GrantmakersDistrict of Columbia

Earthworks

Washington, DC · EIN 52-1557765. Reported 68 grants totalling $1,786,298 to 43 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

43organizations funded
$10,000median reported grant
$1,786,298granted, 2021-2024
36%of grantees funded again the next year
26%of dollars to its largest recipient

Does this grantmaker accept applications?

Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.

Three things in the filing do bear on it:

  1. What kind of organization it is. For Earthworks, the IRS classifies it under public & societal benefit rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE W06Z) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 43 distinct organizations, with 26% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
  3. How much its list changes. 36% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% private foundations manage. A list that turns over this much is one a newcomer can realistically join.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $10,000. Half of what it reported fell between $8,000 and $20,000; the smallest was $5,000 and the largest $467,500. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.

Schedule I only reports grants over $5,000. Form 990 requires a charity to list recipients it paid more than that and lets it omit the rest, so every grant-size figure on this page describes the grants it reported, not all of them. Its real median is lower and its real recipient count is higher. This is also why these numbers cannot be compared with the private-foundation figures elsewhere on this site -- Form 990-PF has no reporting floor, so the two are different populations rather than two samples of one.
$5,000 - $10,000
29 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
26 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
6 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
3 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
3 grants
$250,000 Or More
1 grant

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Sustainable Markets FoundationNew York, NY$467,500112023
Earthworks Action FundWashington, DC$292,668332024
Beyond Extreme EnergyRochester, VT$117,030222023
International Indigenous Fund for Development and Solidarity BataniYarmouth, ME$100,000112024
Mountain Watershed AssociationMelcroft, PA$67,875222023
Tribal Images Museum IncVinton, LA$52,000222024
Society of Native NationsSan Antonio, TX$51,100442024
The Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples IncArcata, CA$50,000332024
Comite Civico Del Valle IncBrawley, CA$40,000112024
Western Leaders NetworkDurango, CO$39,000222022
Nez Perce TribeLapwai, ID$36,000332024
Texas Permian Future GenerationsForsan, TX$32,375222023
Texas Campaign for the Environment FundAustin, TX$31,000332024
Evansville Tribal CouncilBettles Field, AK$30,000112024
Sunrise Movement Education FundWashington, DC$28,000332023
Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of TexasFloresville, TX$22,000222022
Institute for Policy StudiesSuite, DC$20,000112024
Native Village of AmblerAmbler, AK$20,000112023
Western Organization of ResourceBillings, MT$20,000222024
Institute for Enhanced EquityNew Orleans, LA$18,200222023
Chaparral Community Coalition for Health and the EnvironmentChaparral, NM$16,000112022
Citizens for Clean Air and Water in Brazoria CountyFreeport, TX$16,000222023
Healthy GulfNew Orleans, LA$16,000222024
Micah Six Eight MissionSulphur, LA$16,000222023
Port Arthur Community Action NetworkPort Arthur, TX$16,000112022
Rgisc IncLaredo, TX$15,500222023
Dine Citizens Against Ruining Our EnvironmentWindow Rock, AZ$15,000112021
Earth Island InstituteBerkeley, CA$15,000112021
Progressive Leadership Alliance of NevadaLas Vegas, NV$12,000112021
Liveable ArlingtonArlington, TX$10,000112021
Mount Triumph Baptist ChurchSt James, LA$10,000112021
Central Louisiana Coalition for a Clean & Healthy EnvironmentColfax, LA$8,550112023
Black Appalachian CoalitionOttawa Hills, OH$8,000112024
Earth Island Institute IncBerkeley, CA$8,000112023
Extensive Empowerment Project IncGonzales, LA$8,000112024
Freeport HavenFreeport, TX$8,000112024
Ground Game FundManchaca, TX$8,000112023
Ingleside on the Bay Coastal Watch AssociationIngleside, TX$8,000112023
Oil & Gas Action NetworkBerkeley, CA$8,000112024
Safe 4 CommunitiesHouston, TX$8,000112024
Southern Sector RisingDallas, TX$8,000112023
Indigenous People of the Coastal BendCorp Christi, TX$7,000112021
Great Basin Resource WatchReno, NV$6,500112023

18 of 43 (42%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 32 of 43 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.

Environment
13 orgs
Community Improvement
5 orgs
Human Services
3 orgs
Civil Rights
3 orgs
International Affairs
2 orgs
Education
2 orgs
Housing & Shelter
1 org
Public Safety & Disaster Relief
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202111$169,000$12,000
202217$395,642$15,000
202323$755,988$8,000
202417$465,668$10,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.

Where its money goes

26% of its giving went to organizations in New York. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.

New York
$468K
District of Columbia
$341K
Texas
$241K
Louisiana
$129K
California
$121K
Vermont
$117K
Maine
$100K
Pennsylvania
$68K

Down to the city

New York, NY
$468K
Washington, DC
$321K
Rochester, VT
$117K
Yarmouth, ME
$100K
Melcroft, PA
$68K
Vinton, LA
$52K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available that two funders have overlapping priorities -- and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Tides Foundation19 shared recipientsAmalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc16 shared recipientsRockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc15 shared recipientsResources Legacy Fund15 shared recipientsThe Schmidt Family Foundation14 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund14 shared recipients

How to approach this grantmaker

  1. Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
  2. Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $10,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
  3. Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in New York.
  4. Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.

Related guides

Foundations funding environment in New YorkEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding human services in New YorkEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding civil rights in New YorkEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding environment in District of ColumbiaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Earthworks's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.

On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 15 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 2 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.

Address of record on the latest return: 1612 K Street Nw 904, Washington, DC, 20006.

EIN 52-1557765 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Form 990 is published about a year after the tax year it covers. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this organization has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next.

Is something here wrong about your organization? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.