How much does Rocky Mountain Institute give?

Rocky Mountain Institute reported 31 itemized grants totaling $2,858,763, out of $5,132,236 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 1 and 26 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.

What does Rocky Mountain Institute fund?

By grant dollars over FY2018 to FY2025, its largest causes are Environment (70%), Community Improvement (9%), Housing & Shelter (7%).

Who are Rocky Mountain Institute's largest grantees?

By total granted over FY2018 to FY2025: Canary Media Inc ($4.2M), Mission Possible Partnership USA Inc ($3.0M), We Mean Business Coalition Inc ($1.8M).

Does Rocky Mountain Institute fund new organizations?

In FY2024, 46% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.

Which funders back the same organizations as Rocky Mountain Institute?

Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include United States Energy Foundation, The Energy Foundation, Natural Resources Defense Council Inc.

Where is Rocky Mountain Institute based?

Rocky Mountain Institute is based in CO.

Foundation Dossiers Mostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

Colorado · Public charity

Rocky Mountain Institute

Transform the global energy system to secure a clean, prosperous, zero-carbon future for all.

$5.1M
Granted FY2025(still arriving): 31
Itemized grants FY2025: 26
Organizations funded FY2024: 46%
First-time grantees FY2024

Read the full brief

Itemized, FY2025: $2.9M; The rest is grants the schedule does not break out
Median grant, FY2025: $40,000
Largest grant, FY2025: $603,004
Organizations funded a year: 1 to 26; FY2018 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025: 11
Total assets, FY2025: $150M

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 46% of the organizations Rocky Mountain Institute funded were first-time grantees, receiving 22% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 78% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2.1M went to new ones.

RenewedFirst-time

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

EnvironmentCommunity ImprovementHuman ServicesEducationHousing & ShelterInternationalOther

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.

The numbers by year

Fiscal year	Organizations funded	To those organizations	First-time grantees
FY2025still arriving	31	$2.9M	58%
FY2024	26	$9.7M	46%
FY2023	24	$4.8M	75%
FY2022	16	$3.3M	94%
FY2021	8	$1.4M	88%
FY2020	3	$300k	100%
FY2018	1	$50k	n/a

100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2025.

Environment$16MCommunity Improvement$2.1MHousing & Shelter$1.6MEducation$665kHealth$650kHuman Services$535kScience & Tech$405kPublic Benefit$398kOther$0

Where its grants go

Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.

Which US states its grants reach

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2018 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Canary Media Inc	$4,187,867	2	59%
Mission Possible Partnership USA Inc	$3,000,000	2	42%
We Mean Business Coalition Inc	$1,778,687	3	7%
ADL Ventures LLC	$1,628,953	3	n/a
Association for Energy Affordability Inc	$937,780	3	2%
Gistearth LLC	$815,000	1	n/a
Resources Legacy Fund	$800,000	2	0%
Preservation of Affordable Housing Inc	$750,000	1	1%
World Resources Institute	$725,000	2	0%
Building Decarbonization Coalition	$500,000	1	2%

