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Sustainable Markets Foundation at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Sustainable Markets Foundation

The mission of the organization is to promote environmental protection, energy efficiency, consumer protection, health and safety, and good government.

$15M
Granted FY2024still arriving
53
Grants FY2024still arriving
19
States reached
$3.4M
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, FY2017 to 2024.

Environment$38MFood & Nutrition$6.2MPublic Benefit$1.1MCivil Rights$810kAnimals$395kEducation$353kCrime & Legal$334kPhilanthropy$271kOther$0
02FY2024 · 53 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 53 grants below total $13,230,207, the rows itemized in this filing. The $14,855,055 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $1,624,848 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 · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $6k
  • $10k–50k25 grants · $489k
  • $50k–250k15 grants · $1.7M
  • $250k+12 grants · $11M
$50,000
Median grant
19
States reached
$51M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SPUN$3,367,500
THE YEARS PROJECT INC$3,360,000
THIRD ACT EDUC FUND INC$1,050,000
350SEATTLE$500,000
THIRD ACT INITIATIVE INC$450,000
CHANGING MARKETS FDN INC$425,000
COMM FDN OF GTR JOHNSTOWN$406,698
ESSENTIAL INFORMATION$385,000
CALIF ENV JUSTICE ALLIANCE$300,000
REWILD$279,234
CONSUMER WATCHDOG$265,500
OIL CHANGE INTERNATIONAL$262,400
FUND FOR CONSTITUTIONAL GOVT$200,000
NYPIRG FUND INC$195,000
CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSI$165,000
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 (FY17–24, $66k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%COURAGE CAMPAIGN INSTITUTE: $15k → 14%CHOOSE LOVE INC: $31k → 17%CHOOSE LOVE INC: $9k → 17%KOREAN RESOURCE CENTER INC: $10k → 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

ME
VT
NH
WA
MT
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
WY
SD
IA
OH
PA
CT
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
VA
MD
DE
AZ
NM
AR
TN
NC
DC
LA
AL
GA
TX
FL

Grants abroad, by region: $1.6M on the FY2024 return

Schedule F, as filed: 5 regions. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

South America$940k · 58% · 9 grants

Stated purpose: CLEAN ENERGY · ENRG./CONSRV. · ENV. CONSERV.

Sub-Saharan Africa$327k · 20% · 14 grants

Stated purpose: CLEAN ENERGY · HUMAN RIGHTS

Europe (including Iceland and Greenland)$198k · 12% · 2 grants

Stated purpose: HUMAN RIGHTS · POLLUTION PREVEN.

North America (Canada and Mexico)$100k · 6% · 4 grants

Stated purpose: CLEAN ENERGY · POLLUTION PREVEN.

East Asia and the Pacific$48k · 3% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: POLLUTION PREVEN.

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.

60%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$26M · 86 repeat orgs$18M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +35% since the first grant, against +15% for those funded once.

86 repeat relationships: 23 still active in FY2024, 63 since wound down; 25 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

86
122

Total granted

$26M
$8.6M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+35%
+15%

Still filing today

87%
83%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 28% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $9.1M went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EnvironmentPublic BenefitFood & NutritionInternationalCommunity ImprovementCivil RightsOther
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

  • IF
    INITIATIVE FOR RESPONSIBLE MINING ASSURANCE
    3× · 2022–2024 · $2.0M · revenue +138% · 26% of their budget
  • CW
    CONSUMER WATCHDOG
    6× · 2019–2024 · $1.8M · revenue +23%
  • NY
    NEW YORK PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP FUND INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $1.6M · revenue +3%

Funded once

  • RA
    REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $2.0M · revenue +280% · 68% of their budget
  • YD
    YELLOW DOT STUDIOS INC
    one grant, 2023 · $776k · 60% of their budget
  • NC
    NEW CONSENSUSgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $713k · revenue ×526
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
The Climate Center

The Climate Center is a climate and energy policy nonprofit working to rapidly reduce climate pollution at scale, starting in California.

Education
2
CarbonPlan

Improving the transparency and scientific integrity of climate solutions through open data and tools.

Environment
3
Advocates for Climate Innovation
Philanthropy
4
Climate Foundation

To research and develop healthy climate solutions comprising global food security, ecosystem regeneration and carbon balance in seas and soils.

Science & Tech
5
Partnership for Policy Integrity

Partnership for Policy Integrity (PFPI) uses data-driven advocacy and litigation to fight for forests, communities and the climate.

