Illinois · Nonprofit
EVERGREEN CLIMATE INNOVATIONS
EVERGREEN CLIMATE INNOVATIONS (Illinois) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,336,547 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($1,550,000). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.7M
- Funders on record
- 37
- Grants received
- $7.3M
- Net assets
- $16M
What Evergreen Climate Innovations does
Mission
Evergreen advances climate tech in the greater midwest.we support startups bringing impactful climate technologies to market. We make seed investments and provide hands-on support to entrepreneurs. We expand access to innovation by cultivating an ecosystem of investors, corporate partners, donors, and collaborators.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The 501vc investment program is the mechanism through which evergreen provides catalytic capital and support to early-stage entrepreneurs. There are three components to the investment program: find, fund, and grow. "find" represents the effort evergreen undertakes to identify and recruit high-potential entrepreneurs into its programming. "fund" refers to the investments evergreen makes in the promising startups founded by these entrepreneurs. "grow" describes the ongoing engagement and programming evergreen provides startups and entrepreneurs that are part of its portfolio. This support encompasses educational content, mentoring, business development assistance, and fundraising support.
$1,616,167 spentof which $115,000 as grants$232,997 earned by the program65% of program spendingWith support from foundation grants, evergreen leads a clean energy employment trends study encompassing a region covering 12 midwest states. The data is used to illustrate the growth and contribution of this sector to economic development and is a valuable resource to policymakers and legislators. The clean jobs midwest report is a component of a larger national study conducted by a consortium of partners, encompassing all 50-states and the district of columbia.
$558,934 spent23% of program spendingEvergreen received a grant from the u.s. Economic development administration to launch entrepreneurial support programs. Core is the structured fundraising program designed to catalyze additional investment from institutional investors in a sector and region where raising capital is extremely challenging. Working with individual startups, evergreen helps these companies successfully execute fundraising by assessing investment readiness, helping prepare financial models and presentation materials, supporting outreach to funders, supporting due diligence requests from potential investors, and advising on deal term negotiation. These are time consuming activities and evergreen's engagement not only ensures greater success but also frees time for the entrepreneurs to focus on their core businesses.
$212,285 spent9% of program spendingEvergreen received a grant from the us department of energy, energy program for innovation clusters(epic). This program helps grow the midwest energy innovation ecosystem and advanced manufacturing ecosystem. The initiatives enables both the delivery of accessible education and training resources, as well as a comprehensive accelerator program for energy hardware startups in the midwest and beyond.
$96,309 spent4% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,483,695.
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 2021 to 2022, from $8.9M to $15M (+73%).
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 26% · 2018 13% · 2019 13% · 2020 18% · 2021 8% · 2022 5% · 2023 15% · 2024 17%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of EVERGREEN CLIMATE INNOVATIONS’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (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
Michelle Carr
CEO
Board chair
Tim Stojka
Development chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 18 funders, grant income rose $550k → $1.3M.
9 of 37 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 43% 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 EVERGREEN CLIMATE INNOVATIONS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 37 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
EVERGREEN CLIMATE INNOVATIONS has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
47% 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 EVERGREEN CLIMATE INNOVATIONS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 73% · 2018 79% · 2019 79% · 2020 36% · 2021 41% · 2022 31% · 2023 40% — 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
47% of EVERGREEN CLIMATE INNOVATIONS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
50% of EVERGREEN CLIMATE INNOVATIONS's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.2M 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
EVERGREEN CLIMATE INNOVATIONS runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 2,187 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,187 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding EVERGREEN CLIMATE INNOVATIONS receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.7M on record.
- Department of Energy$1.9M
- Small Business Administration$475k
- Department of Commerce$300k
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 EVERGREEN CLIMATE INNOVATIONS
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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
67%
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 2 related entities
- Illinois Clean Energy Innovation Fund LLC · disregarded
- Clean Energy Prize Fund · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for EVERGREEN CLIMATE INNOVATIONS: 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 EVERGREEN CLIMATE INNOVATIONS?
- EVERGREEN CLIMATE INNOVATIONS (Illinois) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,336,547 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($1,550,000). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does EVERGREEN CLIMATE INNOVATIONS have?
- IRS filings report 37 organizations giving $7,336,547 in grants to EVERGREEN CLIMATE INNOVATIONS, 22 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of EVERGREEN CLIMATE INNOVATIONS?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $1,550,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like EVERGREEN CLIMATE INNOVATIONS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 37 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing