Grants for natural resource conservation nonprofits

Name: Top 25 grants made to natural resource conservation organizations
Creator: Cause IQ
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

3,241 natural resource conservation organizations received at least $551.5 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 8,898 grants made from 3,981 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,000. Of these 3,981 foundations, 60% made just a single grant to conservation orgs, and 11% made grants to four or more conservation orgs. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.

$551,508,727

Total grant dollars given to natural resource conservation nonprofits

8,898

Number of grants made annually to natural resource conservation nonprofits

3,981

Number of grantmakers funding natural resource conservation nonprofits

$1,000

Median grant size to natural resource conservation nonprofits

Foundations that support natural resource conservation organizations

Out of all grants made to natural resource conservation nonprofits, 81% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 77% of the dollar-value of grants to conservation orgs. Foundations funding conservation orgs also made grants to land conservation groups, water and wetland protection organizations, environmental education programs, international humanitarian organizations, and animal shelters.

Foundation size

Foundation size	Number of grantmakers
Small	3,260
Medium	457
Large	264

Small foundations have <$10M in assets. Medium foundations have $10M to $50M in assets. Large foundations have >$50M in assets.

Foundation type

Foundation type	Number of grantmakers
Community	79
Private	3,554
Corporate	174
Other	174

Grants made

Grants made to conservation orgs	Number of grantmakers
1	2,414
2-3	1,091
4-10	413
11+	63

Top 10 foundations supporting natural resource conservation organizations

Grantmaker	State	Geographic focus	Percent of grant dollars to conservation orgs	Number of grants made to conservation orgs	Median grant size
Seattle Foundation	WA	State	0.3%	191	$1,000
Shell Oil Company Foundation	TX	National	0.5%	112	$400
The Rhode Island Foundation	RI	Metro	0.4%	105	$1,000
Abbvie Foundation	IL	National	0.1%	87	$200
JP Morgan Chase Foundation	NY	National	1.2%	86	$250
Clif Bar Family Foundation	CA	National	8.8%	77	$3,500
Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT)	TN	Metro	0.2%	75	$1,000
Salesforce Com Foundation	CA	National	0.2%	71	$100
Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines	IA	State	0.2%	62	$651
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)	NJ	National	0.0%	61	$375

See all grantmaking to natural resource conservation nonprofits

Natural resource conservation organizations grantees

Natural resource conservation nonprofits with more than $5 million in total revenues received 94% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 46% of all conservation orgs.

Grant amounts

Size of grant	Number of grants
<$10k	8,841
$10k-$25k	0
$25k-$100k	0
$100k+	57

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue	Median grant size
<$100k	$1,000
$100k-$500k	$1,000
$500k-$1M	$1,500
$1M-$5M	$1,000
>$5M	$1,000

Grantee states

State of grantee	Number of grants
District of Columbia	1,172
California	1,096
New York	991
Virginia	655
Other	4,984

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee	Number of grants
Washington DC	1,791
New York City	847
San Francisco	605
Boston	246
Other	4,076

Top 25 grants made to natural resource conservation nonprofits

Grantee	Grant size	Purpose	Grantmaker
Sierra Club	$79,006,516	Environmental Education	Sierra Club Foundation
Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)	$56,250,000	Agricultural Development	Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Walker Basin Conservancy	$47,985,925	FMV	National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)
The Nature Conservancy	$42,482,096	Various Conservation	National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)
Sixteen Thirty Fund	$33,013,025	Capacity Building	New Venture Fund
Sixteen Thirty Fund	$33,013,025	Capacity Building	New Venture Fund
Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)	$15,000,000	Toward the Costs of Implementing Its New Strategic Approach To Inclusive and Integrated Agricultural Transformation in Africa	Rockefeller Foundation
Walker Basin Conservancy	$12,544,151	Cash	National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)
Walker Basin Conservancy	$12,544,151	Various Conservation	National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)
Natural Resources Defense Council	$7,516,450	Daf - Environment	Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston
Sixteen Thirty Fund	$7,342,000	Clean Slate Reform	Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Advocacy
National Audubon Society	$7,100,224	Various Conservation	National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)
Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)	$7,009,315	Daf - Environment	Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston
The Conservation Fund	$6,664,480	Various Conservation	National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)
Resources Legacy Fund	$6,655,000	Conservation and Science	David and Lucile Packard Foundation
The Nature Conservancy	$6,378,340	Civil Rights, Social Action, Advocacy	Hopewell Fund
The Trust for Public Land	$6,012,250	Environment	Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)
Open Space Institute (OSI)	$5,681,501	Conservation Activities	The Nature Conservancy
Windward Fund	$5,550,000	For the Women and Climate Fund	William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Sierra Club Foundation	$5,005,010	Daf - Environment	Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston
The Nature Conservancy of California	$5,002,185	Wildlife/environment	Craig and Susan McCaw Foundation
Stowe Land Trust	$5,002,000	Gen. Purpose	Vermont Community Foundation
The Nature Conservancy	$5,000,000	In Support of A Strategic Alliance With Environmental Defense Fund To Advance Climate Solutions.	John D & Catherine T Macarthur Foundation
Sierra Club Foundation	$5,000,000	To Support the "beyond Coal" Campaign.	John D & Catherine T Macarthur Foundation
Renew Oceans	$5,000,000	Project Grants	Alliance To End Plastic Waste

See all grants to natural resource conservation nonprofits

Methodology: To determine grants and grantees, Cause IQ analyzes electronically-filed Form 990, Form 990-EZ, and Form 990-PF financial disclosure documents, matching grantees to specific organizations using EINs and fuzzy matching logic. The "Natural resource conservation nonprofits" category for this page is determined by the "C30: Natural Resources Conservation and Protection" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.