Minnesota · Nonprofit
FRESH ENERGY
FRESH ENERGY (Minnesota) receives grants from 95 organizations whose IRS filings report $31,237,413 to it, the largest being The McKnight Foundation ($7,048,000). 68 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.1M
- Funders on record
- 95
- Grants received
- $31M
- Net assets
- $8.6M
What Fresh Energy does
Mission
Shape and drive bold policy solutions to achieve equitable carbon-neutral economies.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Energy transition - see schedule o.
$3,805,188 spentof which $662,022 as grants53% of program spendingEnergy news network - see schedule o.
$1,054,980 spent$1,100 earned by the program15% of program spendingClean electricity - see schedule o.
$713,203 spent10% of program spendingPublic affairs: as a policy organization, Fresh Energy drives change in multiple decision-making forums including local governments, the minnesota legislature and with our congressional delegation. Our public affairs department provides expert leadership on policy-maker education, advocacy, and coalition work with partners across the state. In collaboration with our communications team the public affairs department also operates a growing action network that equips the public to weigh in on climate and energy decision making.
$588,472 spent8% of program spendingEnergy access and equity: Fresh Energy is committed to ensuring that the transition to clean energy benefits all. Equity is a consideration in our work across programs and within our internal operations. We also have a number of programmatic initiatives underway with a specific focus on equity, including serving as co-lead of the minnesota multifamily affordable housing energy network (mmahen), which connects building owners, renters, housing and energy advocates, financing entities, health professionals, and others to improve the efficiency of apartment buildings and other multifamily housing. In multiple state and national forums, we also shape renewable energy program design, energy efficiency and weatherization investments, and other initiatives to reduce the energy burden on under-resourced households. Access and equity are also central elements of our clean transportation work to electrify transit and school buses.
$443,544 spent6% of program spendingAcceleration fund: acceleration fund was developed to further accelerate the mission of Fresh Energy to shape and drive bold policy solutions to achieve equitable carbon-neutral economies.
$565,337 spent8% of program spending
The 6 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $7,170,724.
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 2020 to 2021, from $3.1M to $6.9M (+124%).
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.
98% of FRESH ENERGY’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 9 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
Brenda Cassellius
Executive director (until jan 2025)
As listed on its FY2025 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 16 funders to 50 funders, grant income rose $1.4M → $5.3M.
22 of 95 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% 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 FRESH ENERGY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 95 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
FRESH ENERGY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
50% 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 FRESH ENERGY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 37% · 2018 48% · 2019 24% · 2020 42% · 2021 24% · 2022 34% · 2023 30% — 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
59% of FRESH ENERGY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 72% 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
FRESH ENERGY draws 68% of its grant income from funders outside Minnesota, across 20 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 16 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
FRESH ENERGY is better cushioned than half of the 1,209 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,209 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like FRESH ENERGY
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
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
49%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 38 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FRESH ENERGY: 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 FRESH ENERGY?
- FRESH ENERGY (Minnesota) receives grants from 95 organizations whose IRS filings report $31,237,413 to it, the largest being The McKnight Foundation ($7,048,000). 68 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FRESH ENERGY have?
- IRS filings report 95 organizations giving $31,237,413 in grants to FRESH ENERGY, 68 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRESH ENERGY?
- The McKnight Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $7,048,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRESH ENERGY 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 95 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