Funding search · EIN 853672460 · Kirkland, WA

Breakthrough Energy Foundation

Name: Breakthrough Energy Foundation grants, 2022–2024
Creator: PaperOrbit
License: https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/exempt-organization-public-disclosure-and-availability-requirements

A grantmaking public charity (files IRS Form 990, Schedule I). Charities like this often run real grant programs with application cycles.

375
grants reported: $233.5M
total given: 2022–2024
filing years: $300,000
median grant

Based on grants this organization reported to the IRS for tax years 2022–2024. This is what they filed, not a complete record of their giving, and recent years may be incomplete because filings lag.

What they fund

policy implementation development cleantech ecosystem fellowship event exploration

Funder website ↗Full IRS filings ↗How this is built Report an error

Funding pattern

What this funder pays for, at what size, and how to position adjacent work. Read from their filings, with every number checked against the record.

Where the money goes

Early-stage cleantech R&D at for-profit startups (carbon, hydrogen, materials)
Federal energy and climate policy development in Washington, DC think tanks
Policy implementation grants to advocacy and coalition groups
Cleantech exploration awards to university labs and national labs
Bipartisan and conservative-leaning climate policy organizations
Ecosystem grants and event sponsorships in the clean energy field

Typical grant

Median grant is $300,000, with the middle half falling between $125,000 and $688,700. The eight-figure checks go to intermediaries and regranting vehicles like RF Catalytic Capital and Multiplier, and to their own affiliate Breakthrough Energy Action; startup R&D awards cluster tightly at $500,000 to $1.6 million, while university exploration awards run $150,000 to $2.5 million. Repeat giving is common: Rocky Mountain Institute, Third Way, Great Plains Institute, Resources for the Future, ClimateWorks and Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions each appear more than once, often under two different purpose codes in the same year.

Their words

Phrases from their own grant descriptions, worth speaking back to them.

“CLEANTECH R&D”
“POLICY DEVELOPMENT”
“POLICY IMPLEMENTATION”
“CLEANTECH EXPLORATION”
“ECOSYSTEM GRANT”

Positioning adjacent work

Frame university work as CLEANTECH EXPLORATION and ask $150,000 to $250,000; save larger asks for multi-year lab programs.
Emphasize hard-tech decarbonization in cement, steel, hydrogen, aluminum or carbon removal, not behavioral or communications work.
If your work has policy relevance, pair the technical case with a DC-facing analysis partner they already fund.
Show a credible path from lab result to a company or deployable product; they fund for-profits directly.

Worth knowing: Money concentrates hard in DC policy shops and California startups, and a meaningful share flows through affiliated or intermediary vehicles including Breakthrough Energy Action, RF Catalytic Capital and Multiplier. Giving looks relationship-driven and network-based rather than open, with the same two dozen institutions recurring across years and across both the policy and cleantech tracks.

Top recipients

Repeat recipients are the strongest signal of whether a funder has an open door or quietly re-funds the same organizations.

Rf Catalytic Capital2 grants · $19.2M
Multiplier3 grants · $11.0M
Rocky Mountain Institute7 grants · $9.5M
Climate Jobs National Resource Center2 grants · $6.8M
Nrel Foundation4 grants · $6.4M
Natural Resources Defense Council4 grants · $5.8M
Mantel Capture3 grants · $5.0M
Molten Industries3 grants · $5.0M
Mars Materials3 grants · $4.9M
Hgen3 grants · $4.8M

Giving over time

$88.9M

2022

$72.7M

2023

$71.9M

2024

Grant history

The 100 largest of 375 grants.

