# Resources for the Future Resources for the Future is an Endowment / Foundation based in Washington, DC, United States. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Endowment / Foundation - **Headquarters:** Washington, DC, United States - **Region:** North America - **Address:** 1616 P St NW, Washington, DC 20036, United States - **Founded:** 1952 - **Assets under management:** $50M-$60M (Altss estimate) - **Website:** rff.org - **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/resources-for-the-future ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About Resources for the Future was founded in 1952 by a commission that included economist John Krutilla, with early backing from the Ford Foundation. It was conceived as a permanent, independent research body to apply rigorous economics to natural resource scarcity — an agenda that has since widened to climate risk, energy transition, and environmental health. RFF's research staff and leadership have included multiple presidents of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, which the organization helped found and still incubates. RFF's endowment — estimated by Altss at roughly $54 million — anchors an operating model uncommon among environmental nonprofits: a fully in-house research division rather than a grant-making pass-through. The institution's published work leans on cost-benefit analysis, carbon pricing design, and satellite-data valuation. Its VALUABLES consortium with NASA develops methods to measure the dollar value of earth-observation data for decisions like reservoir management and disaster response. A newer partnership with Harvard's Salata Institute launched the Climate-related Financial and Macroeconomic Risk Initiative to scrutinize how physical and transition risks propagate through financial systems. Geographic coverage is dominated by US federal policy, but RFF scholars contribute to energy-access modeling in Sub-Saharan Africa, carbon-market design in the European Union, and air-quality valuation across South Asia. Governance sits with a board chaired by energy consultant Susan F. Tierney; former US Senator Mary Landrieu also serves as a director. The professional staff count is not publicly disclosed, though operations are concentrated at the organization's LEED Gold-certified headquarters at 1616 P Street in Washington, DC. In early 2024, the board appointed William Pizer — previously vice president for research and policy engagement — as president and CEO, succeeding Richard Newell, who had led the institution since 2016. The leadership transition coincided with RFF's deepening focus on translating academic findings into implementable federal and state rule-making. RFF's structural distinction lies in its endowment-funded independence. Unlike most public-policy shops dependent on short-cycle foundation grants or federal contracts, RFF draws steady operating income from its own reserve fund. That cushion allows multi-year research projects on politically sensitive questions — such as the distributional effects of a carbon tax — without bending to donor preferences. The organization also houses the AERE secretariat, reinforcing its role as a coordinating node for the entire environmental-economics profession rather than a standalone think tank. ## Sectors - ClimateTech - Energy Transition & Renewables - Healthcare Services ## People - William 'Billy' Pizer — President and CEO - Susan F. Tierney — Chair of the Board of Directors - Richard Newell — Former President and CEO - Mary Landrieu — Board Member - Richard Schmalensee — Chair Emeritus ## Questions ### Who runs the Research and Policy Engagement division at RFF? William Pizer serves as president and CEO, a role he assumed in early 2024 after previously heading the research and policy engagement division. Under his leadership, RFF has sharpened its focus on translating academic work into actionable federal and state regulatory frameworks. The previous president, Richard Newell, served from 2016 to 2024 and remains an influential voice in energy-policy economics. ### Is RFF structured as a grant-making foundation or a research operating body? RFF is overwhelmingly an operating body. Its staff conducts original economic research rather than disbursing grants to external scholars. A modest endowment — estimated by Altss in the $50–$60 million range — provides baseline operating income, supplemented by restricted foundation and government grants for specific projects. ### How is RFF related to the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists? RFF was instrumental in founding AERE and has housed its administrative and editorial operations for decades. Multiple RFF scholars have served as AERE presidents, and the journal 'Review of Environmental Economics and Policy' — co-published by AERE and the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists — is edited out of RFF offices. The relationship gives RFF a permanent convening role within the environmental-economics academic community. ## Related profiles - [Public Theater](https://altss.com/profile/public-theater) - [SHARE Foundation](https://altss.com/profile/share-foundation) --- Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/resources-for-the-future Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology