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Davis Conservation Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Davis Conservation Foundation

To support the wise utilization, protection and advancement of our physical environment and the different natural forms of life that inhabit it, including wildlife, sea life and mankind as they are impacted by the environment.

$1.5M
Granted FY2024still arriving
62
Grants FY2024still arriving
7
States reached
$181k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
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 2024.

Environment$5.5MRecreation & Sports$581kAnimals$314kYouth Development$121kScience & Tech$105kEducation$77kArts & Culture$68kFood & Nutrition$52kOther$0
02FY2024 · 62 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 62 grants below total $1,504,783, the rows itemized in this filing. The $1,536,283 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $31,500 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 · FY2024

  • Under $10k6 grants · $43k
  • $10k–50k51 grants · $953k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $508k
$17,050
Median grant
7
States reached
$40M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Maine Coast Heritage Trust$181,000
Manomet Inc$151,275
Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests$76,000
Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust$50,000
Upper Saco Valley Land Trust$50,000
Northern Forest Center$45,000
University System of New Hampshire$37,170
Conservation Law Foundation$35,000
National Wildlife Federation$34,950
Scarborough Land Conservation Trust$30,000
Connecticut River Watershed Council$29,790
Loon Preservation Committee$27,294
Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire$25,048
New Learning Journey$25,000
NorthWoods Stewardship Center$25,000
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 (FY18–23, $61k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 67% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%Vermont River Conservancy: $15k → 9%Young Mens Christian Association Auburn-Lewiston Maine: $10k → 13%Vermont River Conservancy Inc: $8k → 9%Vermont River Conservancy: $8k → 9%Portland Parks Conservancy: $10k → 7%Portland Parks Conservancy: $10k → 7%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

ME
VT
NH
WA
NY
MA
WV
VA
NM
TN
DC
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.
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 9% of Davis Conservation Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 94% of the giving stays in ME; by stated purpose, 81%.

Davis Conservation Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 11% 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.

74%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$5.1M · 119 repeat orgs$1.7M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +68% since the first grant, against +40% for those funded once.

119 repeat relationships: 45 still active in FY2024, 74 since wound down; 16 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

119
117

Total granted

$5.1M
$1.5M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+68%
+40%

Still filing today

100%
74%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 82% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $271k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EnvironmentRecreation & SportsArts & CultureAnimalsEducationScience & TechOther
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

  • MI
    MANOMET INC
    3× · 2020–2024 · $176k · revenue +76%
  • SF
    SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF NEW HAMPSHIRE FORESTS
    5× · 2017–2024 · $157k · revenue +38%
  • FO
    FRIENDS OF CASCO BAY
    4× · 2017–2023 · $100k · revenue +113%

Funded once

  • AF
    AMERICAN FOREST FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $50k · revenue +80%
  • US
    UNION SALMON ASSOCIATION
    one grant, 2023 · $30k
  • TU
    TROUT UNLIMITED SEBAGO CHAPTERgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $25k · revenue +846%
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
Wetlands Foundation
Environment
2
Kennebunk Land Trust

Kennebunk Land Trust's mission is to permanently conserve and steward land to benefit natural and human communities.

Environment
3
Massachusetts Outdoor Heritage Foundation Inc Attn Susan Sacco
—
4
Islesboro Islands Trust

The mission of Islesboro Islands Trust is to enhance the quality of residents' lives through the preservation of open space, educate all residents as to the value of the island's natural ecosystems, and act as an environmental advocate on…

Philanthropy
5
Protect Maine's Fishing Heritage Foundation
Environment
6
Massachusetts Land Conservation Trust

Conservation and preservation of land.

Environment
7
Aspetuck Land Trust

Founded in 1966, Aspetuck Land Trust is a non-profit membership ogranization whose mission is to protect land forever and connect people to the natural world.

Environment
8
Eastern Maine Conservation Initiative

The Eastern Maine Conservation Initiative (EMCI) is a non-profit organization with broad conservation interests that seeks to: 1) Foster environmentally sustainable communities of the eastern Maine coast; 2) Encourage an appreciation of…

Animals
9
Land Conservancy of West Michigan

Our mission is conserving West Michigans ecologically critical land. We protect land by creating public nature preserves, providing support to communities and local governments in creating natural areas, and helping private landowners…

Environment
10
Mount Desert Land and Garden Preserve

The mission of the mount desert land & garden preserve is to conserve and share the beauty of our historic lands and gardens.

—
11
Francestown Land Trust Inc

The Francestown Land Trusts mission is to help preserve natural areas significant to the Francestown NH area and to provide conservation opportunities and education for area residents.

Environment
12
Monhegan Associates Inc

The monhegan associates is a land trust dedicated to the ongoing preservation of the natural wild beauty and biotic communities of more than 350 acres of wildlands on monhegan island in maine.

