Skip to content

California · Nonprofit

Vote Solar

Vote Solar (California) receives grants from 67 organizations whose IRS filings report $57,809,622 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($8,498,265). 47 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$7.6M
Funders on record
67
Grants received
$58M
Net assets
$12M
47/67 repeat fundersgrants exceed reported revenue in one year
01What it does

What Vote Solar does

Mission

Vote Solar's mission is to realize a 100% clean energy future through a solutions-driven, people-first approach.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

On its FY2025 return the organization reported a significant change in how it conducts a program.

Overall staffing was reduced in 2025 with a 30% reduction occurring in August 2025. This has lead to some consolidation/adjustment in programmatic services, but the overall programs remain in place.

Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).

  1. Vote Solar accelerates the transition to a 100% clean energy future by advancing policies and programs that expand access to clean solar energy and support a reliable, affordable and modern electric grid. We advocate for a more dynamic and resilient grid by promoting the integration of solar with energy storage and other innovative technologies, including community power networkssometimes called virtual power plantsthat aggregate local resources to bolster energy supply and improve grid stability in the face of extreme weather and surging demand. Additionally, we are advancing fair frameworks for managing new large-scale demand from data centers and electrification to ensure these new customers support clean energy growth without shifting financial burdens onto everyday ratepayers. By intervening in complex regulatory proceedings like Integrated Resource Planning and rate cases, we hold monopoly utilities accountable, realigning their financial incentives with the public interest through Performance-Based Ratemaking. Simultaneously, we work to dismantle market barriers by championing interconnection and permitting reforms that lower costs and prevent delays, ensuring that the…

    $7,502,224 spentof which $5,000 as grants
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $7,502,224.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($5.1M) Expenses 100 ($4.1M) Net assets 100 ($5.5M)2018 Revenue 119 ($6.0M) Expenses 128 ($5.3M) Net assets 114 ($6.2M)2019 Revenue 133 ($6.8M) Expenses 146 ($6.0M) Net assets 129 ($7.0M)2020 Revenue 196 ($9.9M) Expenses 166 ($6.8M) Net assets 186 ($10M)2021 Revenue 254 ($13M) Expenses 181 ($7.4M) Net assets 286 ($16M)2022 Revenue 146 ($7.4M) Expenses 212 ($8.7M) Net assets 263 ($14M)2023 Revenue 184 ($9.4M) Expenses 236 ($9.7M) Net assets 257 ($14M)2024 Revenue 188 ($9.5M) Expenses 232 ($9.5M) Net assets 258 ($14M)2025 Revenue 150 ($7.6M) Expenses 230 ($9.4M) Net assets 226 ($12M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (150)Expenses (230)Net assets (226)Peer revenue range

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 $11M to $16M (+44%).

$5.7M
$6.5M
$7.4M
$11M
$16M
$15M
$15M
$15M
$13M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

93% of Vote Solar’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 2,303 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$983k
’17
$771k
’18
$798k
’19
$3.1M
’20
$5.5M
’21
−$1.3M
’22
−$317k
’23
$61k
’24
−$1.8M
’25
3.1
months of
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

Zaid Ashai

Board Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed121518191816171618
Joined·+4+6+4+5+3+4+2+6
No longer listed·13365334
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 30 funders, grant income rose $3.3M → $13M.

16 of 67 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 34% 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 Vote Solar’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 67 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

Vote Solar has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 15% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left

66% 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 Vote Solar.

15%
largest funder
40%
top three
~12
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 24% · 2018 28% · 2019 27% · 2020 23% · 2021 42% · 2022 22% · 2023 24% — broadly stable.

“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

53% of Vote Solar's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 70% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

71% of Vote Solar's grant income comes from California funders.

WA
MT
MN
IL
MI
NY
MA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
UT
CO
DE
DC
GA

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $19M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Vote Solar's funding base is broadening — from 9 funders to 30 as grant income climbed.

Operating margin−23% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve3.1mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)5% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,209 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like Vote Solar

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 California

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

80% of spending goes to programs.

Program 80%Management 9%Fundraising 11%

Governance

7
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

72%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 36 states

AK
ME
NH
WA
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
UT
CO
KY
WV
VA
MD
AZ
NM
KS
TN
NC
SC
HI
OK
MS
AL
GA
FL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Vote Solar: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Vote Solar?
Vote Solar (California) receives grants from 67 organizations whose IRS filings report $57,809,622 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($8,498,265). 47 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Vote Solar have?
IRS filings report 67 organizations giving $57,809,622 in grants to Vote Solar, 47 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Vote Solar?
DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $8,498,265 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Vote Solar find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 67 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