Winrock International
Winrock International is a nonprofit international development organization headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, operating in 30+ countries across agriculture, environment, and human rights, and running the American Carbon Registry.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1986
- HeadquartersLittle Rock, United States
- Headcount501–1,000
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Winrock International does
Winrock International is a nonprofit international development organization headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, with a second office in Arlington, Virginia. Founded in 1986, it works across 30+ countries in agriculture, environment, human rights, entrepreneurship, and U.S. domestic programs to empower disadvantaged communities, expand economic opportunity, and sustain natural resources. The organization implements donor-funded projects in partnership with governments, NGOs, and local organizations.
Winrock's core programmatic products include the American Carbon Registry (ACR), founded in 1996 as the world's first private voluntary greenhouse gas registry and operating in compliance and voluntary carbon markets; Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) and its TREES Standard, operated through subsidiary Environmental Resources Trust; the Wallace Center, focused on U.S. domestic agriculture and water solutions; and Impact-Ready Solutions, a portfolio of packaged service offerings. Its underlying technology centers on proprietary forest monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems and science-based carbon crediting methodologies used across 12+ countries and 1 billion+ acres of tropical forest.
Winrock's revenue model is grant-based rather than commercial. The majority of funding comes from competitive U.S. federal grants (USDA, Department of Labor, EPA, USAID) and a smaller base of foundation and bilateral donor funding (Visa Foundation, Good Energies Foundation, Swiss Agency for Development). It supplements this with a corporate carbon-credit channel through ACR/GreenTrees, selling credits to buyers including Microsoft, Mars, Duke Energy, and Norfolk Southern. Go-to-market is primarily through competitive government bidding and direct partnerships with national governments and corporates seeking carbon and supply-chain sustainability solutions.
Winrock International firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Winrock International
- Legal name
- Winrock International
- Website
- https://winrock.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1986
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 501–1,000 employees
- Short description
- Winrock International is a nonprofit international development organization headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, operating in 30+ countries across agriculture, environment, and human rights, and running the American Carbon Registry.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Winrock International industry classification
Industry- Product category
- International Development Services
- akta.pro primary industry
- Project-Originated Carbon Credit Marketing & Offtake (Primary Market) (EUAGAIAC)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus & Resilience Programming (BPADAEAK)
Keywords
Where Winrock International is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Little Rock
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Winrock International business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others
Revenue model
- Government Grants and Contracts: Winrock derives the majority of its revenue from competitive government grants and contracts, primarily from U.S. federal agencies including USDA, USAID, and Department of Labor. These grants fund climate-smart agriculture, food security, counter-trafficking, and environmental programs worldwide.
- Foundation and Donor Funding: The organization receives funding from private foundations such as the Visa Foundation, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, and Good Energies Foundation to implement specific development programs and initiatives.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels6 records
Winrock International product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Winrock International is a nonprofit international development organization that implements donor-funded programs across agriculture, environment, human rights, entrepreneurship, and U.S. domestic programs in more than 30 countries. Its flagship offerings include the American Carbon Registry (ACR) carbon crediting program, the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) TREES Standard, jurisdictional REDD+ technical assistance to governments, and Impact-Ready Solutions—a portfolio of adaptable, funder-ready service offerings that can be tailored by country, sector, or partner.
Product overview
Winrock International is a nonprofit organization that works with people in the U.S. and around the world to empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity, and sustain natural resources. The organization operates multiple program areas including Agriculture, Entrepreneurship, Environment, Human Rights, and U.S. Programs. Winrock's core products include ACR (American Carbon Registry), a globally recognized carbon crediting program founded in 1996; Impact-Ready Solutions, a portfolio of adaptable service offerings for development challenges; Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) for forest conservation crediting; and Jurisdictional REDD+ Technical Assistance. The Wallace Center sub-brand focuses on water and agriculture solutions. These offerings work together as an integrated approach to climate action, sustainable development, and community resilience.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- ACR (American Carbon Registry): A nonprofit enterprise of Winrock International and globally recognized carbon crediting program operating in compliance and voluntary carbon markets. Founded in 1996 as the first private voluntary greenhouse gas registry in the world.
