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· Public charity

Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

$101M
Granted FY2025still arriving
67
Grants FY2025still arriving
23
States reached
$13M
Largest
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Environment$87MCommunity Improvement$3.2MAnimals$3.0MEducation$2.1MArts & Culture$1.6MInternational$1.1MPhilanthropy$955kFood & Nutrition$934kOther$0
02FY2025 · 67 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 67 grants below total $31,692,555, the rows itemized in this filing. The $101,210,521 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $69,517,966 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $6k
  • $10k–50k21 grants · $631k
  • $50k–250k30 grants · $3.5M
  • $250k+15 grants · $28M
$91,336
Median grant
23
States reached
$704M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FRIENDS OF THE MEXICAN FUND FOR CONSERVATION OF NATURE INC$12,648,925
WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE$7,362,721
WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY$1,566,581
ANTARTIC AND SOUTHERN OCEAN COALITION$1,186,753
THE NATURE CONSERVANCY$812,217
RARE INC$607,328
INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR CONSERVATION OF NATURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES$493,371
ROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS$446,300
NORTHERN MARIANAS COLLEGE$425,000
RESOURCES LEGACY FUND$397,198
OCEANA INC$369,352
UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP)$360,000
FRANKFURT ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY US INC$291,467
HATCH ACCELERATOR FUND MANAGEMENT LLC$285,174
POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY$257,926
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY22–25, $344k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%GIVEPOWER FOUNDATION: $166k → 10%SDSN ASSOCIATION INC: $58k → 17%SDSN ASSOCIATION INC: $24k → 17%POHAKU PELEMAKA: $68k → 15%SDSN ASSOCIATION INC: $18k → 17%SDSN ASSOCIATION INC: $10k → 17%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

VT
WA
ID
MT
IL
WI
NY
MA
OR
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
CO
MO
KY
VA
MD
AZ
KS
AR
NC
SC
DC
HI
TX
FL

Grants abroad, by region: $68M on the FY2025 return

Schedule F, as filed: 9 regions, $67M to organizations and $695k to individuals. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

South America$27M · 40% · 172 grants · 86 people

Stated purpose: CONSERVATION · GRANT

Sub-Saharan Africa$13M · 19% · 134 grants · 46 people

Stated purpose: CONSERVATION · GRANT

Europe (including Iceland and Greenland)$12M · 18% · 43 grants · 1 person

Stated purpose: CONSERVATION · GRANT

East Asia and the Pacific$10.0M · 15% · 96 grants · 7 people

Stated purpose: CONSERVATION · GRANT

North America (Canada and Mexico)$2.3M · 3% · 19 grants

Stated purpose: CONSERVATION

Central America and the Caribbean$2.1M · 3% · 19 grants · 3 people

Stated purpose: CONSERVATION · GRANT

South Asia$1.1M · 2% · 6 grants · 3 people

Stated purpose: CONSERVATION · GRANT

Russia and Neighboring States$446k · 1% · 8 grants

Stated purpose: CONSERVATION

Middle East and North Africa$105k · 0% · 4 grants

Stated purpose: CONSERVATION

How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving. Grants abroad on Schedule F are filed by region, purpose and amount with no recipient name, so they are shown by region and cannot be placed on the country map or matched to a grantee.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 46% of Conservation International Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 6% of the giving stays in VA; by stated purpose, 1%.

Conservation International Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 67% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

81%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$76M · 83 repeat orgs$18M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +28% since the first grant, against +18% for those funded once.

83 repeat relationships: 45 still active in FY2025, 38 since wound down; 20 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

83
29

Total granted

$76M
$3.5M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+28%
+18%

Still filing today

77%
72%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 52% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $15M went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EnvironmentAnimalsInternationalEducationScience & TechHuman ServicesOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • WC
    Wildlife Conservation Society
    9× · 2017–2025 · $8.9M · revenue +59%
  • AA
    Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition
    5× · 2021–2025 · $3.9M · revenue +17% · 81% of their budget
  • IC
    ISLAND CONSERVATION
    5× · 2018–2022 · $3.4M · revenue +120%

Funded once

  • ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITYgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $1.4M · revenue +94%
  • UD
    US DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
    one grant, 2024 · $581k
  • IO
    INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL FINANCE
    one grant, 2022 · $400k · revenue +6%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
2
Amazon Conservation Team

The amazon conservation team (act) partners with indigenous and other local communities to protect tropical forests and strengthen traditional culture.

Science & Tech
3
Rainforest Foundation Inc

The purpose of rainforest foundation us is to support indigenous peoples and forest communities in their efforts to secure their lands, protect their environment, and uphold their rights.

