Massachusetts · Nonprofit
ACT Institute Inc
ACT Institute Inc (Massachusetts) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,278,265 to it, the largest being BARR FOUNDATION ($1,345,550). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.7M
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $2.3M
- Net assets
- $-227798
What ACT Institute Inc does
Mission
ACT Institute leads the just, equitable and rapid transition to a clean energy future and diverse climate economy.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
In ACT Institute's policy and government affairs initiatives, the institute leads planning and broad education and related efforts, while the council leads in legislative advocacy and related convenings. ACT Institute's combined policy efforts focus on advancing the northeast US's valuable markets in:- Grid modernization & 21st century electricity system (includingrate case initiatives)- Distributed clean energy resources, including solar, energystorage, efficiency, and building technologies.- Grid-scale renewables - Onshore wind, offshore wind, grid-scale solar- Climate & greenhouse gas markets- Northeast clean transportation solutions
$769,144 spent$1,259 earned by the program51% of program spendingACT Institute's Cleantech Navigate Northeast (Navigate) program leverages the power of ACT Institute's networks to provide cleantech startups access to resources and business support to grow and scale. Working with dozens of partner organizations (the Navigate innovation partners) including incubators, accelerators, and associations, navigate helps partners and their portfolio startups get to the next stage of their growth through its unique services and events.
$189,296 spent$19,433 earned by the program13% of program spendingCleantech Open is the oldest and largest cleantech startup accelerator program, with the mission to find, fund, and foster entrepreneurs with ideas to solve our greatest environmental and energy challenges. Through our annual business competition and accelerator program, we connect cleantech startups with the people and resources that will accelerate their success, and provide a national platform for public visibility.
$466,824 spentof which $80,000 as grants$4,863 earned by the program31% of program spendingCommunications, memberships, events and special projects.
$86,571 spent6% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,511,835.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $828k to $426k (−49%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 22% · 2018 33% · 2019 32% · 2020 35% · 2021 42% · 2022 4% · 2023 29%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of ACT Institute Inc’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $148k → $341k.
3 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 2% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $780k from 5 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Boston Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money ACT Institute Inc raised.
From the IRS filings of ACT Institute Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
ACT Institute Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 59% of grant income and the top three 97%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
39% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund ACT Institute Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 65% · 2021 69% · 2022 91% · 2023 74% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
40% of ACT Institute Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 22% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
98% of ACT Institute Inc's grant income comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $56k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
ACT Institute Inc's funding base is broadening — from 1 funders to 2 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,186 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like ACT Institute Inc
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Alliance for Climate Transition Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ACT Institute Inc: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds ACT Institute Inc?
- ACT Institute Inc (Massachusetts) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,278,265 to it, the largest being BARR FOUNDATION ($1,345,550). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ACT Institute Inc have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $2,278,265 in grants to ACT Institute Inc, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ACT Institute Inc?
- BARR FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,345,550 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ACT Institute Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 9 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing