Colorado · Nonprofit
Rocky Mountain Institute
Rocky Mountain Institute (Colorado) receives grants from 296 organizations whose IRS filings report $389,544,726 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($92,801,000). 188 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $175M
- Funders on record
- 296
- Grants received
- $390M
- Net assets
- $121M
What Rocky Mountain Institute does
Mission
Transform the global energy system to secure a clean, prosperous, zero-carbon future for all.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program and a significant change in how it conducts a program.
New Energy Industrial Strategy Center (NEIS): An initiative of RMI, the NEIS Center is designed to harness clean and advanced energy technologies as a driver of economic strength, national security, and innovation. The launch of the NEIS Center supports RMI's mission while expanding into broader global work.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
The following programs were partially ceased and absorbed by other programs; Urban Transformation, Zetro Energy, and Energy Transition "Super Team"
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
Decarbonizing Key Sectors: Carbon-Free Buildings is revolutionizing energy usage in buildings in partnership with industry, governments, businesses, NGOs, financial institutions, and real estate decision makers. Together, we research, test, and drive solutions that reduce climate pollution, lower energy costs, enhance health and resilience, and ensure thermally comfortable buildings for all. Carbon-Free Electricity works with partners to create and scale solutions that advance decarbonization objectives while maintaining energy reliability, improving energy access, advancing equity outcomes, and securing a just transition. We support US utilities in climate-aligned planning, support China use of wind and solar to meet its growing electricity demand, and transform utility business models to support clean energy investment in the Global South. Climate-Aligned Industries engages with the public and private sectors to kick-start first-of-a-kind industrial projects that reduce emissions and accelerate the deployment of clean energy worldwide. With partners, we leverage "hubs" to complete first-mover commercial scale projects, encourage the build-out of green hydrogen, and accelerate…
$51,627,268 spentof which $2,571,790 as grants$14,257,979 earned by the program39% of program spending(see on schedule o)
$38,179,385 spentof which $1,352,695 as grants$5,597,505 earned by the program29% of program spendingApplying Powerful Market Catalysts: Catalytic Finance (previously The Climate Finance Access Network) helps developing countries secure and structure finance for climate investments, with a focus on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in Africa, Pacific Islands, and the Caribbean through our Climate Finance Access Network and other market interventions. Climate Intelligence makes emissions visible - improving access to timely, trustworthy data that can help drive climate-aligned decisions and transactions globally. Climate Finance partners with the finance community close the gaps in the financial sector that are currently preventing capital from flowing into decarbonization projects, particularly in hard-to-abate sectors by increasing both the supply and demand for climate capital and enabling capital to flow to underserved communities. The Energy Transition Academy is a leadership, capacity, and workforce development platform for energy leaders around the world. It offers tools and services to advance projects, programs, and policies that will empower communities across the Global South to tackle climate challenges, create jobs, and seize…
$34,280,205 spentof which $955,192 as grants$4,394,616 earned by the program26% of program spendingOther RMI Initiatives: Influence Team: As an audience-first, multi-channel storytelling force, RMI leverages our cutting-edge research to move more audiences-including stakeholders, the media, and key decision-makers-to act. Through partnerships, strategic communications, and multi-channel storytelling we inform global leaders to adopt and spread the message of the accelerating energy transition. MiQ: MiQ is an independent methane emissions certification standard that aims to differentiate natural gas production by emissions intensity, creating incentives for the drastic reduction of methane emissions across the oil and gas sector by delivering a thriving market for independently certified gas. New Energy Industrial Strategy Center (NEIS): An initiative of RMI, the NEIS Center is designed to harness clean and advanced energy technologies as a driver of economic strength, national security, and innovation. The launch of the NEIS Center supports RMI's mission while expanding into broader global work.
$6,933,727 spentof which $252,558 as grants$1,185,760 earned by the program5% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $131,020,585.
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.
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 $60M to $107M (+80%).
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 0% · 2018 1% · 2019 3% · 2020 0% · 2021 11% · 2022 1% · 2023 1% · 2024 3% · 2025 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Jon Creyts
Chief Executive Officer
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 61 funders to 144 funders, grant income rose $18M → $92M.
58 of 296 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 39% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $796k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Mission Possible Partnership USA Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money Rocky Mountain Institute raised.
From the IRS filings of Rocky Mountain Institute’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 296 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
Rocky Mountain Institute has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 24% 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
65% 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 Rocky Mountain Institute.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 60% · 2018 43% · 2019 26% · 2020 29% · 2021 26% · 2022 15% · 2023 26% — 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 Rocky Mountain Institute's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
Rocky Mountain Institute draws 99% of its grant income from funders outside Colorado, across 34 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $154M arriving through sponsors registered in 24 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.
Government funding Rocky Mountain Institute receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $26.2M on record — $25.5M federal, $731k state.
- Department of Energy$17.5M
- Department of Transportation$5.1M
- Department of State$2.4M
- National Science Foundation$492k
- NJ$460k
- OR$270k
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 Rocky Mountain Institute
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 Colorado
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
81%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 37 states
Part of a family of 6 related entities
- Rmi Innovation Center LLC · disregarded
- Rmi Innovations LLC · disregarded
- Rocky Mountain Institute International · exempt
- D3 Cohort 415 LLC · partnership
- Joltseed419 LLC · partnership
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Rocky Mountain Institute: 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 Rocky Mountain Institute?
- Rocky Mountain Institute (Colorado) receives grants from 296 organizations whose IRS filings report $389,544,726 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($92,801,000). 188 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Rocky Mountain Institute have?
- IRS filings report 296 organizations giving $389,544,726 in grants to Rocky Mountain Institute, 188 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Rocky Mountain Institute?
- FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS is the largest funder on record, with $92,801,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Rocky Mountain Institute find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Colorado. 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 296 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