FAQ

U.S. Energy Foundation is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, and our more than 100 staff members are based in locations throughout the Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, and Western regions, where they can best serve our programs, partners, operations, and other functions.

Program staff recognize that addressing climate change requires advancing equity and protecting democracy. The connections between climate change, systemic racism, and attacks on our democracy are apparent; if we are to solve any of these, we must address them all. To learn more, visit Our Work page.

U.S. Energy Foundation’s mission is to secure a clean and equitable energy future to tackle the climate crisis. We envision a healthy, safe, equitable economy powered by clean energy. We believe a thriving clean energy economy can create sustainable opportunities, spur innovation, and protect our climate—for today and future generations.

U.S. Energy Foundation supports education and analysis to promote non-partisan policy solutions that advance renewable energy and energy efficiency while opening doors to greater innovation and productivity—growing the economy with dramatically less pollution. To learn more, visit Our Work page.

For 30 years, U.S. Energy Foundation has supported grantees to help educate policymakers and the general public about the benefits of a clean energy economy. Our grantees include business, health, environmental, labor, equity, community, faith, and consumer groups, as well as policy experts, think tanks, universities, and more. To learn more, visit our Grantees page.

U.S. Energy Foundation does not currently accept unsolicited grant requests. Grantseekers who have not been invited by the U.S. Energy Foundation to submit a proposal may want to visit the Foundation Center, GuideStar, and other resources to locate other funding opportunities.

U.S. Energy Foundation focuses on U.S. federal action, as well as regional, state, and local progress on climate and clean energy. We do not work outside the U.S.

U.S. Energy Foundation was founded in 1991, and launched Energy Foundation China (EF China) in 1999. EF China assists China in its clean energy transition. In order to increase impact by empowering local decision-making and collaboration, U.S. Energy Foundation and EF China evolved the way they were organized and formally separated in 2019 to become two independent, exempt charitable organizations. More information about EF China can be found at www.efchina.org.  

Yes. U.S. Energy Foundation is a recognized public charity on Guidestar and files IRS Form 990s annually. You can learn more about U.S. Energy Foundation’s most recent 990 filings at Guidestar.

Not at this time.

U.S. Energy Foundation offers paid summer internships to students housed throughout the organization. The internship program is facilitated by Eastside College Preparatory, a college preparatory high school where 99 percent of the students are the first generation in their families to attend college.

We invite you to refer to our Careers page to see current openings.

We collaborate with partners to build and manage grant portfolios of powerful coalitions focused on promoting clean energy. We partner with individuals and organizations in the U.S. to align on strategy and raise vital resources for grantees on the ground, across the country. U.S. Energy Foundation does not accept foreign funding. You can see a list of some of our partners here.

U.S. Energy Foundation is fortunate to have a recognized team of seasoned clean energy, government, advocacy, finance, and communications leaders on its Board of Directors. To learn more, visit our Board of Directors page.