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California · Nonprofit

Cool Effect Inc

Cool Effect Inc (California) receives grants from 64 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,611,216 to it, the largest being HIGH TIDE FOUNDATION ($6,000,140). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$15M
Funders on record
64
Grants received
$14M
Net assets
$3.9M
39/64 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 58%
01What it does

What Cool Effect Inc does

Mission

Cool Effect believes that small actions ignite planet-sized changes. The Organization developed a platform that brings people together to support the worlds best carbon emission reduction projects.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Cool Effects mission is to reduce carbon emissions by supporting projects across the globe that reduce carbon dioxide. Cool Effect educates the public on the effects of carbon on the climate and solicits donations to support carbon reduction projects, empowering individuals and businesses to take action in minimizing the emissions of carbon into the atmosphere.Cool Effect performs a deep analysis on both the science and the business structure of projects that claim to remove carbon from the atmosphere. All projects under consideration must first be approved by third-party standard-keeping organizations such as the gold standard, verified carbon standard, and CCR, among others.

    $21,207,008 spent$30,750 earned by the program
    100% of program spending
  2. Cool Effect then undertakes an extensive review process using its team of scientiststo ensure the project meets very tough standards. At that same time, Cool Effect also reviews project management to assess whether donations are going where theyshould and that the project will operate well into the future.

The 2 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $21,207,008.

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 ($10M) Expenses 100 ($8.9M) Net assets 100 ($4.6M)2018 Revenue 115 ($12M) Expenses 112 ($10.0M) Net assets 147 ($6.8M)2019 Revenue 56 ($5.8M) Expenses 91 ($8.1M) Net assets 97 ($4.5M)2020 Revenue 91 ($9.4M) Expenses 115 ($10M) Net assets 83 ($3.8M)2021 Revenue 102 ($11M) Expenses 103 ($9.1M) Net assets 125 ($5.8M)2022 Revenue 184 ($19M) Expenses 211 ($19M) Net assets 118 ($5.5M)2023 Revenue 180 ($19M) Expenses 216 ($19M) Net assets 110 ($5.1M)2024 Revenue 202 ($21M) Expenses 240 ($21M) Net assets 105 ($4.9M)2025 Revenue 140 ($15M) Expenses 176 ($16M) Net assets 83 ($3.9M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (140)Expenses (176)Net assets (83)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 2020 to 2021, from $4.7M to $7.0M (+49%).

$5.3M
$7.5M
$5.2M
$4.7M
$7.0M
$6.7M
$8.2M
$7.3M
$6.0M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
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
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

99% of Cool Effect Inc’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (87% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 360 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$1.5M
’17
$2.0M
’18
−$2.2M
’19
−$798k
’20
$1.5M
’21
$498k
’22
−$384k
’23
−$288k
’24
−$1.0M
’25
0.6
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.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed445977999
Joined·+0+1+4+1+1+2+1+0
No longer listed·00031010
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 25 funders, grant income fell $6.0M → $1.4M.

22 of 64 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 52% 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 Cool Effect Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 64 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

Cool Effect Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 72%; 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 Cool Effect Inc.

44%
largest funder
72%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 53% · 2019 36% · 2020 25% · 2021 68% · 2022 54% · 2023 54% — 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

34% of Cool Effect Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

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

52% of Cool Effect 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 $6.6M that is directly attributable, 99% of it comes from funders outside California, across 17 states.

ME
WA
MN
IL
NY
MA
NV
PA
RI
CA
VA
MD
DE
NC
DC
MS
TX

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. $7.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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

Cool Effect Inc's revenue grew 40% between 2017 and 2025.

Operating margin−7% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve0.6mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)4% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 195 environment nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025

Organizations like Cool Effect 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

99% of spending goes to programs.

Program 99%Management 1%Fundraising 0%

Governance

8
board members
75%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

70%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 3 states

NY
CA
DE

Part of a family of 1 related entity

  • Overlook Investments Inc · corp_trust

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Cool Effect 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 Cool Effect Inc?
Cool Effect Inc (California) receives grants from 64 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,611,216 to it, the largest being HIGH TIDE FOUNDATION ($6,000,140). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does Cool Effect Inc have?
IRS filings report 64 organizations giving $13,611,216 in grants to Cool Effect Inc, 39 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Cool Effect Inc?
HIGH TIDE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $6,000,140 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Cool Effect 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 Cool Effect →

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 64 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