GrantmakersMassachusetts

The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

Cambridge, MA · EIN 04-2535767. Reported 66 grants totalling $4,988,508 to 46 organizations across tax years 2021-2023, on Form 990 Schedule I.

46organizations funded
$25,000median reported grant
$4,988,508granted, 2021-2023
36%of grantees funded again the next year
34%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 The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc, the IRS classifies it under international affairs rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE Q055) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 46 distinct organizations, with 34% 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 2 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 $25,000. Half of what it reported fell between $15,000 and $66,500; the smallest was $5,100 and the largest $950,000. 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
8 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
23 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
13 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
10 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
8 grants
$250,000 Or More
4 grants

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
Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs IncCalabasas, CA$1,712,500332023
Solutions Project IncLos Angeles, CA$850,000112021
Partnership Project IncWashington, DC$360,000332023
Alliance for Affordable EnergyNew Orleans, LA$155,000222022
Deep South Center for Environmental JusticeNew Orleans, LA$150,000112021
Harambee House IncSavannah, GA$150,000222022
West Harlem Environmental Action IncNew York, NY$131,000222022
Allied Media Projects IncDetroit, MI$127,000112021
Center for Earth Energy and DemocracyMinneapolis, MN$125,000112021
Natural Resources Defense Council IncNew York, NY$109,250222022
Bluegreen Alliance FoundationMinneapolis, MN$98,000332023
The Poor Peoples Campaign IncChicago, IL$75,000112021
Clean Water FundWashington, DC$70,950112021
Citizens Utility Board of OhioLakewood, OH$65,000222023
Green 2 0Washington, DC$55,000332023
Movement Strategy CenterOakland, CA$52,750112021
Cleanairnow AssociationLawrence, KS$50,000112021
Greater Cleveland CongregationsCleveland, OH$50,000222023
GreenlatinosBoulder, CO$50,000332023
Princeton UniversityPrinceton, NJ$50,000112021
SoulardarityHighland Park, MI$50,000112021
Greenroots IncChelsea, MA$41,100332023
Iowa Environmental CouncilDes Moines, IA$37,500112021
Gullah Geechee Angel NetworkGoose Creek, SC$35,350222022
350 New HampshireDover, NH$35,000112022
Just Transition AllianceSan Diego, CA$25,000112021
Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy ServicesHouston, TX$25,000112021
We Count IncFlorida City, FL$25,000112021
Wabanaki Youth in ScienceOld Town, ME$20,827112022
Evnoire Power Development Association IncSmyrna, GA$20,000222022
Memphis Community Against PollutionMemphis, TN$18,000112023
New Alpha Community Development CorporationFlorence, SC$18,000112022
University of New Hampshire Foundation IncorporatedDurham, NH$16,000112021
Beyond ImpactW Hollywood, CA$15,000112022
Clean Energy NhConcord, NH$15,000112022
West Michigan Environmental Action Council Education FoundationGrand Rapids, MI$15,000112021
Young Gifted & GreenMemphis, TN$15,000112022
4 Venir IncMerced, CA$12,708112021
Climate Justice AllianceLos Angeles, CA$10,000112022
Healthy Climate WisconsinMadison, WI$10,000112023
Rocky Mountain InstituteBoulder, CO$8,973112021
EvnoireSmyrna, GA$7,500112023
League of Conservation Voters Education FundWashington, DC$7,500112023
University of Maryland College Park Foundation IncCollege Park, MD$7,500112023
Interfaith Center on Corporate ResponsibilityNew York, NY$6,000112023
Sustainable Energy Economy SolutionsNew Orleans, LA$5,100112021

14 of 46 (30%) received money in more than one year over the 3 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 36 of 46 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
23 orgs
Education
4 orgs
Human Services
2 orgs
Arts & Culture
2 orgs
Community Improvement
2 orgs
Public & Societal Benefit
1 org
Civil Rights
1 org
Youth Development
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202132$3,410,481$50,000
202220$940,927$18,000
202314$637,100$16,500

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

54% of its giving went to organizations in California. 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.

California
$2.7M
District of Columbia
$493K
Louisiana
$310K
New York
$246K
Minnesota
$223K
Michigan
$192K
Georgia
$178K
Ohio
$115K

Down to the city

Calabasas, CA
$1.7M
Los Angeles, CA
$860K
Washington, DC
$493K
New Orleans, LA
$310K
New York, NY
$246K
Minneapolis, MN
$223K

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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.

Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc25 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund23 shared recipientsUnited States Energy Foundation23 shared recipientsTides Foundation20 shared recipientsWindward Fund19 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc16 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 $25,000 -- 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 California.
  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 CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding education in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding human services in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding arts & culture in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2020-2023). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.

On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 14 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: Two Brattle Square, Cambridge, MA, 02138.

EIN 04-2535767 · 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.