· Public charity
Urban Sustainability Directors Network
To connect local government leaders in the united states, canada and abroad to accelerate sustainability practices.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
How this is measured
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k1 grant · $6k
- $10k–50k16 grants · $256k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $100k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| CITY OF AMSTERDAM | $100,000 |
| CITY OF BALITMORE | $26,000 |
| COUNTY OF LOUISVILLE | $20,000 |
| CITY OF GREEN BAY | $19,450 |
| COUNTY OF ALAMEDA | $19,300 |
| CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS | $15,000 |
| COASTAL QUEST | $15,000 |
| CITY OF SHORELINE | $15,000 |
| CITY OF SANTA CRUZ | $15,000 |
| CITY OF CINCINNATI | $15,000 |
| CITY OF BERKELEY | $15,000 |
| KING COUNTY | $15,000 |
| CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO | $15,000 |
| CITY OF PORTLAND | $14,920 |
| CITY OF OAKLAND | $14,404 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY23–23, $14k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 23% of Urban Sustainability Directors Network’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +21% since the first grant, against +0% for those funded once.
8 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 5 since wound down; 15 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 10% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $325k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- SUSolar United Neighbors Inc2× · 2022–2023 · $295k · revenue +123%
- SFSAN FRANCISCO COUNTY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY2× · 2022–2023 · $200k
- RRHEAPLY2× · 2021–2023 · $174k
Funded once
- COCITY OF MIAMIone grant, 2020 · $600k
- UCUTAH CLEAN ENERGY ALLIANCE INCone grant, 2023 · $325k · revenue -52%
- COCITY OF DURHAMone grant, 2020 · $150k
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.
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.
The Climate Center is a climate and energy policy nonprofit working to rapidly reduce climate pollution at scale, starting in California.
The Clean Energy Transition Institute (CETI) is an independent, nonpartisan research and analysis nonprofit whose mission is to accelerate an equitable clean energy transition in the Northwest.
The California Energy Alliance (CEA) unites representatives of a broad range of organizations concerned about energy and the build environment. As a member-based organization, CEA works to improve California's energy future and migration…
CEERT designs and fights for policies that advance clean, renewable, energy and climate solutions for California and the West. CEERT's team of professional staff, active board members, expert consultants, and clean-technology and…
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…
All In Energy is a nonprofit organization that enables underserved residents (historically renters, low-to-moderate income households, people who speak languages other than English, and people of color) to save money on their utility bills…
The Climate Access Fund develops and finances community solar products that serve low to moderate income households
To accelerate progress in interventions that harness Earths natural systems to stabilize the climate.
ACT Institute leads the just, equitable and rapid transition to a clean energy future and diverse climate economy.
ACT leads the just, equitable and rapid transition to a clean energy future and diverse climate economy.
Climate Resilient Communities is empowering community voices to implement equitable climate solutions for unity, resilience, and justice.
Improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by supporting and enabling the greater houston area to increase ev adoption.
How this is measured
14 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. 14 of the 64 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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.
- Who funds UTAH CLEAN ENERGY ALLIANCE INC ↗
- Who funds Solar United Neighbors Inc ↗
- Who funds SOUTHFACE ENERGY INSTITUTE INC ↗
- Who funds CHUGACH ELECTRIC ASSOCIATION INC ↗
- Who funds Elevate Energy ↗
- Who funds Bayview-Hunters Point Center for Arts and Technology DBA BAYCAT ↗
- Who funds Coastal Quest ↗
- Who funds CETI ↗
- Who funds SAFE STREETS CAMPAIGN ↗
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.
Open a dossier: National League of Cities Institute Inc · Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund Inc · National Recreation and Park Association · AARP · The Recycling Partnership Inc · Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation Inc · Center for Technology and Civic Life · The Bloomberg Family Foundation Inc · National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States · FitLot · US Green Building Council Inc · Global Philanthropy Partnership
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Urban Sustainability Directors Network funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Urban Sustainability Directors Network. Bigger dots raise more.
- Ceti: 3% of income from government
How this is measured
Play a game based on Urban Sustainability Directors Network’s filings →