California · Nonprofit
BERKELEY EARTH INC
BERKELEY EARTH INC (California) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $730,065 to it, the largest being THE PATRICK J MCGOVERN FOUNDATION INC ($700,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.9M
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $730k
- Net assets
- $1.7M
What Berkeley Earth Inc does
Mission
Berkeley earth is an independent non-profit research organization that provides open-source data, accessible analysis, and scientific insight on climate change. Our mission is to deliver rigorous, transparent, and policy-relevant climate science and data to inform public understanding and support data-driven decision making.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Berkeley earth maintains and publishes high-resolution global temperature data and related climate data sets and makes these products accessible to the public, scientists, policymakers, and commercial partners. In 2024, we released a major update to our global temperature data set, improving scale to 0.25 resolution, and began work on a new predictive modeling product designed to make future climate risk assessments more accurate and accessible. Our monthly and annual climate reports continue to provide authoritative and timely updates on global and regional climate trends, with over 25,000 global media mentions and more than 500 academic citations in 2024 alone.
$455,153 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $455,153.
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 2023 to 2024, from $368k to $1.7M (+362%).
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 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of BERKELEY EARTH 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. 2 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.
Chief executive
Kristen Sissener
Exec. Director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022, and between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $5k → $305k.
2 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 1% 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 BERKELEY EARTH 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
BERKELEY EARTH INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 96% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 87% · 2022 100% · 2023 98% — broadly stable.
“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.
Where its funders are
BERKELEY EARTH INC draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 2 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10k 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
BERKELEY EARTH INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 2,186 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,186 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like BERKELEY EARTH 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
14%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BERKELEY EARTH 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 BERKELEY EARTH INC?
- BERKELEY EARTH INC (California) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $730,065 to it, the largest being THE PATRICK J MCGOVERN FOUNDATION INC ($700,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BERKELEY EARTH INC have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $730,065 in grants to BERKELEY EARTH INC, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BERKELEY EARTH INC?
- THE PATRICK J MCGOVERN FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $700,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BERKELEY EARTH INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Berkeley Earth →
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 4 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