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Downeast Lakes Land Trust; the most unlike its peers is Maplestone. 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

224 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. 224 of the 256 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.

5
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
87
Early backer (in before they grew)
221/224
Grantees still filing
166/224
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Maine Coast Heritage Trust: $241,000 · EnvironmentMaine Coast Heritage TrustMANOMET INC: $176,443 · EnvironmentSOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF NEW HAMPSHIRE FORESTS: $157,000 · Environment+109 more: $3,462,417 · Environment+109 moreTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $125,000 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERVANC…UPPER SACO VALLEY LAND TRUST: $90,000 · OtherUPPER SACO VALLEY LAN…+45 more: $1,020,267 · Other+45 moreNorthern Forest Center Inc: $100,000 · EducationNORTHWOODS STEWARDSHIP CENTER: $76,930 · EducationUPPER VALLEY TRAILS ALLIANCE: $50,000 · EducationMaine Huts & Trails: $25,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE FOUNDATION INCORPORATED: $23,650 · EducationBABSON COLLEGE: $20,000 · EducationKISMET ROCK FOUNDATION: $20,000 · EducationTrustees of Saint Joseph's College Saint Joseph's College of Maine: $11,500 · Education+1 more: $10,000 · EducationMaine Center for Coastal Fisheries: $100,000 · Science & TechBigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences: $80,000 · Science & TechWOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION: $25,000 · Science & TechMOUNT WASHINGTON OBSERVATORY: $17,050 · Science & TechGLOUCESTER MARINE GENOMICS INSTITUTE INCORPORATED: $15,000 · Science & TechGULF OF MAINE LOBSTER FOUNDATION: $15,000 · Science & TechNATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION: $49,950 · AnimalsDOWNEAST SALMON FEDERATION: $45,000 · AnimalsAtlantic Salmon Federation (US) Inc: $30,000 · AnimalsTROUT UNLIMITED INC: $30,000 · AnimalsTHE LOBSTER FOUNDATION OF MASSACHUSETTS INC: $25,000 · AnimalsGULF OF MAINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $20,000 · AnimalsDOWNEAST INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED MARINE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION INC: $20,000 · AnimalsTHE CENTER FOR WILDLIFE: $20,000 · AnimalsPROJECT SHARE: $10,000 · AnimalsSEACOAST SCIENCE CENTER INC: $45,061 · Arts & CultureMAINE NATURAL HISTORY OBSERVATORY: $33,200 · Arts & CultureNORTHERN FOREST CANOE TRAIL INC: $32,500 · Arts & CultureNEW HAMPSHIRE PUBLIC RADIO INC: $20,000 · Arts & CultureFriends of Katahdin Woods & Waters: $20,000 · Arts & CultureWABANAKI CULTURAL PRESERVATION COALITION: $18,500 · Arts & CultureMaine Maritime Museum: $10,000 · Arts & CultureFRANCIS MALCOLM SCIENCE CENTER INC: $10,000 · Arts & CultureVERMONT HUTS ASSOCIATION LTD: $35,254 · Recreation & SportsHIGH PEAKS ALLIANCE: $25,000 · Recreation & SportsMaine GearShare: $25,000 · Recreation & SportsMt Ascutney Outdoors Inc: $20,000 · Recreation & SportsFRIENDS OF HOPE CEMETERY & WOODS: $15,000 · Recreation & SportsFRIENDS OF CONSTITUTION PARK OSSIPEE: $15,000 · Recreation & SportsAPPALACHIAN TRAIL CONSERVANCY: $15,000 · Recreation & SportsFriends of Quarry Road: $10,000 · Recreation & SportsKINGDOM TRAIL ASSOCIATION INC: $10,000 · Recreation & Sports
Environment$4,036,860Other$1,235,267Education$337,080Science & Tech$252,050Animals$249,950Arts & Culture$189,261Recreation & Sports$170,254

