GrantmakersNew York

Nrdc Action Fund Inc

New York, NY · EIN 13-3976062. Reported 83 grants totalling $11.3M to 61 organizations across tax years 2020-2023, on Form 990 Schedule I.

61organizations funded
$25,000median reported grant
$11.3Mgranted, 2020-2023
29%of grantees funded again the next year
37%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. The IRS has no activity classification on file for this one, so we cannot tell you whether it is a community foundation or a single-institution support fund. The recipient list below is the better guide.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 61 distinct organizations, with 37% 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. 29% 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 $25,000. Half of what it reported fell between $10,000 and $60,000; the smallest was $6,000 and the largest $2,080,000. 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
10 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
22 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
22 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
15 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
4 grants
$250,000 Or More
10 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
Nrdc Action VotesNew York, NY$4,191,842442023
League of Conservation Voters IncWashington, DC$2,780,000332023
Givegreen United ActionWashington, DC$1,250,000222023
Natural Resources Defense Council IncNew York, NY$710,761332022
League of Conservation Voters Victory FundWashington, DC$335,000112020
MultiplierSan Francisco, CA$160,000332023
North Carolina Black Alliance IncRaleigh, NC$120,000212023
Bluegreen Alliance IncMinneapolis, MN$100,000112023
Federation of State Conservation Voters Leagues IncAtlanta, GA$100,000222023
Pa Alliance ActionPhiladelphia, PA$100,000332023
SixoneforwardColumbus, OH$80,000112020
Bluegreen Alliance FoundationMinneapolis, MN$75,000112021
Partnership Project Action FundWashington, DC$70,000112023
Rethink Energy Nj a New Jersey Nonprofit CorporationFar Hills, NJ$65,000112023
Sierra ClubOakland, CA$60,961222021
Conservation ColoradoDenver, CO$55,000112023
Center for Energy and EnvironmentMinneapolis, MN$50,000112021
Conservatives for a Clean Energy FutureLansing, MI$50,000112022
Nueva EsperanzaPhiladelphia, PA$50,000112020
Opportunity City PacColumbus, OH$50,000112021
Unidosus Action Fund IncWashington, DC$50,000112020
America VotesWashington, DC$45,825442023
Partnership Project IncWashington, DC$45,000112022
Clean Air CaliforniaSan Rafael, CA$40,000112022
State Democracy Action FundWashington, DC$40,000222023
Environment America IncDenver, CO$35,000112021
Farm Training Collective Nyc IncNew York, NY$30,000332022
Fresh EnergySaint Paul, MN$30,000112023
Ghisallo Cycling InitiativeAustin, TX$30,000112020
National Religious Partnership for the Environment Inc TrWashington, DC$30,000112021
Community Alliance With Family Farmers FoundationDavis, CA$27,000112020
California Environmental VotersOakland, CA$25,000112021
Colorado Peoples AllianceDenver, CO$25,000112021
Community PartnersLos Angeles, CA$25,000112022
Frack Action FundHighland, NY$25,000112022
Nc Futures Action FundRaleigh, NC$25,000112021
Nmvc Action FundRio Rancho, NM$25,000112021
Planned Parenthood Virginia PacRichmond, VA$25,000112023
Sustainable Markets FoundationNew York, NY$25,000112022
Bicycle ColoradoDenver, CO$23,000112022
Tri-State Transportation CampaignNew York, NY$17,725112020
Climate PowerWashington, DC$15,000112023
Harambee House IncSavannah, GA$15,000112023
Ohio Environmental CouncilColumbus, OH$15,000112020
Vote Yes to Reform the New Mexico PrcSanta Fe, NM$15,000112020
Pesticide Action Network North America Regional CenterBerkeley, CA$14,500222023
Alianza Leadership InstituteChicago, IL$10,000112023
Blue Planet FoundationHonolulu, HI$10,000112021
Division of Homeland MinistryIndianapolis, IN$10,000112022
Healthy Air and Water ColoradoDenver, CO$10,000112023
Illinois Environmental CouncilSpringfield, IL$10,000112021
International Children Assistance Network IncMilpitas, CA$10,000112021
Jb Inauguration Committee 2023Chicago, IL$10,000112022
Keep Denver StrongDenver, CO$10,000112021
Shapiro-Davis InaugurationPhiladelphia, PA$10,000112022
VeggielutionSan Jose, CA$10,000112021
1K Women Strong IncTallahassee, FL$9,000112023
Montana Wildlife FundMissoula, MT$8,300112020
Environmental Defense Action FundNew York, NY$7,954112020
California Democratic PartySacramento, CA$6,000112020
Wild Montana Action FundHelena, MT$6,000112020

12 of 61 (20%) 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 kind of organizations it funds

By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 39 of 61 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
18 orgs
Civil Rights
5 orgs
Human Services
4 orgs
Education
3 orgs
Community Improvement
3 orgs
Employment
1 org
Public & Societal Benefit
1 org
Recreation & Sports
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202020$1,951,114$26,000
202121$1,736,648$25,000
202220$4,145,856$25,000
202322$3,475,250$27,500

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

44% 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
$5.0M
District of Columbia
$4.7M
California
$378K
Minnesota
$255K
Pennsylvania
$160K
Colorado
$158K
North Carolina
$145K
Ohio
$145K

Down to the city

New York, NY
$5.0M
Washington, DC
$4.7M
Minneapolis, MN
$225K
San Francisco, CA
$160K
Philadelphia, PA
$160K
Denver, CO
$158K

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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.

Natural Resources Defense Council Inc21 shared recipientsSixteen Thirty Fund17 shared recipientsEnergy Action Fund17 shared recipientsTides Foundation16 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund15 shared recipientsUnited States Energy Foundation15 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 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 civil rights in New YorkEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding human services in New YorkEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding education in New YorkEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Nrdc Action Fund 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 7 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 15 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: 40 West 20TH Street, New York, NY, 10011.

EIN 13-3976062 · 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 [email protected] and we will correct it.