- Wallace Center
Products and services
- ACR (American Carbon Registry) Globally recognized carbon crediting program operated by Winrock International as a nonprofit enterprise. ACR develops transparent, science-based methodologies for reducing and removing greenhouse gas emissions across forestry, land use, energy, and industrial sectors, and issues carbon credits to corporate and government buyers in compliance and voluntary markets.
- Impact-Ready Solutions Adaptable, funder-ready portfolio of service offerings designed to address pressing development challenges. Each solution distills proven approaches, global expertise, and on-the-ground experience into practical models that can be tailored to country, sector, or partner needs, spanning clean energy, water security, human rights, climate resilience, and nature-based solutions.
- Wallace Center Program area within Winrock focused on U.S. domestic water and agriculture solutions. The Wallace Center empowers communities to strengthen livelihoods, expand economic opportunity, and build climate resilience through clean energy and sustainable farming practices, including farmer-led solutions for cleaner water.
- Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) Crediting program that certifies high-integrity emission reductions and removals from protecting and restoring forests at scale through the TREES Standard. ART operates under Environmental Resources Trust (ERT), a nonprofit subsidiary of Winrock International, and supports jurisdictional participation in voluntary carbon markets.
- Jurisdictional REDD+ Technical Assistance (JREDD+) Technical assistance service helping tropical forest jurisdictions participate in high-integrity voluntary carbon markets through JREDD+ programs. Includes monitoring, reporting, verification (MRV), standards readiness, and capacity building delivered across 12 countries.
- Ashshash II Counter-Trafficking Project Counter-trafficking initiative working with survivors of trafficking in persons in Bangladesh. Delivers psychosocial care, livelihood support, survivor-centered programming, and prevention efforts, supported by the Embassy of Switzerland in Bangladesh.
- Climate-Smart Agriculture Implementation Programs Large-scale climate-smart agriculture programs funded by USDA's Food for Progress initiative in Malawi and Thailand, designed to increase agricultural productivity, farmer profits, and climate resilience.
Quantifiable outcome
- More than 1 billion acres of forest covered by ART programs (approximately a quarter of world's tropical forests)
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Winrock International
Customer profileNamed customers10 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Winrock International technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Winrock International partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Riceland FoodscorePartnership to help American rice farmers strengthen profitability and sustainability through market-driven conservation practices under USDA's Advancing Markets for Producers initiative.
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)coreUSDA awarded $45 million to Winrock to implement climate-smart agriculture projects in Malawi and Thailand under the Food for Progress initiative, targeting increased productivity, farmer profits, and climate resilience.
- USDA NIFAcore$1.25 million USDA grant to promote organic agriculture in Arkansas, Missouri, and Tennessee, helping farmers transition through research, education, and certification support.
- U.S. Department of LaborcoreWinrock received $7 million award through the Bureau of International Labor Affairs to combat labor exploitation in Indonesia's nickel supply chain as part of a $22 million initiative including grants to Pact, World Vision, and Center for Advanced Defense Studies.
- GreenTrees / ACRE Investment ManagementcoreGreenTrees is the longest-running forestry project approved by ACR (founded 2003), aggregating small landowner tracts for carbon credit access. Project covers nearly 140,000 acres with 50 million trees planted.
- Guyana Forestry CommissioncoreSelected by the Commission to help design a Forest Carbon Monitoring System. Through sustained technical support since 2009, Winrock has helped Guyana achieve major improvements in monitoring, reporting and verification.
- Jurisdictional Technical Assistance Partnership (JTAP)minorWinrock is a founding member of JTAP, a collaborative initiative supporting tropical forest jurisdictions to participate in voluntary carbon markets through JREDD+ programs.
