Tennessee · Nonprofit
SOUTHERN ALLIANCE FOR CLEAN ENERGY
SOUTHERN ALLIANCE FOR CLEAN ENERGY (Tennessee) receives grants from 49 organizations whose IRS filings report $24,528,976 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($16,333,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 69% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.4M
- Funders on record
- 49
- Grants received
- $25M
- Net assets
- $12M
What Southern Alliance for Clean Energy does
Mission
The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy promotes responsible energy choices to ensure clean, safe and healthy communities throughout the southeast.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Climate sace has launched our energy affordability campaign which gives members ways to speak up to bring power bills down. The campaign lists resources that can help customers understand their bills, and ways to help manage costs by choosing cleaner renewable energy options when possible. There is also a form to send a message to utilities in all of our states, along with elected officials, calling for accountability and energy choices that will lower bills and reduce carbon emissions from the utility sector. Sace's clean energy generation also continued to hold monthly calls, distribute monthly newsletters, and invite our members from around the region to take action to support clean energy policy. Through the clean energy generation campaign, we have worked with our members to share stories and perspectives about taking action for climate and clean energy and have shared many action opportunities such as petitions, call-in days, and events. To raise awareness about how clean energy improves lives, and to build bridges across political and social differences here in our diverse region, sace and our partners ssdn and generation180 continued creating content for energy for all…
$1,401,814 spentof which $106,258 as grants$1,610,000 earned by the program45% of program spendingClean energy sace published the 8th edition of our solar in the southeast report in october 2025. We also published the 6th annual transportation electrification in the southeast in september 2025, in partnership with atlas public policy, to track and contextualize the southeasts ev market. These annually-published reports track market, utility, and public policy trends across the region impacting the advancement (or stalls in progress, when appropriate) of clean energy. Through these annual reports, sace ranks the performance of our region's utilities in comparison with their regional and national peers. These key annual reports prove to be immensely valuable tools when we appear before utilities and regulators, as well as in our advocacy for smart public policy. Throughout 2025, sace continued our "electrify the south collaborative" program. We hosted four webinars (april, september, and november 2025 & march 2026); as well as state-specific in-person meetings which boosted overall participation significantly.
$1,559,449 spentof which $117,527 as grants$1,162,396 earned by the program51% of program spendingEnergy efficiency our intervention into the georgia power irp and rate case settlement resulted in an increase in energy efficiency: georgia powers current ee is approximately 0.26% of retail sales, the irp proposes 0.5% of retail sales. In january 2026, sace published our 7th edition of the energy efficiency in the southeast report ranking utility energy efficiency portfolios based on energy saved as a percentage of the utilitys total electricity sold in the prior year, and comparing to state, regional, and national averages. The purpose of this report is to document current progress and trends at both utility and state levels, as well as identify policies and practices to drive continued energy efficiency in the southeast.
$125,591 spentof which $4,899 as grants$70,000 earned by the program4% of program spendingThe Southern Alliance for Clean Energy promotes responsible energy choices to ensure clean, safe and healthy communities throughout the southeast.
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,086,854.
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 2022 to 2023, from $6.8M to $9.0M (+33%).
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.
86% of SOUTHERN ALLIANCE FOR CLEAN ENERGY’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as 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 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $5.3M → $5.6M.
10 of 49 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 69% 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 SOUTHERN ALLIANCE FOR CLEAN ENERGY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 49 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
SOUTHERN ALLIANCE FOR CLEAN ENERGY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 67% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
93% 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 SOUTHERN ALLIANCE FOR CLEAN ENERGY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 84% · 2018 69% · 2019 52% · 2020 63% · 2021 68% · 2022 64% · 2023 73% — 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 SOUTHERN ALLIANCE FOR CLEAN ENERGY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 41% 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
69% of SOUTHERN ALLIANCE FOR CLEAN ENERGY's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $7.5M that is directly attributable, 99% of it comes from funders outside Tennessee, across 12 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $17M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
SOUTHERN ALLIANCE FOR CLEAN ENERGY runs a healthier operating margin 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
Government funding SOUTHERN ALLIANCE FOR CLEAN ENERGY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.4M on record.
- Department of Energy$1.4M
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 SOUTHERN ALLIANCE FOR CLEAN 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 Tennessee
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
33%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Southern Alliance for Clean Energy · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SOUTHERN ALLIANCE FOR CLEAN 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 SOUTHERN ALLIANCE FOR CLEAN ENERGY?
- SOUTHERN ALLIANCE FOR CLEAN ENERGY (Tennessee) receives grants from 49 organizations whose IRS filings report $24,528,976 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($16,333,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 69% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SOUTHERN ALLIANCE FOR CLEAN ENERGY have?
- IRS filings report 49 organizations giving $24,528,976 in grants to SOUTHERN ALLIANCE FOR CLEAN ENERGY, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SOUTHERN ALLIANCE FOR CLEAN ENERGY?
- FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS is the largest funder on record, with $16,333,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SOUTHERN ALLIANCE FOR CLEAN ENERGY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Tennessee. 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 49 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