Center for Energy and Environment
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
The Center for Energy and Environment's mission is to discover and deploy the most effective energy solutions that strengthen the economy and improve the environment. The Minnesota-based nonprofit provides practical energy solutions for homes, businesses, and communities.
- Income
- $39.5 million
- Spending
- $37.0 million
- Spent on programs
- 80%
- Reserves
- 14.3 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- fees for its services, 67%
- Employees
- 326
- Volunteers
- 7
- Highest pay
- $281,151, president
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Strong: 96 out of 100. Higher than 86% of charities in its peer group (environment, $10m to $100m).
Reserves
35 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 14.3 months of spending.
Debt
16 of 20It owes 19% of what it owns.
Living within its means
15 of 15Income exceeded spending by 6% of income.
Income trend
15 of 15Income rose 17% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 1580% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 0 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Strong: 100 out of 100. Higher than 35% of charities in its peer group (environment, $10m to $100m).
Independent board
25 of 257 of 7 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
8 of 8Has a written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
7 of 7Has a written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Pay set independently
5 of 5Sets its chief executive's pay through independent review and comparison.
Independent check of accounts
15 of 15Its accounts were audited by an independent accountant.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (5)
- $18.2 million spent. ENERGY CONSERVATION SERVICES: CEE delivers programs throughout the upper Midwest and other cold-climate U.S. regions. CEE's programs reduce energy use, improve safety, and lower utility costs in Minnesota's homes, businesses, and communities. With competitive funding from government grants, utilities, philanthropy, and program partners, every year CEE supports improvement opportunities in more than 10,000 homes and businesses. We prioritize reducing the costs of energy services and maximizing bill savings for all Minnesotans. In residential programming, CEE delivers the utility-funded Home Energy Squad, pairing energy-saving installations with energy assessments to improve home comfort and savings. In 2025, CEE completed over 7,200 visits and helped save energy amounting to about 3 gigawatt hours and 29,000 decatherms. And 1,498 residents used the free Energy Advisor Service to complete energy efficiency projects and earn 1,767 rebates. Also in residential programming, CEE's utility-supported Multifamily Energy Solutions program has served over 14,000 multifamily units, resulting in annual average savings of $27 per unit on natural gas bills and an additional $11 per unit on electricity. In 2025, over 50 Rochester households attended Neighbor Energy Challenge workshops and CEE staff delivered over 480 energy saving kits to residents in Duluth, Eagan, Rochester, and Worthington. Separately in 2025, CEE's Authorized Insulation Contractor Program completed 26 onsite quality assurance inspections and 8 remote quality assurance inspections, onboarded 7 new contractors, and certified 18 new crew leaders. Another residential program, CEE's New Homes Single-family and Multifamily Rater Services, performed a variety of energy consulting and ratings for 302 homes and 95 builders; for multifamily developers, the program worked on 19 buildings with 9 builders and 11 developers covering over 500 apartment units. Among CEE's services for businesses, One-Stop Efficiency Shop offers a full-service rebate program for small- to mid-size businesses in Xcel Energy's Minnesota services territory, with a focus on lighting, free smart thermostat installations, rooftop unit improvements, and refrigeration. In 2025, One-Stop completed 1,843 projects including 696 smart thermostat installations, leading to the conservation of 13 megawatts and 59.3 gigawatt hours of energy, as well as $11 million in disbursed rebates and $6 million in annual savings for local businesses. Programming for communities relies on local insights and data to tailor planning to each community's unique goals. In 2025, CEE implemented the utility-funded Partners in Energy program for 22 cities, providing services to develop and implement energy action plans. CEE also offers consulting to help communities reach their goals with support for project financing, policy and technical advising, stakeholder engagement, energy benchmarking, resilience planning, and more. In 2025, CEE became the technical assistance provider for Minnesota's federally funded, low-income Weatherization Assistance Program. Our support for underserved communities also includes energy-rating and quality assurance for affordable housing, disadvantaged communities, as well as workforce training. CEE offers utility-supported paid training to join the clean energy sector as energy auditors, insulation installers, line workers, and contractors. In 2025, CEE trained more than 125 people for energy-sector careers. In 2025, we added 10 new contractors as employer hosts for 14-week long internships. Separately, CEE also delivers Minnesota Home Energy Training, a state-funded program that similarly recruits, trains, and supports energy efficiency careers.
