Skip to content
Rocky Mountain Institute at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Rocky Mountain Institute

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

$5.1M
Granted FY2025still arriving
31
Grants FY2025still arriving
11
States reached
$603k
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, FY2018 to 2025.

Environment$16MCommunity Improvement$2.1MHousing & Shelter$1.6MEducation$665kHealth$650kHuman Services$535kScience & Tech$405kPublic Benefit$398kOther$0
02FY2025 · 31 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 31 grants below total $2,858,763, the rows itemized in this filing. The $5,132,236 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $2,273,473 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 · $16k
  • $10k–50k14 grants · $345k
  • $50k–250k12 grants · $1.3M
  • $250k+3 grants · $1.2M
$40,000
Median grant
11
States reached
$150M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ADL Ventures LLC$603,004
Association for Energy Affordability Inc$331,437
GridLab Inc$300,000
Battelle Memorial Institute$160,000
Potential Energy Coalition Inc$152,500
Signetron Inc$132,482
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory$112,114
David Baker Architects$110,068
American Lung Association$100,000
Third Way Institute$100,000
US Public Interest Research Group Education Fund (PIRG)$100,000
The Regents of the University of California$95,092
Hour Car$86,326
Power-to-X Analytics LLC$65,000
Climate Strategies Lab LLC dba Industrious Labs$50,000
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 (FY21–25, $501k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 99% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Action for Boston Community Development Inc: $400k → 16%GIVE FOUNDATION INC: $5k → 8%American Red Cross: $10k → 12%Hour Car: $86k → 14%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

VT
WA
MN
IL
NY
MA
OR
NV
OH
PA
CA
CO
VA
MD
NC
DC
HI
TX

Grants abroad, by region: $2.2M on the FY2025 return

Schedule F, as filed: 4 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$769k · 34% · 4 grants

Stated purpose: Catalytic Finance · RMI China · Climate Intelligence

Europe (including Iceland and Greenland)$659k · 29% · 4 grants

Stated purpose: The Global South Program · Climate Aligned Industries · Climate-Aligned Finance

South Asia$568k · 25% · 6 grants

Stated purpose: Carbon-Free Buildings · Climate Aligned Industries · RMI India

Sub-Saharan Africa$248k · 11% · 6 grants

Stated purpose: The Global South Program · Carbon-Free Transportation

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.

73%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$16M · 23 repeat orgs$6.0M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +9% since the first grant, against +6% for those funded once.

23 repeat relationships: 13 still active in FY2025, 10 since wound down; 18 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

23
33

Total granted

$16M
$4.8M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+9%
+6%

Still filing today

57%
76%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 58% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.2M went to new ones.

50%100%’18’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’20’21’22’23’24’25
EnvironmentCommunity ImprovementEducationHuman ServicesHousing & 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.

Backed again, and grew

  • CM
    Canary Media Inc
    2× · 2021–2024 · $4.2M · revenue +150% · 59% of their budget
  • AF
    ASSOCIATION FOR ENERGY AFFORDABILITY INC
    3× · 2023–2025 · $938k · revenue +3%
  • WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE
    2× · 2022–2023 · $725k · revenue +10%

Funded once

  • GL
    GISTEARTH LLC
    one grant, 2021 · $815k
  • PRESERVATION OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING INC
    one grant, 2024 · $750k · revenue 0%
  • BD
    BUILDING DECARBONIZATION COALITION
    one grant, 2023 · $500k · revenue -35%
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
Third Way

To research and develop centrist policy ideas.

Civil Rights
2
Advocates for Climate Innovation
Philanthropy
3
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
4
Rocky Mountain Institute

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

—
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
Natural Resources Defense Council Inc

We safeguard the earth: its people, its plants and animals, and (see schedule o) the natural systems on which all life depends. we work to restore the integrity of the elements that sustain life - air, land, and water - to defend…

Environment
7
The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.

International
8
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
9
Acadia Center

Acadia Center advances bold, effective, and equitable clean energy solutions for a livable climate and a stronger, more equitable economy.

Environment
10
Clean Economy Project Inc

Cleanecon works to advance economic growth, shared proserity, and a safe climate through groundbreaking policy change. policy and regulatory frameworks must change to accelerate buiding, innovating, and investing in clean technologies.

Environment
11
Solar Energy Industries Association

Seia is the driving force behind solar energy and storage, building a stronger solar industry to power america through advocacy and education. representing organizations that promote, manufacture, install and support the development of…

—
12
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…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy; the most unlike its peers is Give Foundation Inc. 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

50 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. 50 of the 75 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.

