Minnesota · Nonprofit
PROJECT DRAWDOWN
PROJECT DRAWDOWN (Minnesota) receives grants from 115 organizations whose IRS filings report $19,259,661 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($2,391,710). 54 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.8M
- Funders on record
- 115
- Grants received
- $19M
- Net assets
- $8.4M
What Project Drawdown does
Mission
Project Drawdown's mission is to drive meaningful climate action by advancing science-based solutions and strategies. Project Drawdown's work is focused on three pillars: science - advancing science-based climate solutions and strategies; stakeholders - engaging key stakeholders and empowering bold climate leadership; and stories - telling human stories of solutions in action.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Science: the drawdown science team generates and shares science-based insights and tools to enable those with the capacity to implement climate solutions to do so. The organization conducts cutting-edge research to identify the best possible climate solutions and design the most effective strategies to bring them to scale.
$2,937,370 spent$55,548 earned by the program66% of program spendingCommunications: our rigorous, cutting-edge research identifies the best possible climate solutions and designs the most effective strategies to bring them to scale. This program includes the marketing and communications team, which supports the organization's people and programs in expanding its reach, influence, and impact among target audiences. The organization shares findings with the world through effective science communication, marketing campaigns, and media partnerships.
$345,034 spent$6,733 earned by the program8% of program spendingDrawdown labs: Project Drawdown uses science to inform, inspire, and empower key stakeholders and emerging climate leaders - including policymakers, community leaders, philanthropists, investors, business leaders, and others - to take bold action and bring the most effective solutions to the world. We help rapidly accelerate global climate investment by showing the world what is possible and most effective in addressing climate change. The drawdown capital coalition is a program nested within drawdown labs.
$770,085 spent$14,308 earned by the program17% of program spendingAdditionally, drawdown stories contributed to our 2025 accomplishments. Drawdown stories: the organization leverages storytelling and engagement as a bridge between science-based climate solutions and everyday people looking to find their roles in stopping climate change. Drawdown stories includes drawdown's neighborhood and the global solutions diary.
$375,404 spentof which $100 as grants$7,575 earned by the program8% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,427,893.
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 $4.6M to $8.5M (+85%).
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.
95% of PROJECT DRAWDOWN’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% 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.
Board chair
Stephan Nicoleau
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 43 funders, grant income rose $200k → $3.4M.
30 of 115 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 46% 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 PROJECT DRAWDOWN’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 115 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
PROJECT DRAWDOWN has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 12% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left
46% 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 PROJECT DRAWDOWN.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 50% · 2018 51% · 2019 64% · 2020 19% · 2021 19% · 2022 32% · 2023 20% — 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
27% of PROJECT DRAWDOWN's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 47% 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
PROJECT DRAWDOWN draws 95% of its grant income from funders outside Minnesota, across 26 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $8.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 17 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
PROJECT DRAWDOWN holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like PROJECT DRAWDOWN
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
92%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PROJECT DRAWDOWN: 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 PROJECT DRAWDOWN?
- PROJECT DRAWDOWN (Minnesota) receives grants from 115 organizations whose IRS filings report $19,259,661 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($2,391,710). 54 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PROJECT DRAWDOWN have?
- IRS filings report 115 organizations giving $19,259,661 in grants to PROJECT DRAWDOWN, 54 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PROJECT DRAWDOWN?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $2,391,710 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PROJECT DRAWDOWN 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 115 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