Form 990 for tax year 2024

Totals

Total revenue

$24,647,599

Total expenses

$25,215,948

Contributions and grants received

$24,178,378

Grants paid

$9,514,294

Program service revenue

$0

Investment income

$466,918

Other revenue

$2,303

Total assets, end of year

$11,130,168

Total liabilities, end of year

$1,123,853

Net assets or fund balances, end of year

$10,006,315

Program services expenses (Part IX)

$23,236,262

Management and general expenses

$1,287,604

Fundraising expenses

$692,082

Program service expenses (Part III)

$23,236,262

Program services were 92.1% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

Line items

Every line the filer filed in Parts VIII, IX and X, as filed and in filed order. Blank columns are left out, and the lines are not forced to add up to the totals above.

Mission and programs · 2024

• Stabilize the Climate through Advocacy - EDF Action worked to defend federal clean energy and clean transportation tax incentives enacted as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. Through a coordinated advocacy effort, EDF Action collaborated with a broad range of stakeholders across the clean energy and transportation sectors, including national trade associations, individual companies, and environmental nonprofit partners. This work engaged both business and community voices to communicate the economic, consumer, and industry impacts of the tax incentives. EDF Action conducted public opinion research, developed policy and legal analysis, and supported earned and paid media efforts in key states to inform policymakers and the public about the consequences of repealing or weakening these incentives. The organization facilitated grassroots engagement, generating tens of thousands of constituent messages to Members of Congress and leveraged in-house expertise to analyze the impacts on domestic manufacturing, the auto industry, and consumer choice. Following congressional consideration of legislation affecting these programs, EDF Action supported paid communications and public education efforts in targeted states and districts to raise awareness of the potential economic and consumer impacts.

  Expenses $16,283,966 · Grants $9,187,667

• Advancing State Policy Goals - Across the country, durable environmental progress is built state by state. EDF Action's State Affairs program operates in 10 states representing 40% of the U.S. population - including the nation's top oil- and gas-producing states - turning policy ideas into real-world solutions that cut pollution, lower costs, and strengthen communities. In California, EDF Action advanced two landmark climate laws. The organization played a central role in advancing legislation enabling California to join a West-wide electricity market that will deliver cheaper, cleaner power and improved reliability. It also helped secure reauthorization of the state's "Cap and Invest" program, extending it through 2045 and aligning it with California's climate targets. Through lobbying, media engagement, paid outreach, and coalition building, EDF Action overcame legislative obstacles and secured bipartisan support. In Texas, EDF Action achieved meaningful wins in the nation's largest oil- and gas-producing state. The team advanced limits on how long inactive wells can remain unplugged, addressing pollution risks. It also helped pass groundwater science funding and dedicated water infrastructure legislation, later approved by voters by a wide margin - marking the largest water investment in Texas history. In Colorado, EDF Action helped extend clean electricity standards toward 100% by 2040 and secure nation-leading methane and air toxics protections. In Nevada, the organization helped pass bipartisan legislation strengthening the state's clean energy fund. In Arizona, EDF Action advanced water security reforms and supported bipartisan "Ag-to-Urban" legislation to conserve groundwater. Across states from Florida to Virginia, EDF Action continues building bipartisan coalitions to advance resilience, clean energy, and community-centered climate solutions - ensuring continued progress even amid federal uncertainty.

  Expenses $2,115,437 · Grants $166,818

• Strengthen People's and Nature's Ability to Thrive through Advocacy - In fisheries and aquaculture, EDF Action played a vital role in educating the public and policymakers about the economic and environmental benefits of sustainable aquaculture alongside healthy, well-managed fisheries. Our work highlighted how smart seafood policy can create jobs, strengthen food security, and support coastal communities while minimizing environmental risks. EDF Action helped build congressional support for protecting National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) from ongoing agency and staffing cuts, and for securing appropriations levels that allow NMFS to carry out its core fishery-management responsibilities. We partnered with coastal community leaders and fishermen to elevate policy solutions that promote sustainable and resilient fisheries, a responsive NMFS, and the regulatory stability on which the domestic seafood supply depends. Through sustained media outreach, legislative engagement, and coalition-building, EDF Action elevated sustainable aquaculture in federal policy discussions and advanced the bipartisan MARA Act as a new consensus framework. By strengthening relationships with congressional leaders, industry stakeholders, and environmental advocates, we reinforced the need for a science-based, community-informed approach to offshore aquaculture and federal fisheries management in the United States. In agriculture, EDF Action advocated for the inclusion of Inflation Reduction Act conservation funding in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, permanently expanding USDA conservation programs. This action represents roughly a $35 billion increase in conservation investments over the next two decades. The outcome followed years of engagement with Republican lawmakers to preserve these funds rather than rescind or reallocate them to non-environmental priorities, and it represented a critical policy win in the tax and spending reconciliation bill. In addition to this permanent expansion, EDF Action worked with partners to submit comments to the MAHA Commission. That engagement helped shape USDA's recently announced regenerative agriculture initiative - a pilot program prioritizing conservation practices that improve soil health, water quality, and nutrition outcomes.