- $6.4 million spent. MARKET TRANSFORMATION: CEE was previously selected through a rigorous application process to deliver Minnesota's Efficient Technology Accelerator (ETA), a statewide market transformation program to accelerate deployment and reduce the cost of promising new technologies, bringing lower energy bills and environmental benefits to all Minnesotans. Starting at an early stage of development, ETA's work is closely monitored by Minnesota's Department of Commerce, funding utilities, and other key stakeholders. In 2025, CEE's ETA program used multiple approaches to promote heat pumps, a well-vetted technology to decarbonize heating in single-family homes. CEE's efforts have helped ducted heat pumps to jump from just 4% of the HVAC cooling market in 2020 to 17% by 2025. To support the growth, CEE trained 270 HVAC contractors to properly install and effectively sell heat pumps. Our preferred contractor list expanded to 73 contractors to help Minnesotans save money and cut carbon emissions. ETA also helped dramatically advance Minnesota's residential energy code. A state advisory committee adopted all of CEE's 17 sponsored amendments to the recent residential energy building code. The resulting code will reduce energy use by 21 percent and generate 30-year net savings of $37,200 to Minnesota homeowners. In the filing year, ETA reached a major milestone, for the first time reporting statewide energy savings, cost-effectiveness, and emissions reductions related to residential heat pumps, high-performance windows in new construction, and LLLC lighting controls. Early evidence of market shifts and reduced barriers include increased product availability, improved contractor familiarity, and notable upticks in adoption of ETA's promoted technologies.
- $2.1 million spent. LENDING: In 2025, CEE disbursed 1,801 home improvement loans totaling over $21 million. In recognition of CEE's integrity as an exemplary lender, the MN Housing Finance Agency annually recognizes CEE's loan officers among top producers of Fix Up loans. CEE's statewide and county loans make it more feasible for homeowners in Minnesota to make energy efficiency improvements and remodel their homes with low-interest financing. Thanks to strong partnerships with many cities, CEE offers several special loan, grant, and down payment assistance programs for Minnesotans. Throughout the state, CEE has improved residential and commercial properties through project financing for over 40 years. Aligned with CEE's mission, our loan programs promote energy efficiency and make improvements more manageable. Government partners benefit from CEE's efficient administration of their loan funds to meet specific community goals.
- $2.2 million spent. RESEARCH: From field studies to data-driven analyses, CEE's research provides actionable insights to help reduce energy use, lower costs, and advance clean energy technologies. Current focus areas include heat pumps, envelope sealing, building energy codes, and efficient commercial refrigeration. In 2025, CEE managed 27 active research projects investigating a wide range of energy-related technologies, field-testing and reporting on 22 building technologies. With competitive funding from Minnesota's Department of Commerce, Division of Energy Resources, and utility partners, CEE investigates and identifies a wide range of cost-effective technologies and ideas. From homes to high-rises, CEE field-tests building systems and equipment, generating objective data on measured energy savings. Our nationally recognized research staff has published more than 100 technical papers on building and mechanical system performance. Having earned a reputation as a national expert on cold-climate heat pump technology for residential buildings, CEE is now helping to study heat pumps for commercial buildings as well. In 2025, we recruited 12 businesses to install and test high-performance HVAC rooftop units. And because insulation and air sealing are critical factors in energy use, in 2025 we tested continuous exterior insulation as a retrofit for single-family homes, a spray applied "aero-barrier" to tighten leaky homes, and a new method to air-seal crawlspaces. We also began a research project to reduce loads in commercial buildings, which tend to be harder to retrofit with insulation than residential buildings.
- $564,547 spent. PUBLIC POLICY SUPPORT AND DISSEMINATION: CEE advances clean energy policy at local, state, and national levels. Informed by research and real-world insights from program practitioners, CEE's policy work prioritizes equitable, realistic solutions and broad-based, non-partisan coalitions to advance policies with broad support to stand the test of time. In 2025, CEE successfully negotiated a new low-income weatherization fund paid by large data centers in Minnesota. CEE's collaborative efforts resulted in nation-leading legislation for a $2 million-$5 million annual fee on large data centers to fund low-income weatherization in Minnesota. Fees from two recently announced data centers will increase the state's federal low-income weatherization appropriation by approximately 50%. CEE also successfully established a new multi-factor utility performance incentive to advance efficiency policy goals. We built consensus to shift to a broader framework that encourages investments in insulation, air sealing, income-qualified programs, and electrification. Separately, CEE helped Minnesota to set an electric heating rate that is nearly 50% lower than Xcel Energy's winter electric rate. Every year, CEE engages communities, businesses, and individuals about better choices to reduce carbon emissions, save money, foster innovation, and improve equity. Aligned with our mission, we share our learning on a variety of energy-related topics to help inform and improve our field and people's lives. In 2025 CEE published 41 educational blog posts, 9 news releases, 16 reports or case studies, hundreds of social media posts on multiple platforms, and also contributed to about two-dozen traditional media news stories.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2025.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since October 1994.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 21, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.