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California · Nonprofit

CLIENTEARTH USA INC

CLIENTEARTH USA INC (California) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $23,228,542 to it, the largest being THE JEREMY AND HANNELORE GRANTHAM ENVIRONMENTAL TRUST ($9,000,000). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$6.3M
Funders on record
40
Grants received
$23M
Net assets
$7.0M
21/40 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 96%
01What it does

What Clientearth USA Inc does

Mission

We use the power of law to bring about systemic change that protects the earth for - and with - its inhabitants.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Support for environmental legal programming at clientearth uk

    $3,399,456 spentof which $1,147,000 as grants
    100% of program spending
  2. N/a

  3. N/a

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,399,456.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($605k) Expenses 100 ($342k) Net assets 100 ($307k)2018 Revenue 56 ($337k) Expenses 130 ($444k) Net assets 65 ($200k)2019 Revenue 581 ($3.5M) Expenses 405 ($1.4M) Net assets 812 ($2.5M)2020 Revenue 828 ($5.0M) Expenses 1086 ($3.7M) Net assets 1235 ($3.8M)2021 Revenue 1351 ($8.2M) Expenses 1904 ($6.5M) Net assets 1793 ($5.5M)2022 Revenue 829 ($5.0M) Expenses 834 ($2.8M) Net assets 2516 ($7.7M)2023 Revenue 1394 ($8.4M) Expenses 3174 ($11M) Net assets 1762 ($5.4M)2024 Revenue 1036 ($6.3M) Expenses 1358 ($4.6M) Net assets 2293 ($7.0M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (1036)Expenses (1358)Net assets (2293)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $3.0M to $6.3M (+109%).

$307k
$200k
$3.0M
$6.3M
$7.8M
$8.3M
$8.8M
$7.9M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

98% of CLIENTEARTH USA INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (88% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 2,293 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$264k
’17
−$107k
’18
$2.1M
’19
$1.3M
’20
$1.7M
’21
$2.2M
’22
−$2.4M
’23
$1.6M
’24
16
months of
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

Danielle A Lackey

Executive director

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed678914141820
Joined·+1+2+1+5+1+7+5
No longer listed·0100133
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 20 funders, grant income rose $15k → $8.1M.

18 of 40 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 24% 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 CLIENTEARTH USA INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 40 funders by total. 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

CLIENTEARTH USA INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 66%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

67% 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 CLIENTEARTH USA INC.

39%
largest funder
66%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 59% · 2019 46% · 2020 36% · 2021 50% · 2022 75% · 2023 62% — 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

50% of CLIENTEARTH USA INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y

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

CLIENTEARTH USA INC draws 78% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 10 states in all.

IL
NY
MA
PA
NJ
CA
DC
GA
TX
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

CLIENTEARTH USA INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 2,186 environment nonprofits its size.

Operating margin26% · above the median
Months of reserve16.3mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)40% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,186 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Organizations like CLIENTEARTH USA 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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

73% of spending goes to programs.

Program 73%Management 14%Fundraising 12%

Governance

11
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

99%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 38 states

AK
ME
NH
WA
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
UT
CO
KY
WV
VA
MD
DE
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
OK
MS
AL
GA
FL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CLIENTEARTH USA 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 CLIENTEARTH USA INC?
CLIENTEARTH USA INC (California) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $23,228,542 to it, the largest being THE JEREMY AND HANNELORE GRANTHAM ENVIRONMENTAL TRUST ($9,000,000). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does CLIENTEARTH USA INC have?
IRS filings report 40 organizations giving $23,228,542 in grants to CLIENTEARTH USA INC, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of CLIENTEARTH USA INC?
THE JEREMY AND HANNELORE GRANTHAM ENVIRONMENTAL TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $9,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like CLIENTEARTH USA 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 Clientearth USA →

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 40 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