Grantmakers › District of Columbia
Earthworks
Washington, DC · EIN 52-1557765. Reported 81 grants totalling $2,030,198 to 50 organizations across tax years 2021-2025, on Form 990 Schedule I.
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:
- 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.
- How spread out its giving is. 50 distinct organizations, with 23% 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.
- How much its list changes. 33% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 4 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.
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.
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.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sustainable Markets Foundation | New York, NY | $467,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Earthworks Action Fund | Washington, DC | $292,668 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| International Indigenous Fund for Development and Solidarity Batani | Yarmouth, ME | $162,800 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Beyond Extreme Energy | Rochester, VT | $117,030 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Mountain Watershed Association | Melcroft, PA | $67,875 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance | Seattle, WA | $60,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| The Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples Inc | Arcata, CA | $57,200 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Tribal Images Museum Inc | Vinton, LA | $52,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Society of Native Nations | San Antonio, TX | $51,100 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Evansville Tribal Council | Bettles Field, AK | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Comite Civico Del Valle Inc | Brawley, CA | $46,500 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Western Leaders Network | Durango, CO | $39,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Nez Perce Tribe | Lapwai, ID | $36,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Texas Permian Future Generations | Forsan, TX | $32,375 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Texas Campaign for the Environment Fund | Austin, TX | $31,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Sunrise Movement Education Fund | Washington, DC | $28,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas | Floresville, TX | $22,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Honor the Earth | Colstrip, MT | $21,400 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Ground Game Fund | Manchaca, TX | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Institute for Policy Studies | Suite, DC | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Native Village of Ambler | Ambler, AK | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Western Organization of Resource | Billings, MT | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Institute for Enhanced Equity | New Orleans, LA | $18,200 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Chaparral Community Coalition for Health and the Environment | Chaparral, NM | $16,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Citizens for Clean Air and Water in Brazoria County | Freeport, TX | $16,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Healthy Gulf | New Orleans, LA | $16,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Micah Six Eight Mission | Sulphur, LA | $16,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Port Arthur Community Action Network | Port Arthur, TX | $16,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Safe 4 Communities | Houston, TX | $16,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Rgisc Inc | Laredo, TX | $15,500 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Dine Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment | Window Rock, AZ | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Earth Island Institute | Berkeley, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Sierra Club Foundation | Oakland, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada | Las Vegas, NV | $12,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Liveable Arlington | Arlington, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Mount Triumph Baptist Church | St James, LA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Central Louisiana Coalition for a Clean & Healthy Environment | Colfax, LA | $8,550 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Black Appalachian Coalition | Ottawa Hills, OH | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Calhoun County Resource Watch | Seadrift, TX | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Earth Island Institute Inc | Berkeley, CA | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Extensive Empowerment Project Inc | Gonzales, LA | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Freeport Haven | Freeport, TX | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Ingleside on the Bay Coastal Watch Association | Ingleside, TX | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Oil & Gas Action Network | Berkeley, CA | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Rgisc Inc | Laredo, TX | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Southern Sector Rising | Dallas, TX | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Native Village Traditional Council Mary's Igloo Traditional Council | Teller, AK | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Teller Traditional Council | Teller, AK | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Indigenous People of the Coastal Bend | Corp Christi, TX | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Great Basin Resource Watch | Reno, NV | $6,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
23 of 50 (46%) received money in more than one year over the 5 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.
- Sustainable Markets Foundation
Subgrant for Texas Oil & Gas Project - Earthworks Action Fund
General Operations non electoral C4 support - Batani Foundation
Subgrants for "Building Grassroots Capacity to Defend Against Mine Waste and Pollution and SIRGE Secretariat subgrant. - Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (irma)
To support local engagement in IRMA - Mountain Watershed Association
Subgrant for grassroots groups in Appalachain region - Tribal Images Museum Inc
Fiscal Sponors for Permian Gulf Coast Coalition Organizing Grant
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 37 of 50 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 11 | $169,000 | $12,000 |
| 2022 | 17 | $395,642 | $15,000 |
| 2023 | 23 | $755,988 | $8,000 |
| 2024 | 17 | $465,668 | $10,000 |
| 2025 | 13 | $243,900 | $8,000 |
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
23% 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.
Down to the city
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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 a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.
How to approach this grantmaker
- 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.
- 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.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in New York.
- 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
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 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 13 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 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
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