$10.3M
Rf Catalytic Capital · New York, NY · 2024
Policy implementation
$8.9M
Rf Catalytic Capital · New York, NY · 2023
Policy implementation
$5.0M
Multiplier · San Francisco, CA · 2024
Policy development
$5.0M
Climate Jobs National Resource Center · New York, NY · 2022
Labor-climate implementation initiative
$5.0M
Nrel Foundation · Golden, CO · 2022
Net zero world scale up
$4.0M
Breakthrough Energy Action · Kirkland, WA · 2024
Policy development
$4.0M
Multiplier · San Francisco, CA · 2023
Policy implementation
$3.9M
Molten Industries · Stanford, CA · 2022
Be fellowship r&d grant
$2.9M
Queens Carbon · Fair Lawn, NJ · 2022
Be fellowship r&d grant
$2.8M
Great Plains Institute · Minneapolis, MN · 2022
Carbon mgmt & industrial decarb
$2.7M
Mantel Capture · Boston, MA · 2023
Cleantech r&d
$2.5M
University of Chicago · Chicago, IL · 2024
Cleantech exploration
$2.3M
Center for Climate and Energy Solutions · Arlington, VA · 2022
Mobilizing business engagement for climate
$2.2M
Rocky Mountain Institute · Boulder, CO · 2023
Policy implementation
$2.1M
Rocky Mountain Institute · Boulder, CO · 2022
Clean hydrogen hubs
$2.1M
Rocky Mountain Institute · Boulder, CO · 2024
Policy development
$2.1M
Third Way Institute · Washington, DC · 2023
Policy implementation
$2.1M
Unemit · Berkeley, CA · 2022
Be fellowship r&d grant
$2.1M
Mars Materials · Oakland, CA · 2024
Cleantech r&d
$2.1M
Third Way · Washington, DC · 2022
Us clean energy innovation policies
$2.0M
Natural Resources Defense Council · New York, NY · 2022
Low carbon fuels & industrial decarb
$2.0M
Mantel Capture · Boston, MA · 2022
Be fellowship r&d grant
$2.0M
Climateworks Foundation · San Francisco, CA · 2022
Support for global fertilizer challenge
$2.0M
Multiplier · San Francisco, CA · 2022
Support for clean grid initiative
$2.0M
Renewco2 · Cranford, NJ · 2022
Be fellowship r&d grant
$1.9M
Verne · San Francisco, CA · 2022
Be fellowship r&d grant
$1.9M
Environmental Defense Fund · New York, NY · 2022
Us clean energy innovation policies
$1.9M
Clean Air Task Force · Boston, MA · 2022
Implementing local climate investments
$1.9M
Chemfinity · El Cerrito, CA · 2022
Be fellowship r&d grant
$1.8M
Hgen · Hawthorne, CA · 2023
Cleantech r&d
$1.8M
Climate Jobs National Resource Center · New York, NY · 2022
Labor-climate implementation initiative
$1.8M
Great Plains Institute for Sustainable Development · Minneapolis, MN · 2024
Policy implementation
$1.7M
Furno Materials · Palo Alto, CA · 2022
Be fellowship r&d grant
$1.7M
Holocene Climate Corporation · San Francisco, CA · 2022
Be fellowship r&d grant
$1.7M
Hertha Metals · Brownsville, TX · 2023
Cleantech r&d
$1.7M
Aikido Technologies · San Francisco, CA · 2024
Cleantech r&d
$1.6M
Resources for the Future · Washington, DC · 2022
Industrial sector decarbonization
$1.6M
Takachar · Richmond, CA · 2024
Cleantech r&d
$1.5M
Natural Resources Defense Council · New York, NY · 2022
Low carbon fuels & industrial decarb
$1.5M
Energy Futures Initiative · Washington, DC · 2022
Clean energy innovation reforms
$1.5M
Federation of American Scientists · Washington, DC · 2022
Expansion of project fellowships
$1.5M
Mars Materials · Oakland, CA · 2023
Cleantech r&d
$1.5M
Third Way Institute · Washington, DC · 2024
Policy development
$1.5M
Hgen · Hawthorne, CA · 2022
Be fellowship r&d grant
$1.5M
Hgen · Hawthorne, CA · 2024
Cleantech r&d
$1.4M
Federation of American Scientists · Washington, DC · 2023
Policy implementation
$1.3M
Gencores · Somerville, MA · 2023
Cleantech r&d
$1.3M
Chemfinity · El Cerrito, CA · 2024
Cleantech r&d
$1.3M
Mars Materials · Oakland, CA · 2022
Be fellowship r&d grant
$1.3M
Conduit Tech · Boston, MA · 2024
Cleantech r&d
$1.3M
Natural Resources Defense Council · New York, NY · 2023
Policy implementation
$1.3M
Aluminio · San Carlos, CA · 2022
Be fellowship r&d grant
$1.3M
Phase Biolabs · Wilmington, DE · 2024
Cleantech r&d
