Is EWG funded by the organic industry?
EWG is an independent nonprofit organization largely funded by individual donations and grants from charitable foundations.
Why is this a common misconception about EWG?
In 2013 EWG partnered with the Organic Voices Action Fund, or OVAF, to highlight the benefits of organic food and advance the fight for labeling food that contains genetically engineered ingredients.
Between 2013 and 2018, OVAF made six grants to EWG to support our joint GMO labeling advocacy campaign, Just Label It! That agreement and partnership formally expired in 2018.
These grants ranged from 0.3% to 5% of EWG’s total annual revenue.
Does EWG accept corporate funding?
We accept funds from brands or corporations in the following two situations only:
- In the form of general support or event sponsorships.But as detailed above, these types of donations have historically made up a very small percentage of EWG’s overall funding.
None of it is used to support specific scientific research projects at the organization.
- As payment for toxicology consulting, also known as the EWG VERIFIED® and EWG Reviewed for Science programs.
These programs have given EWG a way to use our 30 years of expertise in product formulation to help drive market change.
Our goal is to provide resources and consulting support to companies that decide to use healthier ingredients and formulations – so consumers face choices they can trust won’t harm their health or that of the environment.
In order to maintain our scientific and intellectual independence, EWG does not accept:
- Programmatic funding from brands or businesses operating in the industries or product categories we research, evaluate or rate. This includes food, household cleaning supplies and personal care products.
- Funding for corporate-sponsored research.
- Payment of any kind for inclusion or scoring in our consumer product databases: Skin Deep®, Guide to Healthy Cleaning and Food Scores.Instead, we update products and scores for free and on a rolling basis as new product information becomes available.