Environment
4
Rainforest Alliance Holding Inc

RA works at the intersection of business, agriculture & forests to improve lives & protect nature by transforming how land is used, production of goods & consumer choices.

Environment
5
Ocean Conservancy

Ocean conservancy unites science, people, and policy to protect our ocean, today and for generations to come.

Environment
6
Akashinga Inc

Deliver ecological stability and long-term protection of large-scale wilderness by supporting and empowering local communities.

Animals
7
Resource Renewal Institute

The resource renewal institute facilitates the creation, development and implementation of practical strategies to solve the entire complex environmental problem by addressing it comprehensively.

Environment
8
Endangered Species International

Endangered Species International is strongly committed to reversing the trend of human-induced species extinction, saving endangered animals, and preserving wild places.

Animals
9
Blue World Foundation Inc

To stabilize the population of marine species in danger, especially sharks and rays in the caribbean of guatemala; through science and community strengthening which will provide the creation of alternative livelihoods, which eventually…

Environment
10
The Coral Reef and Marine Science Foundation Inc C/O James Bildner
—
11
National Audubon Society Inc

We work towards a future where birds thrive across the americas because audubon is a powerful, diverse, and ever-growing force for conservation. (continued on schedule o).

Environment
12
OneReef Worldwide Stewardship

OneReefs mission is to ensure healthy ocean ecosystems and thriving coastal communities across the Pacific.

Animals
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Island Conservation; the most unlike its peers is Kupa Friends of Ho'okena Beach Park. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

106 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 106 of the 136 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

9
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
21
Early backer (in before they grew)
105/106
Grantees still filing
71/106
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

FRIENDS OF THE MEXICAN FUND FOR THE CONSERVATION OF NATURE: $12,648,925 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF THE MEXICAN FUND FOR THE CONSER…Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition: $3,851,416 · EnvironmentAntarctic and Southern Ocean CoalitionISLAND CONSERVATION: $3,381,472 · EnvironmentISLAND CONSERVATIONINT'L UNION FOR CONSERVATION OF NATURE & NATURAL RESOURCES - US: $3,330,747 · EnvironmentINT'L UNION FOR CONSERVATION OF NATURE & N…WORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $2,885,466 · EnvironmentWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC+37 more: $11,609,165 · Environment+37 moreWORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE: $26,765,685 · InternationalWORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE+10 more: $1,731,831 · International+10 moreTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $3,362,277 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSER…LIGHTSMITH GROUP LLC: $2,950,434 · OtherLIGHTSMITH GROUP …UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA: $1,544,466 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF CAL…TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $911,148 · OtherTRUSTEES OF BOSTO…HATCH ACCELERATOR FUND MANAGEMENT LLC: $627,674 · OtherUS DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY: $580,560 · Other+41 more: $5,949,085 · Other+41 moreWildlife Conservation Society: $8,865,139 · AnimalsWildlife Conse…REWILD: $609,888 · Animals+16 more: $3,068,433 · Animals+16 moreROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC: $3,154,889 · Philanthropy+3 more: $202,652 · PhilanthropyARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $1,388,941 · EducationGREENHOUSE GAS EXPERTS NETWORK INC: $319,864 · EducationDUKE UNIVERSITY: $198,410 · EducationMARINE CONSERVATION BIOLOGY INSTITUTE: $109,570 · Education+7 more: $285,611 · EducationPOLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY: $419,361 · Arts & CultureSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $306,029 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $9,700 · Arts & Culture
Environment$37,707,191International$28,497,516Other$15,925,644Animals$12,543,460Philanthropy$3,357,541Education$2,302,396Arts & Culture$735,090