Environment
6
E3G Third Generation Environmentalism

E3g is a leading international not-for-profit think tank specialising in climate diplomacy harnessing expertise in the politics and economics of climate change.

Environment
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
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
9
Western Resource Advocates

Western Resource Advocates (WRA) is a regional nonprofit advocacy organization fighting climate change and its impacts to sustain the environment, economy, and people of the West. As the region's go-to experts for more than three decades,…

Crime & Legal
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
Environment Now
—
12
Rainforest Action Network

Rainforest Action Network (RAN) works toward a world where the rights and dignity of all communities are respected and where healthy forests, a stable climate and wild biodiversity are protected and celebrated.

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is As You Sow; the most unlike its peers is Holistic Manangement International. 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

223 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. 223 of the 248 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.

29
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
55
Early backer (in before they grew)
215/223
Grantees still filing
140/223
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE YEARS PROJECT INC: $3,360,000 · EnvironmentTHE YEARS PROJECT INCINITIATIVE FOR RESPONSIBLE MINING ASSURANCE: $1,964,070 · EnvironmentINITIATIVE FOR RESPONSIBLE MINING ASSURA…350 Seattle: $1,549,850 · Environment350 SeattleTHE STORY OF STUFF PROJECT: $1,062,500 · EnvironmentTHE STORY OF STUFF PROJECTTHIRD ACT EDUCATION FUND INC: $1,050,000 · EnvironmentTHIRD ACT EDUCATION FUND INCCHANGING MARKETS FOUNDATION INC: $710,000 · EnvironmentGREENPEACE FUND INC: $643,000 · Environment+65 more: $6,698,781 · Environment+65 moreESSENTIAL INFORMATION INC: $2,103,300 · OtherESSENTIAL INFORMATION INCNEW YORK PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP FUND INC: $1,620,530 · OtherNEW YORK PUBLIC INTEREST RESE…THIRD ACT INITIATIVE INC: $1,025,900 · OtherTHIRD ACT INITIATIVE INCCENTER FOR JUSTICE AND DEMOCRACY: $1,039,525 · OtherCENTER FOR JUSTICE AND DEMOCR…YELLOW DOT STUDIOS INC: $776,000 · OtherYELLOW DOT STUDIOS INCNEW CONSENSUS: $712,500 · OtherNEW CONSENSUS+81 more: $5,036,760 · Other+81 moreREGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE FOUNDATION: $2,000,000 · Food & NutritionREGENERATIVE…Civil Eats: $1,034,600 · Food & NutritionCivil EatsA Greener World: $1,000,040 · Food & NutritionA Greener Wo…FOOD & WATER WATCH: $433,047 · Food & NutritionFOOD & WATER…USA REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURAL ALLIANCE INC: $317,254 · Food & NutritionUSA REGENERA…+6 more: $406,358 · Food & Nutrition+6 moreSOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNDERGROUND NETWORKS: $3,367,500 · Science & TechSOCIETY FO…STOCKHOLM ENVIRONMENT INSTITUTE US INC: $505,000 · Science & TechSTOCKHOLM …CARBON CYCLE INSTITUTE: $225,000 · Science & Tech+3 more: $125,000 · Science & TechCONSUMER WATCHDOG: $1,785,500 · Public BenefitCONSUMER …Oil Change International Inc: $768,887 · Public BenefitOil Chang…THE COUNCIL ON STRATEGIC RISKS: $354,794 · Public BenefitTHE COUNC…FUND FOR CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT: $300,000 · Public BenefitFUND FOR …NEO Philanthropy Inc: $270,583 · Public BenefitNEO Phila…THE NISKANEN CENTER INC: $175,000 · Public Benefit+5 more: $213,262 · Public Benefit+5 moreROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC: $1,671,872 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER JOHNSTOWN: $419,198 · PhilanthropyPLAYERS PHILANTHROPY FUND INC: $400,000 · PhilanthropyCALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $152,712 · PhilanthropyTHE NEW WORLD FOUNDATION: $100,000 · Philanthropy+3 more: $150,000 · PhilanthropyPOINT REYES BIRD OBSERVATORY: $750,000 · AnimalsCENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY INC: $551,532 · AnimalsREWILD: $279,234 · AnimalsRESOLVE INC: $250,000 · AnimalsNATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION: $95,188 · Animals
Environment$17,038,201Other$12,314,515Food & Nutrition$5,191,299Science & Tech$4,222,500Public Benefit$3,868,026Philanthropy$2,893,782Animals$1,925,954

