Grants for environmental education programs

Name: Top 25 grants made to environmental education organizations
Creator: Cause IQ
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

558 environmental education organizations received at least $15.6 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 1,315 grants made from 991 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,190. Of these 991 foundations, 85% made just a single grant to envirnmental ed orgs, and 2% made grants to four or more envirnmental ed orgs. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.

$15,588,498

Total grant dollars given to environmental education programs

1,315

Number of grants made annually to environmental education programs

991

Number of grantmakers funding environmental education programs

$1,190

Median grant size to environmental education programs

Foundations that support environmental education organizations

Out of all grants made to environmental education programs, 75% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 84% of the dollar-value of grants to envirnmental ed orgs. Foundations funding envirnmental ed orgs also made grants to land conservation groups, multiservice human service organizations, natural resource conservation nonprofits, youth development programs, and educational service providers.

Foundation size

Foundation size	Number of grantmakers
Small	749
Medium	124
Large	118

Small foundations have <$10M in assets. Medium foundations have $10M to $50M in assets. Large foundations have >$50M in assets.

Foundation type

Foundation type	Number of grantmakers
Community	32
Private	862
Corporate	52
Other	45

Grants made

Grants made to envirnmental ed orgs	Number of grantmakers
1	845
2-3	123
4-10	17
11+	6

Top 10 foundations supporting environmental education organizations

Grantmaker	State	Geographic focus	Percent of grant dollars to envirnmental ed orgs	Number of grants made to envirnmental ed orgs	Median grant size
Seattle Foundation	WA	State	0.1%	40	$2,250
Clif Bar Family Foundation	CA	National	2.2%	20	$3,500
JP Morgan Chase Foundation	NY	National	0.0%	16	$310
Shell Oil Company Foundation	TX	National	0.0%	14	$450
The Troy Foundation	OH	Metro	0.2%	11	$1,000
Salesforce Com Foundation	CA	National	0.0%	11	$200
Liberty Hill Foundation	CA	Metro	0.1%	9	$1,000
Abbvie Foundation	IL	National	0.0%	9	$100
Alliant Energy Foundation	WI	State	0.6%	8	$1,746
Baird Foundation	WI	National	0.1%	8	$250

See all grantmaking to environmental education programs

Environmental education organizations grantees

Environmental education programs with more than $5 million in total revenues received 88% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 34% of all envirnmental ed orgs.

Grant amounts

Size of grant	Number of grants
<$10k	1,311
$10k-$25k	0
$25k-$100k	0
$100k+	4

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue	Median grant size
<$100k	$1,300
$100k-$500k	$1,350
$500k-$1M	$1,512
$1M-$5M	$1,500
>$5M	$1,000

Grantee states

State of grantee	Number of grants
California	218
District of Columbia	138
Massachusetts	81
New York	78
Other	800

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee	Number of grants
Washington DC	171
San Francisco	93
New York City	72
Los Angeles	72
Other	712

Top 25 grants made to environmental education programs

Grantee	Grant size	Purpose	Grantmaker
Environmental Defense Action Fund (EDF)	$3,799,008	Operations Support	Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)
Environmental Defense Action Fund (EDF)	$3,799,008	FMV	Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)
Environmental Defense Action Fund (EDF)	$2,693,524	FMV	Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)
Environmental Defense Action Fund (EDF)	$2,559,449	FMV	Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)
Wilderness Youth Project	$5,000	Childrens' Health	Ferguson Foundation
Pine Mountain Settlement School	$5,000	C60 Environmental Education and Outdoor Survival Programs	Community Foundation of Louisville
Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center of Virginia	$5,000	The Speak Out! Project	Charlottesville Area Community Foundation
Rockfish Valley Foundation	$5,000	General Purpose	Charlottesville Area Community Foundation
Cincinnati Nature Center (CNC)	$5,000	Promote Charitable Purpose	Stella M Buerger Charitable Trust
Malama Kauai	$5,000	Donation	AlohaCare
Highlander Research and Education Center	$5,000	General Support	Morris Family Fund
Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC)	$5,000	Financial Aid	Ruth H and Warren A Ellsworth Foundation
Wilderness Inquiry	$5,000	General Funding	The Helgeson Foundation
Heal The Bay	$5,000	General Support	David Geffen Foundation
Thorne Ecological Institute	$5,000	General Operating Support	The Community Foundation
Thorne Ecological Institute	$5,000	General Operating Support	The Community Foundation
Mystic River Watershed Association	$5,000	To Support Community Organizing in East Boston for Waterfront and Public Space Improvements.	GreenRoots
Green Works in Kansas City	$5,000	Unrestricted General	Taylor and Patti Abernathy Charitable Trust
National Ability Center	$5,000	Support for People of All Abilities for Affordable Adaptive Sports	The Vivint Giveback Foundation
North Carolina Outward Bound School (NCOBS)	$5,000	General Operating Support	Trailsend Foundation
Marine Science Institute	$5,000	Voyage and Land Programs for Low Income High School Students.	Danford Foundation
North Carolina Outward Bound School (NCOBS)	$5,000	General Purpose	Triangle Community Foundation
Slide Ranch	$5,000	Education	Harold L Wyman Foundation
Christodora	$5,000	General Operating Support	J M Kaplan Fund
Tin Mountain Conservation Center Incorporated (TMCC)	$5,000	Support High School Environmental Education Programs in North Country	Cogswell Benevolent Trust

See all grants to environmental education programs

Methodology: To determine grants and grantees, Cause IQ analyzes electronically-filed Form 990, Form 990-EZ, and Form 990-PF financial disclosure documents, matching grantees to specific organizations using EINs and fuzzy matching logic. The "Environmental education programs" category for this page is determined by the "C60: Environmental Education" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.