How New York State is quietly manipulating "environmental" nonprofits using grant money
New York State's Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) disperses roughly $425 million dollars per year to environmental groups that follow its political pillars.
“Alex, where are all the environmental nonprofits? Why are none of them speaking out about the Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) in New York?”
I asked myself this question as well when I learned about what was to happen to one of the last grasslands of its kind throughout the Northeast. When I learned that ORES sited a major solar complex for a designated NYS grassland that’s home to dozens of state-endangered and threatened species, I thought, surely, other environmental nonprofits, especially those prioritizing birds, grasslands, and migratory birds, would jump onto the bandwagon with me.
Boy, did I have a lot to learn. I watched nonprofits “throw their hats into the ring” by demanding mitigation at Fort Edward Solar. Mitigation, for this purpose, is defined as “the process of avoiding, minimizing, or compensating for adverse impacts on the environment caused by development, projects, or climate change.”
The fundamental science underlying the study of grassland habitats admits that grassland species require contiguous acreage to hunt, breed, and feed. Fragmenting that habitat, according to scientists worldwide, is catastrophic to the greater ecosystem.
Mitigation, therefore, doesn’t work with grassland habitat. Fencing off 1,800 acres in the middle of a designated grassland and National Audubon Important Bird Area isn’t remedied by mitigating land elsewhere. It took over 150-years for the complexity of the Washington County Grasslands to be formed. That kind of unique interconnectedness can’t be “moved” across the river.
This is common sense. I was scratching my head in the beginning, wondering why the people who have spent their lives studying the science behind grasslands were suddenly abandoning the tenets of their PhDs.
Towards the end of 2025, I started looking up where these environmental nonprofits received their funding. I started to notice an acronym that appeared as a donor everywhere, from local conservation easement nonprofits, to environmental and grassland bird nonprofits.
That acronym was as follows: EPF.
The New York State Environmental Protection Fund
The New York State Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) is a state-controlled pot of money ($400–$425M/year) used for environmental projects across New York.
On paper, that sounds nice, doesn’t it? Having been an entrepreneur since I was 22-years-old, I know all-too-well that “free money” is never free. It comes with strings attached. New York State isn’t doling out millions of dollars for the betterment of the citizens. They’re handing that money out for quiet control behind the scenes.
The EPF is funded through the state budget (taxpayer dollars). It mostly funds capital projects (land, infrastructure, and conservation programs). Nonprofits, municipalities, and quasi-public orgs are all eligible to receive EPF money.
Now, here’s where things get interesting. For a nonprofit to receive this money, they must align with the policy expectations and “pillars” of the EPF.
EPF money is NOT random; it’s divided into major policy buckets.
Some of these buckets are as follows:
Land & Open Space Conservation: around $42 million dollars/per year is allocated to open space projects, conservation easement nonprofits, etc.
Agriculture & Farmland Programs: farmland protection, soil and water conservation, and “climate-resilient farming,” which is the first point of entry for renewable energy complexes.
Parks, Trails, and Community Spaces: park improvements, trail systems, and public land programming.
Climate & Resiliency: New York State notes this is a “rapidly growing pillar” that must be upheld by the groups taking EPF money. Over $100 million dollars/per year is allocated for “climate resiliency” projects that allow for green infrastructure.
Nonprofits that receive EPF funding must align with these policy goals.
A shadow funding ecosystem
New York State is controlling the environmental nonprofits you believe have the animals, soils, and habitats outside your window in their best interest. The EPF creates a funding ecosystem that allows the state to set the objectives for those accepting their money. Many of these nonprofits become entirely reliant on this money, with salaried personnel at their nonprofit that need the money to continue earning a living.
In the simplest of terms, New York State sets the priorities, nonprofits align to those priorities, and funding reinforces those priorities.
Since there is only a certain amount of money allocated to each pillar above per year, nonprofits compete to get a bigger slice of the pie from New York State. This introduces pandering to the state by the nonprofits. The more the nonprofits implement the pillars listed above, the more likely New York State is to favor them.
I learned this from a conservation easement nonprofit here in Upstate New York.
The line is fully blurred between independent nonprofit advocacy and state-backed implementation.
These same nonprofits then solicit the public and host fundraising events, persuading people to donate to their cause. The reality is that New York State tax dollars, paid by its residents, are already funding these nonprofits. In essence, they are double-dipping while giving the illusion that they care about the environment.
This has been incredibly damaging for public perception of who is helping. This is why so many environmental atrocities have gone on over the last few decades. The very groups you believe are coming to save your town have been paid to look the other way.
The EPF is a dangerous policy engine that shapes how land, farming, and conservation are defined in New York.
Call and ask today
If you’ve been donating to an environmental nonprofit in New York State, call or email today asking them how much they receive in EPF money per year. This can be verified on some nonprofit websites as well.
And if you’re not in New York State, I guarantee your state has its own EPF equivalent. Familiarize yourself with its name and begin your research in your community.
Nonprofits that accept this money will not 1) call out the environmental destruction occurring at commercial solar and wind complexes 2) will not defend their conservation easements if a solar or wind developer forcibly includes them in a complex design and 3) will not pursue litigation against solar and wind developers.
The result is what we are witnessing today. There is mass environmental destruction across New York State that not one environmental nonprofit is willing to put on blast.
That’s why I tell everyone on my social media who donates to American Land Rescue Fund that you have my undying word: I will never, in the existence of my nonprofit, accept a cent from the EPF. Ever.
For once you accept that bureaucratic-laced money, the good intentions behind your nonprofit unravel.
Much more to come reporting on ORES, destructive renewable energy sprawl, and my homestead in Upstate New York.
Stay tuned.
Same pattern with all the fraud orgs. Thank you Alexandra for educating the heck outta us and being who you are! 💓
You should look at Vermonts Act 181 and the mess they’re planning here! Many rural landowners are going to lose property values if we cannot fight this. We are working hard to repeal this regressive land grab!
NGOs and Global elitism at work- 30 by 2030, 50 by 2050!