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetSOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNDERGROUND NETWORKS: $3,367,500 over 1y, 37% of budgetESSENTIAL INFORMATION INC: $2,103,300 over 8y, 76% of budgetREGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE FOUNDATION: $2,000,000 over 1y, 68% of budgetINITIATIVE FOR RESPONSIBLE MINING ASSURANCE: $1,964,070 over 3y, 26% of budgetCONSUMER WATCHDOG: $1,785,500 over 6y, 12% of budgetROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC: $1,671,872 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetNEW YORK PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP FUND INC: $1,620,530 over 8y, 13% of budget350 Seattle: $1,549,850 over 5y, 30% of budgetTHE STORY OF STUFF PROJECT: $1,062,500 over 7y, 18% of budgetTHIRD ACT EDUCATION FUND INC: $1,050,000 over 1y, 44% of budgetCENTER FOR JUSTICE AND DEMOCRACY: $1,039,525 over 8y, 61% of budgetCivil Eats: $1,034,600 over 2y, 48% of budgetTHIRD ACT INITIATIVE INC: $1,025,900 over 3y, 42% of budgetA Greener World: $1,000,040 over 3y, 14% of budgetYELLOW DOT STUDIOS INC: $776,000 over 1y, 60% of budgetOil Change International Inc: $768,887 over 5y, 5.3% of budgetPOINT REYES BIRD OBSERVATORY: $750,000 over 2y, 3.2% of budgetCHANGING MARKETS FOUNDATION INC: $710,000 over 3y, 59% of budgetGREENPEACE FUND INC: $643,000 over 6y, 0.9% of budgetCENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY INC: $551,532 over 7y, 0.5% of budgetCONTAINER RECYCLING INSTITUTE: $510,000 over 8y, 26% of budgetSTOCKHOLM ENVIRONMENT INSTITUTE US INC: $505,000 over 2y, 8.2% of budgetFIBERSHED: $480,000 over 3y, 23% of budgetThe Partnership Project Inc: $467,500 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetVERMONT PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH & EDUCATION FUND INC: $450,000 over 8y, 9.7% of budgetFOOD & WATER WATCH: $433,047 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER JOHNSTOWN: $419,198 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetPLAYERS PHILANTHROPY FUND INC: $400,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetTHE COUNCIL ON STRATEGIC RISKS: $354,794 over 2y, 33% of budgetFUND FOR CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT: $300,000 over 2y, 3.1% of budgetCalifornia Environmental Justice Alliance: $300,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetCENTER FOR MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY INC: $279,302 over 2y, 9.2% of budgetREWILD: $279,234 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNEO Philanthropy Inc: $270,583 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetRESOLVE INC: $250,000 over 2y, 3.5% of budgetCARBON CYCLE INSTITUTE: $225,000 over 2y, 21% of budgetSTAND: $223,392 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $220,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR DEMOCRATIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS: $200,000 over 1y, 40% of budgetLAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT: $200,000 over 3y, 2.9% of budgetScience & Environmental Health Network: $200,000 over 1y, 28% of budgetREGENERATION INTERNATIONAL: $200,000 over 1y, 33% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR ENERGY ECONOMICS AND FINANCIAL ANALYSIS INC: $196,000 over 3y, 2.2% of budget350 BAY AREA: $186,750 over 2y, 23% of budgetTHE NISKANEN CENTER INC: $175,000 over 3y, 1.7% of budgetThe Pachamama Alliance: $170,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetDEPLOYUS INC: $158,925 over 3y, 1.3% of budgetCALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $152,712 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.

The Schmidt Family Fo…Rockefeller Family Fu…PatagoniaorgUnited States Energy …Windward FundPark Foundation IncWallace Global Fund IISierra ClubAmalgamated Charitabl…Rsf Social Finance IncRockefeller Philanthr…Rockefeller Brothers …
The Schmidt Family FoundationCA84.6× affinity50 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Schmidt Family Foundation · Rockefeller Family Fund Inc · Patagoniaorg · United States Energy Foundation · Windward Fund · Park Foundation Inc · Wallace Global Fund II · Sierra Club · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Rsf Social Finance Inc · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc · Rockefeller Brothers Fund Inc

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 Sustainable Markets Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Sustainable Markets Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 160%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 10%
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% of income from government
  • Adamah Inc: 10% of income from government
  • Wgbh Educational Foundation: 1% of income from government
  • Connecticut Citizen Research Group Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
16get no government money at all
31report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely 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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Sustainable Markets Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Sustainable Markets Foundation 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 248 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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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