Winrock International

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.

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

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

• International development services
• Carbon credit registry
• Climate smart agriculture
• Forest conservation programs
• Human rights implementation

Headquarters

HQ city

Little Rock

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. 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.
2. 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

Core 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

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Riceland FoodscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 March 2026Partnership 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)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 September 2022USDA 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 NIFAcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 26 October 2021$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 LaborcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWinrock 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 ManagementcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGreenTrees 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 CommissioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSelected 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)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWinrock is a founding member of JTAP, a collaborative initiative supporting tropical forest jurisdictions to participate in voluntary carbon markets through JREDD+ programs.
• NestlécoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWinrock supports Nestlé's efforts to decarbonize its global supply chain through strategic guidance to procurement teams and assessing emissions reduction projects.
• McCormickcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWinrock advises and helps McCormick pilot supply chain emissions reduction initiatives, including adapting carbon calculator tools for McCormick supply chains.
• Accountability Framework initiativeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWinrock 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)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration 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

Direct 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

• Xx.com/winrockintl
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/WinrockIntl
• Facebookfacebook.com/74096437206
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/winrock-international
• Instagraminstagram.com/winrock_international

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles21 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors4 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments6 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Winrock International