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetMaine Coast Heritage Trust: $241,000 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetMANOMET INC: $176,443 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetSOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF NEW HAMPSHIRE FORESTS: $157,000 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $125,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetMaine Center for Coastal Fisheries: $100,000 over 4y, 4.5% of budgetFRIENDS OF CASCO BAY: $100,000 over 4y, 3.4% of budgetNorthern Forest Center Inc: $100,000 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetUPPER SACO VALLEY LAND TRUST: $90,000 over 3y, 2.9% of budgetCONSERVATION LAW FOUNDATION INC: $85,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetFALMOUTH CONSERVATION TRUST DBA FALMOUTH LAND TRUST: $84,000 over 4y, 23% of budgetBrunswick-Topsham Land Trust Inc: $80,000 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetBigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences: $80,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetNATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY INC: $78,065 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetNORTHWOODS STEWARDSHIP CENTER: $76,930 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetFRIENDS OF BAXTER STATE PARK: $70,000 over 4y, 5.9% of budgetMidcoast Conservancy: $65,000 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetAppalachian Mountain Club: $61,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetNEW ENGLAND FORESTRY FOUNDATION INC: $60,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetLAND TRUST ALLIANCE INC: $60,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetAudubon Society of New Hampshire: $57,500 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetMaine Audubon Society: $57,254 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetFrenchman Bay Conservancy: $55,000 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetNatural Resources Council of Maine Inc: $55,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetLAKE STEWARDS OF MAINE - MAINE VOLUNTEER LAKE MONITORING PROGRAM: $55,000 over 4y, 4.2% of budgetLoon Preservation Committee: $54,327 over 3y, 2.0% of budgetMAINE LAKES SOCIETY DBA MAINE LAKES: $50,400 over 3y, 6.6% of budgetScarborough Land Conservation Trust: $50,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetTHE ALLAGASH WILDERNESS WATERWAY FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 3y, 28% of budgetPORTLAND TRAILS: $50,000 over 3y, 4.0% of budgetCoastal Rivers Conservation Trust: $50,000 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetUPPER VALLEY TRAILS ALLIANCE: $50,000 over 3y, 5.9% of budgetAMERICAN FOREST FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION: $49,950 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetINLAND WOODS TRAILS: $47,500 over 4y, 3.8% of budgetSEACOAST SCIENCE CENTER INC: $45,061 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetCoastal Mountains Land Trust: $45,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetBLUE HILL HERITAGE TRUST: $45,000 over 3y, 2.2% of budgetDOWNEAST SALMON FEDERATION: $45,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetForest Society of Maine: $45,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $45,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetYORK LAND TRUST: $45,000 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetMaine Island Trail Association: $43,706 over 4y, 1.6% of budgetSoutheast Land Trust of New Hampshire: $40,737 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetMAINE ASSOCIATION OF CONSERVATION DISTRICTS: $40,034 over 4y, 8.6% of budgetRIPPLEFFECT INC: $40,000 over 3y, 2.3% of budgetLoon Echo Land Trust Inc: $40,000 over 2y, 4.0% of budgetPISCATAQUOG LAND CONSERVANCY: $40,000 over 3y, 5.3% of budgetDucks Unlimited Inc: $40,000 over 3y, 0.0% 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.

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.

Onion FoundationMaine Community Found…Quimby Family Foundat…John Sage FoundationElmina B Sewall Found…Morton-Kelly Charitab…Fields Pond Foundatio…The Nature ConservancyMomentum ConservationNew Hampshire Charita…Horizon Foundation IncMaine Coast Heritage …
Onion FoundationME149.7× affinity80 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Onion Foundation · Maine Community Foundation Inc · Quimby Family Foundation · John Sage Foundation · Elmina B Sewall Foundation · Morton-Kelly Charitable Trust · Fields Pond Foundation Inc · The Nature Conservancy · Momentum Conservation · New Hampshire Charitable Foundation · Horizon Foundation Inc · Maine Coast Heritage Trust

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 Davis Conservation Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Davis Conservation Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 60%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 16%
  • New England Forestry Foundation Inc: 88% of income from government
  • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: 63% of income from government
  • Cold Hollow to Canada Incorporated: 56% of income from government
  • Green Mountain Conservancy Incorporated: 49% of income from government
  • Windmill Hill Pinnacle Association: 47% of income from government
  • Vermont Youth Conservation Corps Inc: 47% of income from government
  • Putney Mountain Association Incorporated: 44% of income from government
  • Vermont Land Trust Inc: 42% of income from government
  • Northwoods Stewardship Center: 40% of income from government
  • Connecticut River Watershed Council Inc: 40% of income from government
  • Center for Coastal Studies Inc: 26% of income from government
  • Vermont Woodlands Association: 21% of income from government
  • The Vermont River Conservancy Inc: 21% of income from government
  • Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute Incorporated: 16% of income from government
  • Kingdom Trail Association Inc: 14% of income from government
  • Manomet Inc: 12% of income from government
  • Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium: 7% of income from government
  • Hubbard Brook Research Foundation: 6% of income from government
  • Bull Creek Common Lands: 4% of income from government
  • The Vermont Center for Ecostudies Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Northern Forest Canoe Trail Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Upper Valley Trails Alliance: 3% of income from government
  • Babson College: 3% of income from government
  • Northeast Wilderness Trust Corporation: 2% of income from government
  • South Hero Land Trust Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Appalachian Mountain Club: 1% of income from government
  • Massachusetts Audubon Society Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Vermont Institute of Natural Science Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
6get no government money at all
42report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
3rely 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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Davis Conservation Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Davis Conservation Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

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 256 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Davis Conservation’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home