irs program accomplishments · form 990 part iii · fy2024
What they reported doing
- #1 primary $5.17MKNOWLEDGE: THE ORGANIZATION CONDUCTS RESEARCH TO DETERMINE THE MOST EFFECTIVE APPROACHES TO EDUCATE THE PUBLIC ON CLEAN ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE, AND SHARES ITS FINDINGS WITH A BROAD RANGE OF GROUPS THROUGH PUBLICATIONS, BRIEFINGS AND OTHER EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS.
named programs · 3 · from sources
What they call their work
Insights and Advisory Services
Provides data-driven messaging research and language strategy to help clients communicate about climate change in polarized environments
Knowledge
Conducts research to identify the most effective methods for educating the public about clean energy and climate change; shares findings through publications, briefings, and educational materials
Strategic & Advisory
Advises stakeholders including governments, businesses, and nonprofits on effective climate communication strategies and messaging
activities · 2 groups
What they do
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Climate Change Public Awareness & Advocacy 3 activities
- Advocacy campaigns to reframe climate narrativesDesigns and implements strategic advocacy campaigns to reframe public understanding of climate issues, including linking extreme weather events to climate change through initiatives like the “unnatural disasters” campaign and deploying triggered media buying technology during extreme weather events to increase public engagement.
- Designs and implements data-driven public engagement campaignsDeploys human-centered, research-informed marketing and advertising campaigns to shift public narratives around climate change and increase support for climate solutions. Campaigns include educational advertising, media outreach, and narrative strategies such as the "For Our Daughters" initiative and the film "Later Is Too Late," reaching millions of moderate suburban women and generating hundreds of thousands of new climate supporters.
- Produces and disseminates climate messaging tools and resourcesDevelops and distributes practical, research-based communication materials such as messaging guides, playbooks, tipsheets, and digital resource hubs to equip nonprofit, corporate, and media leaders with effective climate communication strategies. These include unbranded, downloadable content and social-first materials used by over 100 climate organizations.
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Uncategorized 1 activity
- Conducts global climate communication researchConducts large-scale research on public beliefs, attitudes, and messaging effectiveness related to clean energy and climate change across multiple countries, using methods such as message testing, randomized controlled trials, focus groups, and ad measurement. Findings are based on studies representing 70% of the world’s population, including testing of 18 climate policies with nearly 60,000 people across 23 countries, analysis of over 3 billion served ads, and nearly 2,000 hours of individual feedback.
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financials · form 990 · fy2024
revenue
Total revenue$28.07M
Contributions & grants$27.16M97%
Program service revenue$23K0%
Investment income$876K3%
Other revenue$10K
expenses
Total expenses$36.66M
Program expenses91%
Admin / overhead8%
Fundraising1%
Salaries & benefits$6.15M
Grants paid out$973K
Largest expense lineCompensation
balance sheet
Total assets$25.92M
Cash$1.78M
Investments$14.22M
Liabilities$5.54M
Net assets$20.39M
Liquid reserves5.2 mo
3 years on record · 2020–2024 · YoY revenue -9.0%
leadership · form 990 part vii · fy2024
Who runs it
paid leadership · 8
| Name | Title | Hours/wk | Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| JOHN F MARSHALL | Chief Executive Officer | 40 | $668K |
| Eric Todd Asche | President | 40 | $493K |
| Sergio Velazquez-Rose | HEAD OF STRATEGY AND ANALYTICS | 40 | $297K |
| NICOLE CHRISTINA LEMOND | HEAD OF MARKETING | 40 | $291K |
| Elan Potts Strait | HEAD OF POLICY AND IMPACT | 40 | $291K |
| FOREST BOLEYN | EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR | 40 | $270K |
| DAWN LOMBARDI | VP OF FINANCE | 40 | $228K |
| Julia P Burns Thru 424 | COO/CFO, Sec. & TREAS. | 40 | $205K |
board members · 6
- Anthony Leiserowitz — BOARD MEMBER
- DANIEL P SCHRAG — CO-FOUNDER & BOARD MEMBER
- Margaret Boasberg — BOARD MEMBER
- Mark Tercek — BOARD MEMBER
- Matthew Freeman — BOARD MEMBER
- Susan Canavari — BOARD MEMBER
relationships · 24
Who they work with
- ABC News Partner — Media partner platform where Science Moms members have appeared as climate experts.
