Environmental Policy Innovation Center

What Environmental Policy Innovation Center does

Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) is a US nonprofit policy intermediary founded in 2017 by Tim Male and headquartered in College Park, Maryland. It operates as a think-and-do tank that designs laws, procurement frameworks, and data tools intended to compress the timeline of environmental progress, with focus areas in water, agriculture, restoration, and technology. Its primary counterparties are federal, state, local, and tribal government agencies — most prominently the EPA and USFS at the federal level and State Revolving Fund (SRF) administering agencies at the state level — together with nonprofit and philanthropic partners.

EPIC's core technical products are open data and analytics tools built around public-interest datasets: the DWSRF Funding Tracker (now rolled out across at least 11 states), the Texas Community Water System Prioritization Tool (consolidating 50 variables from 11 datasets across 6 organizations), the National Drinking Water Predictive Map that enabled EPA's first national water-service-area boundary map, and the Funding Navigator deployed in 70+ communities. It also designs novel procurement and permitting frameworks — notably Pay for Success contracting for green stormwater infrastructure, which helped build a $100+ million Chesapeake Bay nutrient market across four states and five programs, and the Permitting Innovation Hub, which has cut nine months off federal wetlands permitting approvals. Emerging AI work, led by a former USFS AI Program Manager, pilots GenAI for public-comment analysis and builds digital twins that integrate lidar, sensor, and eDNA data.

EPIC is funded through philanthropic donations, foundation grants (including a disclosed $400,000 grant from the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation in December 2023), and partnerships with organizations such as New America, the Federation of American Scientists, the National Academy of Public Administration, and the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits. All tools and resources are provided free of charge; there is no commercial pricing model. Operating scale is modest — between 11 and 50 staff — but programmatic reach is wide, spanning DWSRF work in roughly 39 states, a $3.5 billion habitat-based mitigation and conservation banking market context, and global biodiversity credit research across 35+ countries.

Name

Environmental Policy Innovation Center

Legal name

Environmental Policy Innovation Center

Website

https://policyinnovation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

EPIC is a US nonprofit think-and-do tank, founded in 2017, that designs environmental policy, procurement frameworks, and open data tools — including DWSRF trackers, a national drinking water service-area map, and Pay for Success contracting — for federal, state, local, and tribal government agencies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Environmental Policy Services

NAICS

Environmental Consulting Services (541620), Environment, Conservation and Wildlife Organizations (813312)

akta.pro primary industry

Climate Change Mitigation & Adaptation (BPAGAGAF)

Keywords

• Environmental policy research
• Water infrastructure financing
• Conservation outcomes contracting
• Environmental data analytics
• Biodiversity credit markets

Headquarters

HQ city

College Park

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Philanthropic donations and grants: EPIC is a nonprofit organization (EIN 93-3208396) that solicits donations via its website ("Donate" link, "Join our mission" CTAs) and mailing list signups, and pursues philanthropic partnerships and grants to fund its operations and projects.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) is a US nonprofit think-and-do tank that designs, prototypes, and implements environmental policy innovations across four focus areas: Water, Agriculture, Restoration, and Technology. It delivers proprietary open data tools (DWSRF Funding Tracker, Funding Navigator, National Drinking Water Predictive Map, Texas Community Water System Prioritization Tool), the Permitting Innovation Hub, a Pay for Success (PFS) outcomes-based contracting framework, and embedded Digital Service for the Planet (DSP) Fellows to accelerate federal, state, local, and tribal environmental program delivery.

Product overview

Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) is a policy nonprofit (think-and-do tank) that operates as a portfolio of programs, policy initiatives, open data tools, and analytic publications rather than a single commercial software product. Its core offering is organized around four focus areas — Water, Agriculture, Restoration, and Technology — and seven approaches including Experimentation & Innovation, Buying Environmental Outcomes (e.g., its Pay for Success framework that has helped build a $100+ million Chesapeake Bay nutrient market), Supporting Communities, Accelerating through Technology (Digital Service for the Planet / DSP initiative, Technology Program, National Drinking Water Predictive Map), Unlocking Finance, and Faster Government. Concrete named products include the Digital Service for the Planet (DSP) Initiative, the Texas Community Water System Prioritization Tool, the multi-state DWSRF Funding Tracker, the National Drinking Water Predictive Map (Water Utility Service Area Boundaries), the Permitting Innovation Hub, the Funding Navigator, the Pay for Success program framework, the Biodiversity Credit Markets program, the SRF Earmarks factsheets, the Permit Me to Explain Substack, and the broader EPIC Insights publication portfolio (reports, blogs, public comments, resources, and tools).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Digital Service for the Planet (DSP): A pilot program launched with New America in October 2025 aimed at improving how government agencies use technology and data to address environmental priorities including drinking water, wetlands, and forests.
• Permitting Innovation Hub
• EPICLY

