvironmentNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INCEARTHJUSTICE: $150,000 · EnvironmentEARTHJUSTICECITIZENS UTILITY BOARD OF OHIO: $120,000 · EnvironmentCITIZENS UTILITY BOARD OF OHIORESOURCE MEDIA: $100,000 · EnvironmentRESOURCE MEDIAALLIANCE FOR AFFORDABLE ENERGY: $50,000 · EnvironmentALLIANCE FOR AFFORDABLE ENERGYSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $40,000 · EnvironmentRocky Mountain Institute: $575,000 · OtherRocky Mountain InstituteFREEDOM VIRGINIA INC: $130,000 · Public BenefitFREEDOM VIRGI…CITIZENS ACTION COALITION EDUCATION FUND INC: $100,000 · Public BenefitCITIZENS ACTI…CITIZENS UTILITY BOARD OF MICHIGAN: $101,730 · Community ImprovementNew York University: $63,800 · Education
Environment$937,000Other$575,000Public Benefit$230,000Community Improvement$101,730Education$63,800

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: $575,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetRENEW AMERICAN PROSPERITY INC: $277,000 over 2y, 100% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $200,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEARTHJUSTICE: $150,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFREEDOM VIRGINIA INC: $130,000 over 1y, 9.8% of budgetCITIZENS UTILITY BOARD OF OHIO: $120,000 over 1y, 20% of budgetCITIZENS UTILITY BOARD OF MICHIGAN: $101,730 over 2y, 6.6% of budgetRESOURCE MEDIA: $100,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetCITIZENS ACTION COALITION EDUCATION FUND INC: $100,000 over 1y, 4.5% of budgetNew York University: $63,800 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetALLIANCE FOR AFFORDABLE ENERGY: $50,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $40,000 over 1y, 0.0% 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 FoundationCA15.6× affinity5 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: United States Energy Foundation · The Energy Foundation · Tides Foundation

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%25%56%100%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.

    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 12 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

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