Skip to content
Plinth

· Public charity

International Sustainable Energy Foundat

International Sustainable Energy Foundation's mission is to promote an environmentally sustainable and climate friendly world by supporting climate action that contribute to preservation of the environment, including access for development, adaptation, air quality, climate finance, cities & urban planning, decarbonization, just…

$19M
Granted FY2023
20
Grants FY2023
7
States reached
$535k
Largest
01What you fund
01FY2023 · 20 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 20 grants below total $4,619,623 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $18,739,041 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $14,119,418 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2023

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $40k
  • $50k–250k12 grants · $2.2M
  • $250k+7 grants · $2.4M
$200,286
Median grant
7
States reached
$48M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
World Resources Institute$535,135
International Council on Clean Transport$450,000
World Resources Institute$320,128
Purpose Foundaton$300,000
International Institute for Energy Conservation$277,109
International Institute for Energy Conservation$250,017
International Council on Clean Transport$250,000
Research Triangle Institute$220,000
Research Triangle Institute$207,514
The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy$200,286
The Asia Society$200,000
CEED Foundation$199,980
Environmental Defense Fund$194,856
University of California Davis$174,461
Research Triangle Institute$173,987
02The need
02

Do your dollars go where the need is?

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

show:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY23–23) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 96% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%Carnegie Mellon University: $40k → 11%International Institute for Energy Conservation: $277k → 11%University of California Davis: $174k → 16%The Asia Society: $200k → 17%International Council on Clean Transport: $450k → 14%Research Triangle Institute: $220k → 11%Rocky Mountain Institute: $173k → 12%CEED Foundation: $200k → 8%International Institute for Energy Conservation: $250k → 11%University of California Davis: $140k → 16%Purpose Foundaton: $300k → 17%International Council on Clean Transport: $250k → 14%Research Triangle Institute: $208k → 11%The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy: $200k → 17%World Resources Institute: $535k → 14%Research Triangle Institute: $174k → 11%Environmental Defense Fund: $195k → 17%World Resources Institute: $320k → 14%Research Triangle Institute: $160k → 11%World Resources Institute: $154k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

Grants abroad, by region — $22M on the FY2024 return

Schedule F, as filed: 10 regions. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

India$19M · 89% · 171 grants

Stated purpose: Grants were provided and expenses were incurred for Clean Electricity & Cooling to support projects that focus on renewable energy sources in India and/or clean sources for India's cooling needs. · Grants were provided and expenses were incurred for Sustainable Food & Agriculture Initiatives to support projects that focus on the sustainability of a specific food industry (e.g., Dairy) and/or the process of growing food. · Grants were provided and expenses were incurred for Sustainable Finance & Capacity building to support projects that define the financial needs of India's sustainable and renewable energy efforts and/or the necessary industrial capacity building required to achieve successful outcomes of those efforts.

Netherlands$634k · 3% · 3 grants

Stated purpose: Grants were provided and expenses were incurred for Sustainable Food & Agriculture Initiatives to support projects that focus on the sustainability of a specific food industry (e.g., Dairy) and/or the process of growing food. · Grants were provided and expenses were incurred for Green Governance (Policy), Public Diplomacy & Legal to support projects that focus on Governmental/Provincial Sustainability Policies and how best to implement those policies and encourage collaborative effort across various stakeholders such as government offices and affected industrial contacts in India.

United Kingdom$578k · 3% · 3 grants

Stated purpose: Grants were provided and expenses were incurred for Clean Electricity & Cooling to support projects that focus on renewable energy sources in India and/or clean sources for India's cooling needs. · Grants were provided and expenses were incurred for Sustainable Food & Agriculture Initiatives to support projects that focus on the sustainability of a specific food industry (e.g., Dairy) and/or the process of growing food.

Singapore$432k · 2% · 6 grants

Stated purpose: Grants were provided and expenses were incurred for Green Governance (Policy), Public Diplomacy & Legal to support projects that focus on Governmental/Provincial Sustainability Policies and how best to implement those policies and encourage collaborative effort across various stakeholders such as government offices and affected industrial contacts in India. · Grants were provided and expenses were incurred for Sustainable Finance & Capacity building to support projects that define the financial needs of India's sustainable and renewable energy efforts and/or the necessary industrial capacity building required to achieve successful outcomes of those efforts. · Grants were provided and expenses were incurred for Sustainable Food & Agriculture Initiatives to support projects that focus on the sustainability of a specific food industry (e.g., Dairy) and/or the process of growing food.

Switzerland$220k · 1% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: Grants were provided and expenses were incurred for Green Transportation Programs to support projects with a primary focus on the electrification of transportation vehicles (e.g., public transportation, freight, trucks, cars, mopeds, three wheels, delivery vans) in India.