$1.3M
The Breakthrough Institute · Berkeley, CA · 2023
Policy development
$1.3M
The Breakthrough Institute · Orinda, CA · 2022
Fed agriculture & nuclear policy
$1.2M
Clearpath · Washington, DC · 2024
Policy implementation
$1.2M
Mission Possible Partnership USA · Boulder, CO · 2022
General operating support.
$1.1M
Conduit Tech · Boston, MA · 2022
Be fellowship r&d grant
$1.1M
Metpeel · College Station, TX · 2022
Be fellowship r&d grant
$1.1M
Clean Air Task Force · Flagstaff, AZ · 2023
Policy implementation
$1.0M
Holocene Climate Corporation · San Francisco, CA · 2024
Cleantech r&d
$1.0M
Queens Carbon · Fair Lawn, NJ · 2024
Cleantech r&d
$1.0M
2030 · Santa Fe, NM · 2024
Policy implementation
$1.0M
Beneficial Electrification League · Arlington, VA · 2023
Policy implementation
$1.0M
Ce Buyers Institute · Washington, DC · 2023
Policy implementation
$1.0M
Rhodium Group Llc · New York, NY · 2023
Policy implementation
$1.0M
The Partnership Project · Washington, DC · 2022
Equitable climate policy implementation
$999,999
National Wildlife Federation · Reston, VA · 2022
State based climate implementation
$971,589
Natural Resources Defense Council · New York, NY · 2024
Policy development
$951,867
Takachar · Richmond, CA · 2023
Cleantech r&d
$950,000
Great Plains Institute for Sustainable Development · Minneapolis, MN · 2023
Policy implementation
$945,790
Aikido Power · San Francisco, CA · 2022
Be fellowship r&d grant
$920,000
Hertha Metals · Brownsville, TX · 2022
Be fellowship r&d grant
$900,000
Great Plains Institute for Sustainable Development · Minneapolis, MN · 2024
Policy development
$900,000
Resources for the Future · Washington, DC · 2024
Policy development
$886,636
Furno Materials · Palo Alto, CA · 2023
Cleantech r&d
$875,000
World Resources Institute · Washington, DC · 2023
Policy implementation
$867,800
Aikido Technologies · San Francisco, CA · 2023
Cleantech r&d
$867,000
Rocky Mountain Institute · Boulder, CO · 2023
Policy development
$860,200
Holocene Climate Corporation · San Francisco, CA · 2023
Cleantech r&d
$850,000
New York University · New York, NY · 2023
Policy implementation
$847,228
Aluminio · San Carlos, CA · 2023
Cleantech r&d
$825,000
National Wildlife Federation · Reston, VA · 2023
Policy implementation
$803,623
Rocky Mountain Institute · Boulder, CO · 2022
Us embodied energy reduction
$800,000
Union of Concerned Scientists · Cambridge, MA · 2022
Transportation fuels decarb initiative
$791,167
Gencores · Somerville, MA · 2022
Be fellowship r&d grant
$750,000
Gridlab · Berkeley, CA · 2022
Transmission tech support & analysis
$750,000
Just Solutions Collective · Oakland, CA · 2022
Equitable climate policy implementation
$750,000
Rocky Mountain Institute · Boulder, CO · 2022
Accelerating transmission projects
$734,950
Clearpath · Washington, DC · 2022
Innovation reform & carbon removal
$726,199
Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions Forum · Washington, DC · 2022
Us clean energy innovation policies
$708,889
Conduit Tech · Boston, MA · 2023
Cleantech r&d
$707,994
Molten Industries · Stanford, CA · 2024
Cleantech r&d
$697,400
Chemfinity · El Cerrito, CA · 2023
Cleantech r&d
$680,000
Rhodium Group Llc · New York, NY · 2024
Policy development
$675,000
World Resources Institute · Washington, DC · 2023
Policy development
$659,098
Evoloh · Palo Alto, CA · 2023
Cleantech r&d
$650,000
Rocky Mountain Institute · Boulder, CO · 2024
Policy implementation
$650,000
National Skills Coalition · Washington, DC · 2023
Policy implementation
$623,500
Clearpath · Washington, DC · 2023
Policy implementation

View all 375 grants →

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Source: IRS Form 990, Schedule I, as filed by this organization. These are grants already paid. Grants paid directly to individuals are reported to the IRS only as totals, so they do not appear as named lines here.