- NestlécoreWinrock supports Nestlé's efforts to decarbonize its global supply chain through strategic guidance to procurement teams and assessing emissions reduction projects.
- McCormickcoreWinrock advises and helps McCormick pilot supply chain emissions reduction initiatives, including adapting carbon calculator tools for McCormick supply chains.
- Accountability Framework initiativeminorWinrock joined as a delivery partner to assist companies in mapping and mitigating environmental and social risks across agricultural and forestry supply chains.
- University of Riau and Regional Office (Bappedalitbang Riau)minorCollaboration to provide technical training on calculating baseline carbon emissions in forestry and land-use sectors in Indonesia.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Winrock International competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Chemonics International: Large for-profit international development implementer that bids on the same USAID, USDA, and State Department RFPs as Winrock across agriculture, environment, and governance programs globally.
- Palladium: Global development firm implementing donor-funded programs with overlapping focus on climate-smart agriculture, sustainability, and inclusive economic development — direct competitor for grant-funded awards.
- Verra: Operator of the VCS Program, the world's largest voluntary carbon credit standard — directly competes with ACR for voluntary market credit issuance and methodology dominance.
- DAI Global: International development company competing directly with Winrock on donor-funded programs in agriculture, climate, governance, and economic growth across developing markets.
Broad incumbents
- Tetra Tech: Large consulting and engineering firm with a significant international development practice spanning water, environment, and climate — competes with Winrock on USAID and World Bank programs at greater scale.
- Conservation International: International environmental NGO working on forest conservation, REDD+, and climate finance across many of the same tropical jurisdictions as Winrock, including high-integrity credit development.
- RTI International: Nonprofit research institute implementing large international development and environmental programs for USAID and other U.S. agencies, competing with Winrock on similar grant vehicles.
- World Resources Institute: Global research organization focused on climate, forests, and sustainable development — overlaps with Winrock's REDD+ technical assistance and jurisdictional forest monitoring work.
- The Nature Conservancy: Global environmental nonprofit with forest conservation, agriculture, and climate programs overlapping Winrock's environment and Wallace Center portfolios, and major carbon credit issuance.
Emerging players
- Earth Innovation Institute: Niche nonprofit focused on jurisdictional approaches to reducing deforestation in tropical forest countries — closely aligned with Winrock's JREDD+ technical assistance model.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Winrock International social profiles
Digital presenceWinrock International financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Winrock International leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles21 records
Winrock International subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries2 records
Winrock International funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds4 records
Investors4 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Winrock International M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments6 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Winrock International
What does Winrock International do?
Winrock International is a nonprofit international development organization that implements donor-funded programs across agriculture, environment, human rights, entrepreneurship, and U.S. domestic programs in more than 30 countries. Its flagship offerings include the American Carbon Registry (ACR) carbon crediting program, the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) TREES Standard, jurisdictional REDD+ technical assistance to governments, and Impact-Ready Solutions—a portfolio of adaptable, funder-ready service offerings that can be tailored by country, sector, or partner.
Is Winrock International a public or private company?
Winrock International is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Winrock International founded?
Winrock International was founded in 1986. It employs 501 to 1,000 people.
Where is Winrock International based?
Winrock International is headquartered in Little Rock, United States, in the North America region.
How does Winrock International make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Government Grants and Contracts are the primary driver. The others are foundation and Donor Funding.
Who are Winrock International's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Chemonics International, Palladium, Verra and DAI Global. Broad incumbents are Tetra Tech, Conservation International, RTI International, World Resources Institute and The Nature Conservancy. Earth Innovation Institute is listed as an emerging player.
Does Winrock International have an API?
No public API is recorded for Winrock International.
What industry is Winrock International in?
Winrock International's product category is International Development Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EUAGAIAC, Project-Originated Carbon Credit Marketing & Offtake (Primary Market), with a secondary code of BPADAEAK, Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus & Resilience Programming.