Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in Feb 1984.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Where the money goes
76 cents of each dollar spent went to programs.
Form 990 Part IX, line 25, columns B–D. Every line is in By the numbers.
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Who runs it and what they're paid
32 people listed on the 990; $2.5M paid to officers and key staff.
William Pizer’s $487K as President and CEO is at the 90th percentile of top reported officer pay among 324 $10–100M environment nonprofits. Peer set: organizations in the same NTEE major field of work and revenue-size band, compared on each org’s own highest-paid officer/key-employee, from Form 990 Part VII / 990-PF Part VIII. Descriptive placement, not a verdict on whether the pay is appropriate.
Compensation history total reportable pay by year · 8 named individuals · Part VII
| Name | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | FY2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richard G Newell | — | $431,901 | $583,508 | — | — | $382,542 |
| William Pizer | $486,790 | $384,790 | $311,952 | $159,045 | — | — |
| Richard Newell | — | — | — | $446,508 | $420,049 | — |
| Carolyn Mollen | $324,459 | $281,550 | $276,316 | $257,384 | $244,136 | — |
| James Boyd | $321,542 | $268,370 | $255,935 | $228,353 | $208,434 | $196,961 |
| Alan Krupnick | $307,851 | $299,851 | $294,354 | $270,289 | $257,626 | $248,092 |
| Shannon Wulf Tregar | $271,512 | $263,137 | $293,853 | $233,488 | $224,325 | — |
| Raymond Kopp | — | — | — | $266,287 | $291,670 | $255,358 |
Total reportable compensation (Form 990 Part VII column D / Schedule J column E) by filing year, matched by name within this organization. The Schedule J base / bonus / deferred breakdown is not parsed into this dataset.
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Questions the 990 asks
The form asks each of these directly. These are the filed answers.
- Family or business ties among officersPt VI · Ln 2No
- Top official's pay set by an independent reviewPt VI · Ln 15aYes
Programs and updates
Improves decisions on environment, energy, and resources through impartial economic research.
Questions for Resources for the Future INC
Your first name shows with your question. Resources for the Future INC answers here, for everyone.
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Designing Smart Emissions Reduction Strategies
RFF creates climate solutions that are effective, efficient, equitable, beneficial to the economy, and able to achieve net-zero emissions goals-from economy-wide solutions that send consistent economic signals to the marketplace to sector-specific strategies for all major areas of the economy.
Confronting Risks and Building Resilience
RFF evaluates the physical and economic impacts of climate change, using data to assess risks and uncertainties at global, national, sectoral, and local scales, to ensure that global decisionmakers are equipped with the information they need to build resilience in their communities.
Communications
Dissemination of research results in the form of research publications, resources magazine, resources radio, the RFF website, and other methods. Communications activities advance RFF'S reputation for independent research and non partisan while informing and shaping public debate.
Funders
Who pays for it.
From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.
Grants
By the numbers
The FY2021 990, line by line.
Download 990
| Line | Start FY21 | End FY21 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savingsLn 1–2 | $1.2M | $652K |
| InvestmentsLn 11–13 | $58.4M | $66.0M |
| Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c | $20.2M | $20.5M |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $87.6M | $93.5M |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $27.6M | $25.6M |
| Net assetsLn 32 | $60.1M | $67.9M |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants and assistance to foreign recipientsLn 3 | $200K | $200K | ||
| Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5 | $1.7M | $1.1M | $357K | $249K |
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $6.2M | $4.8M | $927K | $547K |
| Pension plan contributionsLn 8 | $711K | $598K | $59K | $54K |
| Other employee benefitsLn 9 | $324K | $272K | $20K | $31K |
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $481K | $386K | $35K | $60K |
| Management feesLn 11a | $141K | $114K | $27K | |
| Legal feesLn 11b | $122K | $22K | $100K | |
| Accounting feesLn 11c | $539K | $218K | $321K | |
| Investment management feesLn 11f | $220K | $220K | ||
| Other fees for servicesLn 11g | $1.5M | $1.3M | $196K | $51K |
| Advertising and promotionLn 12 | $27K | $27K | ||
| Office expensesLn 13 | $313K | $255K | $17K | $41K |
| Information technologyLn 14 | $317K | $247K | $70K | |
| OccupancyLn 16 | $1.2M | $1.1M | $81K | |
| TravelLn 17 | $28K | $18K | $10K | $52 |
| Conferences, conventions and meetingsLn 19 | $25K | $21K | $1K | $3K |
| Depreciation, depletion and amortizationLn 22 | $310K | $138K | $172K | |
| InsuranceLn 23 | $39K | $39K | ||
| Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24 | $872K | $831K | $39K | $1K |
| All other expensesLn 24e | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $15.3M | $11.7M | $2.6M | $1.1M |
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 Latest | $15.5M | $18.8M | −$3.3M | $58.2M | 990 PDF |
| FY2024 | $16.9M | $18.1M | −$1.2M | $62.2M | 990 PDF |
| FY2023 | $13.7M | $17.2M | −$3.5M | $57.7M | 990 PDF |
| FY2022 | $13.0M | $16.0M | −$3.0M | $56.1M | 990 PDF |
| FY2021 Viewing | $15.5M | $15.3M | $188K | $67.9M | 990 PDF |
| FY2020 | $15.5M | $15.5M | −$54K | $60.1M | 990 PDF |
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Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2021 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $15,530,673 revenue, 12 lines filed
Part VI · Governance 20 of 21 board members independent, no flags
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $15,530,673 across 7 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $15,342,319 across 21 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $93,492,158 assets, 18 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $67,909,684 net assets at year end
Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2021 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
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