- All Hands and Hearts Partner — Partnered to launch a donation platform supporting victims of hurricanes in the southeastern U.S.
- Analyst Institute Partner — Awarded the Expy Award for Excellence in Analytics by Analyst Institute.
- Christianity Today Partner — Media partner platform where Science Moms members have appeared as climate experts.
- Climate Central Partner — Co-developed a guide for reporting on natural disasters with science-backed climate change information.
- Extreme Weather Survivors Partner — Partnered to launch a donation platform supporting victims of hurricanes in the southeastern U.S.
- Fast Company Coalition — Recognized by Fast Company as one of the Most Innovative Nonprofits in 2026.
- Fast Company Partner — Recognized by Fast Company as a Most Innovative Nonprofit for campaign effectiveness.
- Global event series Partner — Collaborates with global event series to improve audience engagement on climate change through strategic advice and briefings.
- Grady Health System Partner — Integrated food prescriptions into primary care
- MIT Climate Partner — Partners on climate education through the TILclimate podcast on hurricanes and other extreme weather.
- Meliore Foundation Partner — Partnered on a global message testing study on climate change.
- News organizations Partner — Advises media leaders from news organizations on effective climate change engagement strategies and provides briefings.
- People Partner — Media partner platform where Science Moms members have appeared as climate experts.
- SciLine Partner — Collaborates to provide plain-language science connecting climate change to extreme weather events.
- Science Moms Partner — Collaborated on messaging guidance, narrative reinforcement, and co-launch of a donation platform for hurricane relief.
- Science Moms Partner — Collaborates with Science Moms to depolarize climate change messaging.
- Science Moms Partner — Partners on creating and sharing explainer content about extreme weather and climate change.
- Truth Initiative Partner — Shared leadership and strategic expertise between organizations focused on public health and climate change communication.
- Universities Partner — Partners with academic institutions to conduct joint research using large-scale data and advanced analytics on climate communications.
- WNCT Partner — Media partner platform where Science Moms members have appeared as climate experts.
- World Weather Attribution Partner — Collaborates on reporting extreme weather and climate change through attribution science.
- Yale Climate Connections Partner — Shares public reaction insights to climate change for messaging development.
- Yale Program on Climate Change Communication Partner — Partnered on a global message testing study on climate change.
strategies · 5
How they approach the work
Named approaches extracted from this org’s sources. Where others share an approach, follow it to see the full set of orgs running it.
- Cross-Sector Communications Innovationmethodology: cross-sector talent integrationBy integrating top-tier marketing, data, and creative talent into climate communication, the organization improves message design and impact, because applying private-sector innovation to public-interest campaigns produces more compelling and effective narratives.
- Direct and Timely Climate Framingmethodology: direct_climate_communicationBy explicitly naming "climate change" and linking it to pollution during extreme weather events, the organization strengthens public understanding, because timely, direct language that reframes disasters as "unnatural" makes climate impacts concrete and urgent, increasing message effectiveness.
- Human-Centered, Nonpartisan Messagingmethodology: human-centered approachBy grounding climate narratives in shared human values—such as family, stewardship, and hope—the organization builds broad public demand, because nonpartisan, relatable framing increases engagement across political divides and centers motivation over ideology.
- Research-Driven Narrative Shiftingmethodology: research-driven narrative shiftingBy combining deep research, data analytics, and audience segmentation with creative messaging, the organization develops and tests climate narratives that resonate with specific publics, because evidence-based narratives are more effective at shifting perception and driving engagement than intuition-led communication.
- Trusted Messenger Depolarizationmethodology: depolarization-through-trusted-messengersBy deploying relatable, peer-credible messengers—such as science-literate mothers—to communicate climate risks, the organization reduces political resistance, because trust in the messenger increases message acceptance and depolarizes emotionally charged topics.