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetWORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE: $26,765,685 over 5y, 3.5% of budgetWildlife Conservation Society: $8,865,139 over 9y, 0.5% of budgetAntarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition: $3,851,416 over 5y, 81% of budgetISLAND CONSERVATION: $3,381,472 over 5y, 18% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $3,362,277 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetINT'L UNION FOR CONSERVATION OF NATURE & NATURAL RESOURCES - US: $3,330,747 over 9y, 83% of budgetROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC: $3,154,889 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $2,885,466 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $1,388,941 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetRARE: $1,210,203 over 8y, 1.4% of budgetLIBERIA CONSERVATION FUND INC: $1,016,700 over 2y, 100% of budgetRESOURCES LEGACY FUND: $949,680 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetThe Ocean Foundation: $920,928 over 6y, 1.9% of budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $911,148 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetHEIFER PROJECT INTERNATIONAL: $858,045 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetMISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES: $826,339 over 7y, 0.4% of budgetOCEANA INC: $820,625 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetSave the Waves Coalition: $705,124 over 6y, 18% of budgetNATURE AND CULTURE INTERNATIONAL: $640,884 over 6y, 3.3% of budgetREWILD: $609,888 over 9y, 0.6% of budgetNIA TERO FOUNDATION: $498,824 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetTHE PEREGRINE FUND INC: $445,207 over 6y, 1.2% of budgetPOLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY: $419,361 over 2y, 4.2% of budgetInternational Rivers Network: $414,948 over 8y, 4.9% of budgetINSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL FINANCE: $400,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetAFRICAN WILDLIFE FOUNDATION INC: $376,756 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetTHE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE FOUNDATION: $365,368 over 5y, 3.4% of budgetGREEN FORESTS WORK INC: $363,270 over 2y, 11% of budgetPEOPLE RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION FOUNDATION: $359,086 over 8y, 22% of budgetNATURA BOLIVIA FOUNDATION: $345,442 over 4y, 43% of budgetMADAGASCAR FAUNA AND FLORA GROUP: $344,372 over 6y, 28% of budgetGREENHOUSE GAS EXPERTS NETWORK INC: $319,864 over 2y, 9.8% of budgetSUSTAINABLE FISHERIES PARTNERSHIP FOUNDATION: $319,634 over 4y, 1.7% of budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $306,029 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCLIMATE ADVISERS TRUST: $300,000 over 1y, 4.7% of budgetEarth Island Institute Inc: $299,995 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetCLIMATE CONSERVATION DBA CENTER FOR LARGE LANDSCAPE CONSERVATION: $298,132 over 4y, 2.9% of budgetFRANKFURT ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY - US INC: $291,467 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetMIGRAMAR: $291,212 over 4y, 46% of budgetRAINFOREST ALLIANCE INC: $259,684 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetSAOLA FOUNDATION INC: $236,998 over 3y, 17% of budgetBahamas National Trust Fund Inc: $233,434 over 2y, 8.3% of budgetINTERNATIONAL FUND FOR ANIMAL WELFARE INC: $224,969 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetOCEAN RISK AND RESILIENCE ACTION ALLIANCE INC: $200,000 over 2y, 4.3% of budgetDUKE UNIVERSITY: $198,410 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCONSERVATION COUNCIL OF NATIONS: $190,202 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetGIVEPOWER FOUNDATION: $166,380 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetWILDLIFE FRIENDLY ENTERPRISE NETWORK: $165,402 over 3y, 58% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF THE MEXICAN FUND FOR THE CONSERVATION OF NATURE ↗
  • Who funds Wildlife Conservation Society ↗
  • Who funds Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition ↗
  • Who funds ISLAND CONSERVATION ↗
  • Who funds THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds INT'L UNION FOR CONSERVATION OF NATURE & NATURAL RESOURCES - US ↗
  • Who funds ROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC ↗
  • Who funds WORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC ↗
  • Who funds ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds RARE ↗
  • Who funds LIBERIA CONSERVATION FUND INC ↗
  • Who funds RESOURCES LEGACY FUND ↗
  • Who funds The Ocean Foundation ↗
  • Who funds TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds HEIFER PROJECT INTERNATIONAL ↗
  • Who funds MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES ↗
  • Who funds OCEANA INC ↗
  • Who funds Save the Waves Coalition ↗
  • Who funds NATURE AND CULTURE INTERNATIONAL ↗
  • Who funds REWILD ↗
  • Who funds NIA TERO FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE PEREGRINE FUND INC ↗
  • Who funds POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds International Rivers Network ↗
  • Who funds INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL FINANCE ↗
  • Who funds AFRICAN WILDLIFE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds GREEN FORESTS WORK INC ↗
  • Who funds PEOPLE RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds NATURA BOLIVIA FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds MADAGASCAR FAUNA AND FLORA GROUP ↗

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Pew Charitable TrustsDC28.4× affinity13 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Pew Charitable Trusts · The Nature Conservancy · Gordon E and Betty I Moore Foundation · Resources Legacy Fund · The David and Lucile Packard Foundation · The Marisla Foundation · National Fish and Wildlife Foundation · Waitt Foundation · Mulago Foundation · National Geographic Society · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc · Walton Family Foundation Inc

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Conservation International Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Conservation International Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 60%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Trustees of Boston University: 12% of income from government
  • Sea Education Association Inc: 12% of income from government
  • Yale University: 12% of income from government
  • Root Capital Inc: 9% of income from government
  • University of Miami: 5% of income from government
  • Oxfam-America Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
6get no government money at all
18report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 136 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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