4
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
50/50
Grantees still filing
28/50
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Canary Media Inc: $4,187,867 · EnvironmentCanary Media IncMISSION POSSIBLE PARTNERSHIP USA INC: $3,000,000 · EnvironmentMISSION POSSIBLE PARTNERSHIP USA INCWE MEAN BUSINESS COALITION INC: $1,778,687 · EnvironmentWE MEAN BUSINESS COALITION INCRESOURCES LEGACY FUND: $800,000 · EnvironmentRESOURCES LEGACY FUNDBUILDING DECARBONIZATION COALITION: $500,000 · Environment+14 more: $2,364,136 · Environment+14 moreADL Ventures LLC: $1,628,953 · OtherADL Ventures LLCASSOCIATION FOR ENERGY AFFORDABILITY INC: $937,780 · OtherASSOCIATION FOR ENERGY AFFORDABILIT…GISTEARTH LLC: $815,000 · OtherGISTEARTH LLCDavid Baker Architects: $444,626 · OtherDavid Baker ArchitectsGISTEarth LLC: $300,000 · OtherUNITED STATES PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP EDUCATION FUND INC: $398,000 · OtherUNITED STATES PUBLIC INTEREST RESEA…+36 more: $2,603,762 · Other+36 morePRESERVATION OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING INC: $750,000 · Housing & ShelterNATIONAL HOUSING TRUST: $108,333 · Housing & ShelterWORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE: $725,000 · InternationalUNITED NATIONS FOUNDATION INC: $100,000 · InternationalACTION FOR BOSTON COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT INC: $400,000 · Human ServicesHOURCAR: $86,326 · Human Services+2 more: $15,000 · Human ServicesTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $330,000 · EducationGEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: $50,000 · EducationFARMERS UNION FOUNDATION: $40,000 · EducationAMERICAN THORACIC SOCIETY INC: $15,800 · Education+1 more: $5,500 · EducationAMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION: $398,000 · Health
Environment$12,630,690Other$7,128,121Housing & Shelter$858,333International$825,000Human Services$501,326Education$441,300Health$398,000

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 budgetCanary Media Inc: $4,187,867 over 2y, 59% of budgetMISSION POSSIBLE PARTNERSHIP USA INC: $3,000,000 over 2y, 42% of budgetWE MEAN BUSINESS COALITION INC: $1,778,687 over 3y, 7.3% of budgetASSOCIATION FOR ENERGY AFFORDABILITY INC: $937,780 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetRESOURCES LEGACY FUND: $800,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetPRESERVATION OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING INC: $750,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetWORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE: $725,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetBUILDING DECARBONIZATION COALITION: $500,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetACTION FOR BOSTON COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT INC: $400,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSPARK NORTHWEST: $400,000 over 1y, 25% of budgetAMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION: $398,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetUNITED STATES PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP EDUCATION FUND INC: $398,000 over 3y, 9.1% of budgetNEW BUILDINGS INSTITUTE: $395,375 over 2y, 4.8% of budgetTHE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ON CLEAN TRANSPORTATION INC: $350,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $330,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGridLab Inc: $300,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetSolutions Project Inc: $200,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetCarbon Mapper Inc: $199,895 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetBATTELLE MEMORIAL INSTITUTE: $160,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPotential Energy Coalition Inc: $152,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetVERMONT ENERGY INVESTMENT CORPORATION: $150,816 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetPASSIVE HOUSE INSTITUTE US: $127,890 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetNATIONAL HOUSING TRUST: $108,333 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetAMERICAN COUNCIL FOR AN ENERGY-EFFICIENT ECONOMY: $108,333 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetUNITED NATIONS FOUNDATION INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION OF PHP: $90,000 over 2y, 41% of budgetCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $75,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetST PAUL TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION: $75,000 over 1y, 8.4% of budgetSOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER: $60,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWATTTIME CORPORATION: $50,000 over 1y, 8.7% of budgetGEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEnergy Efficiency Business Coalition: $50,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetSTRONG TOWNS: $40,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetPHILADELPHIA GREEN CAPITAL CORP: $25,000 over 1y, 6.7% of budgetFRESH ENERGY: $20,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN THORACIC SOCIETY INC: $15,800 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMAIN SOUTH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORP: $15,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPEOPLE FOR COMMUNITY RECOVERY: $8,600 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REGULATORY UTILITY COMMISSIONERS: $7,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAM INC: $5,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAMERICANS FOR A CLEAN ENERGY GRID INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetGIVE FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 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 …The Energy FoundationNatural Resources Def…The McKnight Foundati…Climate Imperative Fo…Climateworks Foundati…The Heising-Simons Fo…Tides FoundationSequoia Climate Found…World Resources Insti…The William & Flora H…Windward Fund
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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Rocky Mountain Institute funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Rocky Mountain Institute. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 11%
  • New Buildings Institute: 100% of income from government
  • Vermont Energy Investment Corporation: 15% of income from government
  • Action for Boston Community Development Inc: 11% of income from government
  • Forth Mobility Fund: 7% of income from government
  • Preservation of Affordable Housing Inc: 3% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
9report 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 75 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 Rocky Mountain Institute’s 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