Products and services

• Digital Service for the Planet (DSP) Initiative A pilot program (launched with New America) that embeds multidisciplinary DSP Fellows into federal environmental agencies to map barriers, prototype digital-services models, and develop strategies for closing data and implementation gaps across drinking water, wetlands, and forests programs.
• Texas Community Water System Prioritization Tool A publicly available decision-support tool that consolidates 50 variables from 11 datasets across six agencies (EPA SDWIS, SRF awards, TCEQ boil water notices, U.S. Census, Duke Water Affordability Dashboard, EDF Climate Vulnerability Index, CEQ CEJST) at the water-utility service-area level to support more equitable Texas DWSRF and technical assistance decisions.
• DWSRF Funding Tracker (state-by-state) State-specific Drinking Water State Revolving Fund trackers (covering Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, New York, and Texas) that analyze Intended Use Plans and Project Priority Lists to map how federal SRF dollars are allocated across states.
• National Drinking Water Predictive Map (Water Utility Service Area Boundaries) A data product that enabled the EPA to create the first national map of water system boundaries showing who gets water from whom, enabling service-area-level analysis of drinking water access across the United States.
• Permitting Innovation Hub EPIC initiative applying kaizen-style continuous improvement to federal wetlands restoration permitting that has cut an average of 9 months off the federal approval process, paired with permitting workforce memos and the 'First 100 Days: A Permitting Playbook' series.
• Funding Navigator Advisory and technical-assistance tool that has helped catalyze critical water infrastructure projects in 70+ communities for clean drinking water and flood resilience.
• Pay for Success (PFS) for Water and Green Stormwater Infrastructure Outcomes-based procurement framework in which government agencies pay only after verified environmental outcomes (e.g., gallons of stormwater captured, impervious area managed, nitrogen reduced); EPIC has helped set up five programs across four states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed that together comprise a market worth over $100 million.
• Biodiversity Credit Markets Program EPIC's program to build a market for biodiversity credits in the U.S. and abroad, working with credit developers, investors, and landowners across habitat, mitigation banking, and species/conservation banking approaches, and supporting global policy mapping of nature credit markets.

Quantifiable outcome

• 70+ communities catalyzed for critical water infrastructure projects
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature7 records

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Defenders of Wildlife: National wildlife conservation advocacy nonprofit where EPIC founder Tim Male previously served as VP for Conservation Policy; collaborates with EPIC on the Endless Prairie Buffalo Project and shares an overlap in Endangered Species Act reform and habitat protection work.
• Environmental Defense Fund: Major environmental advocacy nonprofit where Tim Male previously co-directed agriculture policy; comparable focus on water, agriculture, and climate outcomes markets including pay-for-performance and nutrient credit mechanisms that overlap with EPIC's Pay for Success work.
• National Fish and Wildlife Foundation: Federal-chartered conservation funder where EPIC's founder previously served as Director; comparable role mobilizing private capital and grants into habitat and water outcomes, with overlap in CCAAs, monarch/pollinator habitat, and Chesapeake Bay restoration.
• The Nature Conservancy: Largest global conservation nonprofit; comparable focus areas including water infrastructure, biodiversity credits, and nature-based solutions markets in which EPIC is building standards-setting and advisory capabilities.

Direct peers

• Federation of American Scientists: Science policy nonprofit actively partnering with EPIC on federal permitting workforce policy memos; directly comparable as a science-and-technology policy intermediary producing reports, convenings, and government-facing recommendations.
• New America: Public-interest think tank co-launching the Digital Service for the Planet pilot with EPIC; closely comparable as a policy innovation intermediary that embeds talent inside government to modernize digital services.
• Forest Trends' Ecosystem Marketplace: Nonprofit that publishes market intelligence on nature-based solutions and co-authored EPIC's global biodiversity credit study across 35+ countries; directly comparable as a knowledge broker for environmental outcomes markets including biodiversity credits and watershed investment.
• National Academy of Public Administration: Independent nonprofit chartered by Congress to improve public administration; partnered with EPIC in January 2026 to accelerate climate resilience and a closely analogous convener on federal workforce and government modernization (company_history).

Emerging players

• Green Finance Institute: UK-based coalition advancing nature-related financial innovation through the Revenues for Nature initiative alongside EPIC; comparable in convening capital, credit, and policy actors around biodiversity and nature-based solutions markets.
• Earth Force: National environmental civic-engagement nonprofit where EPIC's Procurement Policy Strategy Lead Grace Edinger previously served as Chief Program Officer; comparable in engaging communities and youth in environmental policy and restoration work.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/EPIConservation
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/environmental-policy-innovation-center

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors2 records

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Environmental Policy Innovation Center