Colorado · Nonprofit
AMERICAN SOLAR ENERGY SOCIETY INC
AMERICAN SOLAR ENERGY SOCIETY INC (Colorado) receives grants from 29 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,845,345 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($1,950,300). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 79% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $744k
- Funders on record
- 29
- Grants received
- $2.8M
- Net assets
- $318k
What American Solar Energy Society Inc does
Mission
Accelerate equitable solar adoption by educating and building community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Events: ases hosts an annual national renewable energy conference, bringing together scholars, scientists, activists, politicians, industry members, and interested citizens to learn and collaborate over three days of discussions, workshops and social events. Each fall we put on the national solar tour which is the largest grassroots sustainable living event in the united states, with tours held in all 50 states. We also host the ases webinar series for practical instruction in renewable energy systems.
$213,934 spent$115,594 earned by the program37% of program spendingPublications: ases was founded in 1954, and since 1987 publishes quarterly print and online magazine solar today with the latest trends and cutting edge ideas in renewable energy and sustainable living. Solar today is distributed across the u.s. And in 18 countries. We also widely circulate our bi-weekly online newsletter, solar@work, which is tailored to renewable energy professionals and gets approximately 13,000 opens per mailing. We regularly cover information regarding technology, policy, sustainable lifestyle, business innovators, and world affairs regarding energy and sustainability.
$145,499 spent$32,682 earned by the program25% of program spendingMembership: in 2025 ases had approximately 20,000 currently active members in the national organization at all levels from student digital to professional and lifetime members. We host an alliance of 39 local chapters, including 12 that participate in joint membership with ases, and 14 of which are student chapters based at universities and colleges around the country. Our business members enjoy joint membership with our global affiliate the international solar energy society based in germany. Ases hosts a forum of solar enthusiasts and professionals where members can exchange ideas and help one another solve challenges in their personal and professional arenas involving renewable energy and sustainability.
$138,133 spent24% of program spendingEquitable solar deployment: responding to the need to greatly accelerate the pace of an equitable transition to 100% re, ases created the zero emissions network (zen) program. Zen's mission is project based and student powered actions towards more sustainable and energy efficient living. Zen promotes both personal lifestyle adjustments and emissions reduction projects to assist low and moderate income community members, especially in historically disadvantaged demographics. Towards these ends zen worked with red cloud renewable in 2025 to install two 3.5 kw solar systems at the pine ridge reservation in south dakota. Fiscal sponsorship: ases is the fiscal agent of the clean energy credit union (cecu), a green bank that finances loans for clean energy investments. Ases is responsible for receiving and distributing donated funds directed to cecu.
$78,692 spent14% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $576,258.
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 2018 to 2019, from $324k to $156k (−52%).
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: 2021 6% · 2024 9% · 2025 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
79% of AMERICAN SOLAR ENERGY SOCIETY INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 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.
Board chair
Benjamin Luce
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $85k → $1.7M.
9 of 29 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 79% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of AMERICAN SOLAR ENERGY SOCIETY 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
AMERICAN SOLAR ENERGY SOCIETY INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 69% of grant income and the top three 79%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
83% 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 AMERICAN SOLAR ENERGY SOCIETY INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 59% · 2018 71% · 2019 77% · 2020 43% · 2021 44% · 2022 40% · 2023 94% — growing more concentrated.
“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
13% of AMERICAN SOLAR ENERGY SOCIETY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 41% 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
79% of AMERICAN SOLAR ENERGY SOCIETY INC's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $587k that is directly attributable, 93% of it comes from funders outside Colorado, across 12 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
AMERICAN SOLAR ENERGY SOCIETY INC's revenue fell 36% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,433 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding AMERICAN SOLAR ENERGY SOCIETY INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $501k on record — $500k federal, $650 state.
- Environmental Protection Agency$500k
- FEDERAL$475
- REVOLVING$175
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like AMERICAN SOLAR ENERGY SOCIETY 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 Colorado
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AMERICAN SOLAR ENERGY SOCIETY 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 AMERICAN SOLAR ENERGY SOCIETY INC?
- AMERICAN SOLAR ENERGY SOCIETY INC (Colorado) receives grants from 29 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,845,345 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($1,950,300). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 79% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does AMERICAN SOLAR ENERGY SOCIETY INC have?
- IRS filings report 29 organizations giving $2,845,345 in grants to AMERICAN SOLAR ENERGY SOCIETY INC, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AMERICAN SOLAR ENERGY SOCIETY INC?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,950,300 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AMERICAN SOLAR ENERGY SOCIETY INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Colorado. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 29 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