Denmark$174k · 1% · 2 grants

Stated purpose: Grants were provided and expenses were incurred for Clean Electricity & Cooling to support projects that focus on renewable energy sources in India and/or clean sources for India's cooling needs. · Grants were provided and expenses were incurred for Sustainable Finance & Capacity building to support projects that define the financial needs of India's sustainable and renewable energy efforts and/or the necessary industrial capacity building required to achieve successful outcomes of those efforts.

North America (Canada and Mexico)$140k · 1% · 2 grants

Stated purpose: Grants were provided and expenses were incurred for Clean Electricity & Cooling to support projects that focus on renewable energy sources in India and/or clean sources for India's cooling needs. · Grants were provided and expenses were incurred for Green Governance (Policy), Public Diplomacy & Legal to support projects that focus on Governmental/Provincial Sustainability Policies and how best to implement those policies and encourage collaborative effort across various stakeholders such as government offices and affected industrial contacts in India.

Australia$119k · 1% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: Grants were provided and expenses were incurred for Sustainable Finance & Capacity building to support projects that define the financial needs of India's sustainable and renewable energy efforts and/or the necessary industrial capacity building required to achieve successful outcomes of those efforts.

Brazil$90k · 0% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: Grants were provided and expenses were incurred for Green Governance (Policy), Public Diplomacy & Legal to support projects that focus on Governmental/Provincial Sustainability Policies and how best to implement those policies and encourage collaborative effort across various stakeholders such as government offices and affected industrial contacts in India.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your 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.

03

Where the work is directed

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

About 84% of International Sustainable Energy Foundat’s grant dollars are earmarked, by their stated purpose, for a different county than the recipient’s own address — money that lands at a nonprofit in one place but is meant to do its work in another.

International Sustainable Energy Foundatlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 96% directed abroad (not shown)

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 foundation’s own 990 grant descriptions.

03Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Advocates for Climate Innovation
Philanthropy
2
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
3
Climate Parliament Inc

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

International
4
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
5
Third Way

To research and develop centrist policy ideas.

Civil Rights
6
International Council On Environmental Economics and Development Union
Human Services
7
Climate Catalyst Inc

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

Environment
8
Center for Climate and Energy Solutions Inc

The nonpartisan center for climate and energy solutions works to secure a safe and stable climate by accelerating the global transition to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and a thriving, just, and resilient economy. for over 25 years,…

Environment
9
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
10
The Breakthrough Institute

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

Environment
11
Technology Policy Institute
International
12
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is World Resources Institute and the most unlike its peers is Ceed Foundation. 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

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

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
19/19
Grantees still filing
8/19
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE — $1,009,140 · InternationalWORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTETHE ASIA SOCIETY — $200,000 · InternationalTHE ASIA SOCIETYTHE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ON CLEAN TRANSPORTATION INC — $700,000 · EnvironmentTHE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL …CEED Foundation — $199,980 · EnvironmentCEED FoundationENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED — $194,856 · EnvironmentENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND…INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ENERGY CONSERVATION — $527,126 · OtherINTERNATIONAL INSTITUT…UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA DAVIS — $174,461 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORN…Rocky Mountain Institute — $172,511 · OtherRocky Mountain Institu…Carnegie Mellon University — $39,752 · OtherResearch Triangle Institute — $901,511 · Science & TechResearch Triangle Inst…PURPOSE FOUNDATION — $300,000 · EducationINSTITUTE FOR TRANSPORTATION AND DEVELOPMENT POLICY — $200,286 · Public Benefit
International$1,209,140Environment$1,094,836Other$913,850Science & Tech$901,511Education$300,000Public Benefit$200,286

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetWORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE — $1,009,140 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetResearch Triangle Institute — $901,511 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ON CLEAN TRANSPORTATION INC — $700,000 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetINTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ENERGY CONSERVATION — $527,126 over 2y, 48% of budgetPURPOSE FOUNDATION — $300,000 over 1y, 6.9% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR TRANSPORTATION AND DEVELOPMENT POLICY — $200,286 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetTHE ASIA SOCIETY — $200,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetCEED Foundation — $199,980 over 1y, 26% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED — $194,856 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetRocky Mountain Institute — $172,511 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCarnegie Mellon University — $39,752 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

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

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Climateworks FoundationCA26.2× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Climateworks Foundation · The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc · Climate Imperative Foundation · The Energy Foundation · United States Energy Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · New Venture Fund · Sequoia Climate Foundation · World Resources Institute · The Heising-Simons Foundation · Windward Fund

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization International Sustainable Energy Foundat funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2023
202122232425
no gov · 10%3%13%28%50%your share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
    typical government reliance, FY2025

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    04Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to International Sustainable Energy Foundat?

    Find your warmest path to International Sustainable Energy Foundat 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 12 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record and reports $27M of grant expense, but none of it to a named recipient. On a Form 990 that can mean grants abroad, filed by region only (Schedule F), grants under $5,000, which are not itemized, or a schedule referenced as an attachment the e-file does not carry. The figures above are therefore from FY2023, the most recent year this funder named its grantees.

    Source object · view filing

    More from the funding graph