Rocky Mountain Institute is a 501(c)(3)/509(a)(1) public charity with thousands of loyal supporters. Our financial staff manages an annual budget that has steadily grown to more than $10 million, supporting 85 employees (including interns and fellows).
2008-2009 Financials
FY2009 GAAP revenues of $13.1 million were slightly ahead of our FY2008 revenues of $12.7 million. Given the general downturn in philanthropic giving, holding flat from one year to the next felt like a big win.
This is especially true considering we actually grew grants and donations slightly, to $7.8 million, up almost $0.7 million from the previous year.
Revenues from fees for professional services supporting our mission were $4.7 million, slightly below our FY2008 performance but in line with our overarching desire to maintain revenues from such programmatic enterprise at 35 to 40 percent of total revenues.
In October 2008, as it became clear that the economic environment had shifted, RMI embarked on an unprecedented evaluation of its operations to streamline our systems, eliminating non-essential expenses and lower-impact programmatic efforts wherever possible. We ultimately developed an aggressive, Institute-wide plan to reduce expenses during the rest of the fiscal year.
The rigor with which we pursued this effort and resulting actions forced a sense of discipline and conservatism that we carry with us as we embark on our aggressive new strategy.
More than one-third of our income comes from earned income, including consulting, publishing, and royalties. More than 20 percent comes from foundations in the form of restricted research grants. The remainder is from tax-deductible individual and corporate donations and from Earth Share, an environmental workplace-giving program.
Download the 2008-2009 Annual Report for complete details.
We use this income as efficiently as possible. Seventy-three percent of our expenditure is programmatic. About 8 percent of our expenditures are for fundraising, which uses only in-house staff. Nineteen percent goes for general administrative expenses. Visit Where Your Money Goes to learn more.
RMI's cash reserves situation has improved in recent years, thanks largely to a modest reserve fund secured through the sale of a for-profit subsidiary in 1999.