Skip to content
Spark Climate Solutions at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Spark Climate Solutions

Sparks mission is to accelerate progress in emerging, potentially high-impact approaches for climate mitigation and adaptation that will contribute to humanitys comprehensive portfolio of solutions and responses to enable our return to a safe climate while minimizing risk to societal stability.

$1.3M
Granted FY2025still arriving
11
Grants FY2025still arriving
8
States reached
$254k
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, FY2022 to 2024.

Education$1.6MScience & Tech$1.1MEnvironment$795kRecreation & Sports$196k
02FY2025 · 11 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 11 grants below total $964,745, the rows itemized in this filing. The $1,303,326 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $338,581 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 · $88k
  • $50k–250k6 grants · $622k
  • $250k+1 grant · $254k
$82,500
Median grant
8
States reached
$21M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UltraPure Air LLC$254,310
Univ of Maryland Center Envir$185,000
Arizona State University Fdtn$120,003
Duke University$102,432
Colorado State University$82,500
Cornell Unversity$82,500
CTrees$50,000
Gordon Research$30,000
Regents of the University of$25,000
Scientific Committee on Ocean$18,000
Aspen Global Change Institute$15,000
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 (FY22–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 50% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 10%Arizona State University Fdtn: $120k → 11%Scientific Committee on Ocean: $18k → 10%Massachusetts Institute of Te: $600k → 8%Clean Air Task Force: $100k → 16%Regents of the Univ Californ: $52k → 10%CTrees: $50k → 14%University California Davis: $15k → 16%UltraPure Air LLC: $545k → 7%Cornell Unversity: $279k → 16%Trustees of Columbia Univ: $160k → 17%Texas A&M Foundation: $110k → 22%Inst for Governance & Sustain: $150k → 14%Regents of the Univ Michigan: $51k → 14%Elysia Creative Biology: $299k → 8%Duke University: $102k → 11%Gordon Research: $30k → 7%Aspen Global Change Institute: $15k → 7%The University of Chicago: $299k → 14%University of Maryland Colleg: $196k → 11%Univ of Maryland Center Envir: $185k → 15%Convergent Research Inc: $406k → 8%Regents of the University of: $25k → 14%UltraPure Air LLC: $254k → 7%Cornell Unversity: $134k → 16%Cornell Unversity: $83k → 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

IL
MI
NY
MA
CA
MD
NC
DC
TX

Grants abroad, by region: $338k on the FY2025 return

Schedule F, as filed: 2 regions. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

Europe (including Iceland and Greenland)$293k · 87% · 2 grants

Stated purpose: HE Space Operations · Univ.Utrecht

Sub-Saharan Africa$45k · 13% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: Univ. Witwatersrand

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.

47%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.7M · 3 repeat orgs$1.9M to everyone else

3 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2025, 0 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
9

Total granted

$1.7M
$1.5M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+15%
+48%

Still filing today

33%
56%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 54% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $443k went to new ones.

50%100%’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’22’23’24’25
EducationScience & TechEnvironmentInternationalOther
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

  • UA
    UltraPure Air LLC
    2× · 2024–2025 · $799k
  • Cornell University
    3× · 2022–2025 · $496k · revenue +15%
  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK
    2× · 2024–2025 · $381k

Funded once

  • CR
    CONVERGENT RESEARCH INCgraduated
    one grant, 2024 · $406k · revenue +56%
  • University of Chicago
    one grant, 2024 · $299k · revenue +15%
  • EC
    Elysia Creative Biology
    one grant, 2024 · $299k
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
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

See schedule ouniversity corporation for atmospheric research (ucar), on behalf of, and in cooperation with its member university members, is engaged in the management of long-term atmospheric and related research and educational…

Science & Tech
2
Trustees of Boston University

Organization's mission: boston university is an international, comprehensive, private research university, committed to educating students to be reflective, resourceful individuals ready to live, adapt, and lead in an interconnected world.…

—
3
The George Washington University

The mission of the george washington university (gw) is to educate individuals in liberal arts, languages, sciences, learned professions, and other courses and subjects of study, and to conduct scholarly research and publish the findings…

Education
4
William Marsh Rice University

As a leading research university with a distinctive commitment to undergraduate education, Rice University aspires to path breaking research, unsurpassed teaching, and contributions to the betterment of our world. It seeks to fulfill this…

Education
5
Case Western Reserve University

Case Western Reserve University is an independent, research-oriented university with broadly based strengths in health, including medicine, nursing and dentistry; in engineering; in the arts and sciences; and in law, management and social…

Education
6
American Association of State Colleges and Universities

Aascu is a washington, d.c. based higher education association that represents the sector of over 500 regional public colleges, universities, and systems whose members share a learning and teaching centered culture, a commitment to…

Education
7
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
8
Trustees of Clark University

Clark university's mission is to educate undergraduate and graduate students to be imaginative and contributing citizens of the world, and to advance the frontiers of knowledge and understanding through rigorous scholarship and creative…

Education
9
Trustees of Tufts College

Education and Research

Education
10
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
11
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
12
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Texas a&M Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Ctrees. 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

15 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. 15 of the 23 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
15/15
Grantees still filing
9/15
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Massachusetts Institute of Technology: $600,000 · EducationMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyCornell University: $496,046 · EducationCornell UniversityUniversity of Chicago: $299,248 · EducationUniversity of ChicagoTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $289,494 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR U…THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $160,002 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NE…ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $120,003 · EducationARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICA…Texas A&M Foundation: $110,255 · EducationDUKE UNIVERSITY: $102,432 · Education+1 more: $15,000 · EducationUltraPure Air LLC: $799,310 · OtherUltraPure Air LLCUNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK: $381,118 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARKElysia Creative Biology: $298,641 · OtherElysia Creative BiologyCOLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY: $82,500 · Other+4 more: $142,687 · Other+4 moreCONVERGENT RESEARCH INC: $405,883 · Science & TechCONVERGENT …GORDON RESEARCH CONFERENCES INC: $30,000 · Science & TechGORDON RESE…SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE ON OCEANIC RESEARCH: $18,000 · Science & TechINSTITUTE FOR GOVERNANCE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: $150,000 · InternationalCLEAN AIR TASK FORCE INC: $100,000 · EnvironmentCTREES: $50,000 · Environment
Education$2,192,480Other$1,704,256Science & Tech$453,883International$150,000Environment$150,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetMassachusetts Institute of Technology: $600,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCornell University: $496,046 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCONVERGENT RESEARCH INC: $405,883 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $299,248 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $289,494 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $160,002 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR GOVERNANCE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: $150,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $120,003 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTexas A&M Foundation: $110,255 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDUKE UNIVERSITY: $102,432 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCLEAN AIR TASK FORCE INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCTREES: $50,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetGORDON RESEARCH CONFERENCES INC: $30,000 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →median 35%
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% of 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 · 0–40%
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 Spark Climate Solutions?

Find your warmest path to Spark Climate Solutions 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 23 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 Spark Climate Solutions’ 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