Minnesota · Nonprofit
CENTER FOR ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
CENTER FOR ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT (Minnesota) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,278,720 to it, the largest being The McKnight Foundation ($1,302,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $40M
- Funders on record
- 14
- Grants received
- $4.3M
- Net assets
- $46M
What Center for Energy and Environment does
Mission
The Center for Energy and Environment's mission is to discover and deploy the most effective energy solutions that strengthen the economy and improve the environment. The Minnesota-based nonprofit provides practical energy solutions for homes, businesses, and communities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
ENERGY CONSERVATION SERVICES: CEE delivers programs throughout the upper Midwest and other cold-climate U.S. regions. CEE's programs reduce energy use, improve safety, and lower utility costs in Minnesota's homes, businesses, and communities. With competitive funding from government grants, utilities, philanthropy, and program partners, every year CEE supports improvement opportunities in more than 10,000 homes and businesses. We prioritize reducing the costs of energy services and maximizing bill savings for all Minnesotans. In residential programming, CEE delivers the utility-funded Home Energy Squad, pairing energy-saving installations with energy assessments to improve home comfort and savings. In 2025, CEE completed over 7,200 visits and helped save energy amounting to about 3 gigawatt hours and 29,000 decatherms. And 1,498 residents used the free Energy Advisor Service to complete energy efficiency projects and earn 1,767 rebates. Also in residential programming, CEE's utility-supported Multifamily Energy Solutions program has served over 14,000 multifamily units, resulting in annual average savings of $27 per unit on natural gas bills and an additional $11 per unit on…
$18,223,134 spentof which $1,000 as grants$21,566,649 earned by the program62% of program spendingMARKET TRANSFORMATION: CEE was previously selected through a rigorous application process to deliver Minnesota's Efficient Technology Accelerator (ETA), a statewide market transformation program to accelerate deployment and reduce the cost of promising new technologies, bringing lower energy bills and environmental benefits to all Minnesotans. Starting at an early stage of development, ETA's work is closely monitored by Minnesota's Department of Commerce, funding utilities, and other key stakeholders. In 2025, CEE's ETA program used multiple approaches to promote heat pumps, a well-vetted technology to decarbonize heating in single-family homes. CEE's efforts have helped ducted heat pumps to jump from just 4% of the HVAC cooling market in 2020 to 17% by 2025. To support the growth, CEE trained 270 HVAC contractors to properly install and effectively sell heat pumps. Our preferred contractor list expanded to 73 contractors to help Minnesotans save money and cut carbon emissions. ETA also helped dramatically advance Minnesota's residential energy code. A state advisory committee adopted all of CEE's 17 sponsored amendments to the recent residential energy building code. The…
$6,375,412 spent$986,482 earned by the program22% of program spendingLENDING: In 2025, CEE disbursed 1,801 home improvement loans totaling over $21 million. In recognition of CEE's integrity as an exemplary lender, the MN Housing Finance Agency annually recognizes CEE's loan officers among top producers of Fix Up loans. CEE's statewide and county loans make it more feasible for homeowners in Minnesota to make energy efficiency improvements and remodel their homes with low-interest financing. Thanks to strong partnerships with many cities, CEE offers several special loan, grant, and down payment assistance programs for Minnesotans. Throughout the state, CEE has improved residential and commercial properties through project financing for over 40 years. Aligned with CEE's mission, our loan programs promote energy efficiency and make improvements more manageable. Government partners benefit from CEE's efficient administration of their loan funds to meet specific community goals.
$2,096,919 spent$2,460,337 earned by the program7% of program spendingRESEARCH: From field studies to data-driven analyses, CEE's research provides actionable insights to help reduce energy use, lower costs, and advance clean energy technologies. Current focus areas include heat pumps, envelope sealing, building energy codes, and efficient commercial refrigeration. In 2025, CEE managed 27 active research projects investigating a wide range of energy-related technologies, field-testing and reporting on 22 building technologies. With competitive funding from Minnesota's Department of Commerce, Division of Energy Resources, and utility partners, CEE investigates and identifies a wide range of cost-effective technologies and ideas. From homes to high-rises, CEE field-tests building systems and equipment, generating objective data on measured energy savings. Our nationally recognized research staff has published more than 100 technical papers on building and mechanical system performance. Having earned a reputation as a national expert on cold-climate heat pump technology for residential buildings, CEE is now helping to study heat pumps for commercial buildings as well. In 2025, we recruited 12 businesses to install and test high-performance HVAC rooftop…
$2,231,489 spent$1,358,723 earned by the program8% of program spendingPUBLIC POLICY SUPPORT AND DISSEMINATION: CEE advances clean energy policy at local, state, and national levels. Informed by research and real-world insights from program practitioners, CEE's policy work prioritizes equitable, realistic solutions and broad-based, non-partisan coalitions to advance policies with broad support to stand the test of time. In 2025, CEE successfully negotiated a new low-income weatherization fund paid by large data centers in Minnesota. CEE's collaborative efforts resulted in nation-leading legislation for a $2 million-$5 million annual fee on large data centers to fund low-income weatherization in Minnesota. Fees from two recently announced data centers will increase the state's federal low-income weatherization appropriation by approximately 50%. CEE also successfully established a new multi-factor utility performance incentive to advance efficiency policy goals. We built consensus to shift to a broader framework that encourages investments in insulation, air sealing, income-qualified programs, and electrification. Separately, CEE helped Minnesota to set an electric heating rate that is nearly 50% lower than Xcel Energy's winter electric rate. Every…
$564,547 spent$409 earned by the program2% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $29,491,501.
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 $46M to $52M (+12%).
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 5% · 2020 6% · 2021 18% · 2022 7% · 2023 17% · 2024 23% · 2025 27%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
30% of CENTER FOR ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (87% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 7 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
Amanda Novak
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $98k → $765k.
3 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 5% 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 CENTER FOR ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT’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
CENTER FOR ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT leans on a few funders — its largest provides 30% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
52% 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 CENTER FOR ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 79% · 2018 76% · 2019 67% · 2020 79% · 2021 56% · 2022 73% · 2023 39% — 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
29% of CENTER FOR ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
70% of CENTER FOR ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $230k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
CENTER FOR ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT's funding base is broadening — from 2 funders to 5 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 195 environment nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding CENTER FOR ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $10.5M on record.
- Department of Energy$10.5M
- Environmental Protection Agency$35k
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 CENTER FOR ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
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 Minnesota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
77%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Center for Energy and Environment · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CENTER FOR ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT: 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 CENTER FOR ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT?
- CENTER FOR ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT (Minnesota) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,278,720 to it, the largest being The McKnight Foundation ($1,302,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CENTER FOR ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT have?
- IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $4,278,720 in grants to CENTER FOR ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CENTER FOR ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT?
- The McKnight Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $1,302,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CENTER FOR ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. 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 14 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