Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
Resources for the Future Inc
Resources for the Future Inc (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 93 organizations whose IRS filings report $41,582,403 to it, the largest being ALFRED P SLOAN FOUNDATION ($4,917,968). 56 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $16M
- Funders on record
- 93
- Grants received
- $42M
- Net assets
- $58M
What Resources for the Future Inc does
Mission
RFF's mission is to improve environmental, energy, and natural resource decisions through impartial economic research and policy engagement.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Confronting risks and building resilience: RFF evaluates the physical and economic impacts of energy and environmental policies, using data to assess risks and uncertainties at global, national, sectoral, and local scales, to ensure that global decision makers are equipped with the information they need to build resilience in their communities.
$7,366,088 spentof which $1,027,913 as grants53% of program spendingDesigning smart emissions reduction strategies: RFF analyzes policies to determine how they can be effective, efficient, equitable, beneficial to the economy, and able to achieve net-zero emissions goals from economy-wide solutions that send consistent economic signals to the marketplace to sector-specific strategies for all major areas of the economy.
$5,133,397 spentof which $24,975 as grants37% of program spendingCommunications: dissemination of research results in the form of research publications, resources magazine, resources radio, the RFF website, video, and other methods. Communications activities advance RFF's reputation for independent research and nonpartisanship while informing and shaping public debate. Research publications disseminated include working papers, reports, issue briefs, data tools, and research findings in peer-reviewed journals.
$1,516,546 spent11% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $14,016,031.
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 2017 to 2018, from $68M to $87M (+28%).
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 22% · 2018 21% · 2019 22% · 2020 15% · 2021 14% · 2022 12% · 2023 11% · 2024 8% · 2025 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
66% of Resources for the Future Inc’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (87% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 8 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
William Pizer
President and CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 18 funders to 37 funders, grant income rose $3.0M → $5.0M.
28 of 93 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 25% 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 Resources for the Future Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 93 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
Resources for the Future Inc 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
45% 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 Resources for the Future Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 47% · 2018 47% · 2019 40% · 2020 17% · 2021 17% · 2022 23% · 2023 10% — 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
44% of Resources for the Future Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
Resources for the Future Inc draws 96% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 22 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 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
Resources for the Future Inc's funding base is broadening — from 18 funders to 37 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 210 environment nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding Resources for the Future Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $158k on record.
- VT$120k
- OR$29k
- MA$9k
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 Resources for the Future 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 Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
77%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 3 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Resources for the Future 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.
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 Resources for the Future Inc?
- Resources for the Future Inc (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 93 organizations whose IRS filings report $41,582,403 to it, the largest being ALFRED P SLOAN FOUNDATION ($4,917,968). 56 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Resources for the Future Inc have?
- IRS filings report 93 organizations giving $41,582,403 in grants to Resources for the Future Inc, 56 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Resources for the Future Inc?
- ALFRED P SLOAN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $4,917,968 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Resources for the Future Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 93 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