Show all 72 grantees

All grantees of Rocky Mountain Institute by total granted
Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Canary Media Inc	$4,187,867	2	59%
Mission Possible Partnership USA Inc	$3,000,000	2	42%
We Mean Business Coalition Inc	$1,778,687	3	7%
ADL Ventures LLC	$1,628,953	3	n/a
Association for Energy Affordability Inc	$937,780	3	2%
Gistearth LLC	$815,000	1	n/a
Resources Legacy Fund	$800,000	2	0%
Preservation of Affordable Housing Inc	$750,000	1	1%
World Resources Institute	$725,000	2	0%
Building Decarbonization Coalition	$500,000	1	2%
David Baker Architects	$444,626	3	n/a
Action for Boston Community Development Inc	$400,000	1	0%
Spark Northwest	$400,000	1	25%
American Lung Association	$398,000	3	0%
United States Public Interest Research Group Education Fund Inc	$398,000	3	9%
New Buildings Institute	$395,375	2	5%
The International Council on Clean Transportation Inc	$350,000	2	1%
GridLab Inc	$300,000	1	3%
Solutions Project Inc	$200,000	1	1%
Transaera Inc	$200,000	2	n/a
Carbon Mapper Inc	$199,895	1	1%
University of California Davis	$189,320	3	n/a
Signetron Inc	$172,901	2	n/a
TK Fabricate LLC	$162,350	3	n/a
Battelle Memorial Institute	$160,000	1	0%
Potential Energy Coalition Inc	$152,500	1	0%
Vermont Energy Investment Corporation	$150,816	3	0%
Passive House Institute US	$127,890	3	2%
Integral Group Inc	$125,874	3	n/a
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	$112,114	1	n/a
National Housing Trust	$108,333	1	1%
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy	$108,333	1	1%
M2 Thermal Solutions LLC	$100,000	1	n/a
Kraton Polymers LLC	$100,000	1	n/a
United Nations Foundation Inc	$100,000	1	0%
Third Way Institute	$100,000	1	n/a
Community Development Corporation of Php	$90,000	2	41%
Hourcar	$86,326	1	n/a
Community Initiatives	$75,000	1	0%
Colorado School of Mines	$75,000	2	n/a
St Paul Transportation Management Organization	$75,000	1	8%
NAACP Co Mt Wy State Area Conference	$70,000	1	n/a
RDH Building Science Inc	$67,764	3	n/a
Open Market ESCO LLC	$67,095	2	n/a
Power-to-X Analytics LLC	$65,000	1	n/a
Southern Environmental Law Center	$60,000	1	0%
Watttime Corporation	$50,000	1	9%
Georgetown University	$50,000	1	0%
The Brookings Institution	$50,000	1	0%
Energy Efficiency Business Coalition	$50,000	1	13%
Climate Strategies Lab LLC	$50,000	1	n/a
Patillas Farmacia Jomari	$49,800	1	n/a
Farmers Union Foundation	$40,000	1	n/a
Strong Towns	$40,000	1	2%
Sustaera Inc	$26,250	1	n/a
Philadelphia Green Capital Corp	$25,000	1	7%
Washington State University	$20,273	1	n/a
Fresh Energy	$20,000	1	0%
Environmental Defense Fund Incorporated	$20,000	1	0%
Hua Nani Partners	$18,000	1	n/a
Opus 12 Inc	$17,115	1	n/a
American Thoracic Society Inc	$15,800	1	0%
Main South Community Development Corp	$15,000	1	0%
Forth Mobility Fund	$11,827	1	n/a
American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches	$10,000	1	0%
Eco Infinity Nation LLC	$10,000	1	n/a
People for Community Recovery	$8,600	1	1%
East Metro Strong	$8,600	1	n/a
National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners	$7,000	1	0%
Environmental Leadership Program Inc	$5,500	1	0%
Americans for a Clean Energy Grid Inc	$5,000	1	1%
Give Foundation Inc	$5,000	1	0%

Plus 2 recipients with no EIN on record ($313k), not named here.

Rocky Mountain Institute supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 4 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 44 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured

Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 44.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

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 FoundationCA35.4× affinity16 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: United States Energy Foundation · The Energy Foundation · Natural Resources Defense Council Inc · The McKnight Foundation · Climate Imperative Foundation · Climateworks Foundation · The Heising-Simons Foundation · Tides Foundation · Sequoia Climate Foundation · World Resources Institute · The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation · Windward 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.

Compare Rocky Mountain Institute with peer funders

About Rocky Mountain Institute

How much does Rocky Mountain Institute give?: Rocky Mountain Institute reported 31 itemized grants totaling $2,858,763, out of $5,132,236 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 1 and 26 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
What does Rocky Mountain Institute fund?: By grant dollars over FY2018 to FY2025, its largest causes are Environment (70%), Community Improvement (9%), Housing & Shelter (7%).
Who are Rocky Mountain Institute's largest grantees?: By total granted over FY2018 to FY2025: Canary Media Inc ($4.2M), Mission Possible Partnership USA Inc ($3.0M), We Mean Business Coalition Inc ($1.8M).
Does Rocky Mountain Institute fund new organizations?: In FY2024, 46% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Which funders back the same organizations as Rocky Mountain Institute?: Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include United States Energy Foundation, The Energy Foundation, Natural Resources Defense Council Inc.
Where is Rocky Mountain Institute based?: Rocky Mountain Institute is based in CO.