  Expenses $1,006,020 · Grants $50,000

• OTHER PROGRAM SERVICE EXPENSES

  Expenses $3,830,839 · Grants $109,809

As filed on the 2024 return. The filer continues this part on Schedule O, which is not shown here.

Listed in Part VII

Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those. A Schedule J breakdown is as filed: base pay, bonus, other, deferred compensation and nontaxable benefits from this organization, with any from related organizations beside each, and the filer's own total. It is shown with the Part VII listing of the same name on the same return. The form gives no key between the two, so that pairing is ours, and is marked matched by us.

Schedule J

Part I's answers as filed. A line not listed was left unanswered; on lines 1a and 3 that means the box was not checked.

Grants on this return

• EDF ACTION VOTES INC

  $9,000,000

  PUBLIC & GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

• CLEAN ENERGY FOR AMERICA INC

  $110,000

  PUBLIC & GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

• THE PARTNERSHIP PROJECT ACTION FUND

  $100,000

  PUBLIC & GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

• TAXPAYERS FOR COMMON SENSE ACTION

  $25,000

  PUBLIC & GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

• Clean Energy Business Network LLC

  $23,485

  PUBLIC & GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

• NEO PHILANTHROPY INC

  $20,000

  PUBLIC & GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

• NO ON 2117 COMMITTEE

  $20,000

  PUBLIC & GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

• TEXAS CAMPAIGN FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

  $20,000

  PUBLIC & GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

• NM NATIVE VOTE

  $15,000

  METHANE ADVOCACY SUPPORT

• EEN ACTION INC

  $10,000

  Methane Advocacy

The 10 largest by cash amount. The API serves every itemized grant.

Related organizations on this return

Schedule R Part II: tax-exempt organizations related to the filer by control. It does not record shared board members or money.

• ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INC

  501(c)(3) · ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION · NY

  Directly controlled by NA

• ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE ACTION FUND PAC

  527 · ELECTORAL ACTIVITIES · NY · controlled entity

  Directly controlled by EDAF

• EDF ACTION VOTES INC

  527 · ELECTORAL ACTIVITIES · DC · controlled entity

  Directly controlled by EDAF

• RESTORE OUR LOUISIANA COAST FUND

  527 · ELECTORAL ACTIVITIES · LA · controlled entity

  Directly controlled by EDAF

• ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE ACTION FUND TEXAS PAC

  527 · ELECTORAL ACTIVITIES · TX · controlled entity

  Directly controlled by EDAF

• KEEP THE LIGHTS ON

  527 · ELECTORAL ACTIVITIES · LA · controlled entity

  Directly controlled by EDAF

• ENERGY ACTION PAC

  527 · ELECTORAL ACTIVITIES · NC · controlled entity

  Directly controlled by EDAF

• ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE ACTION FUND CA PAC

  527 · ELECTORAL ACTIVITIES · CA · controlled entity

  Directly controlled by EDAF

• ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE ACTION FUND VA PAC

  527 · ELECTORAL ACTIVITIES · DC · controlled entity

  Directly controlled by EDAF

• ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND DE MEXICO AC

  ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION · MX

  Directly controlled by EDF

• Environmental Defense Fund UK

  ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION · UK

  Directly controlled by EDF

• Stichting Environmental Defense Fund Europe

  ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION · NL

  Directly controlled by EDF

• Environmental Defense Fund Japan Foundation

  ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION · JA

  Directly controlled by EDF

Provenance

Return type

form_990

Tax year

2024

Filed

1 June 2026

IRS schema version

2024v5.1

Source object

202631529349300973

Check it against the return as filed: the GivingTuesday Data Lake hosts a public copy of the original XML.

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