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Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc

The sustainable forestry initiative (sfi) inc.

$731k
Granted FY2024still arriving
28
Grants FY2024still arriving
23
States reached
$106k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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$3.8MEducation$107kAnimals$75kCommunity Improvement$23kArts & Culture$20kCrime & Legal$12kYouth Development$10k
02FY2024 · 28 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 28 grants below total $459,894, the rows itemized in this filing. The $731,060 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $271,166 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 $10k10 grants · $72k
  • $10k–50k16 grants · $231k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $156k
$11,265
Median grant
23
States reached
$13M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NCASI FOUNDATION$106,398
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION BUSINESS OFFICE$50,000
NCASI$25,000
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY$20,000
OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY$19,158
REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA$18,825
AUBURN UNIVERSITY$18,209
MAEOE VENDOR$17,260
KENTUCKY ASSOCIATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION$13,730
NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY$12,000
WASILLA SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT$11,800
COLORADO ALLIANCE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDU$11,296
WYOMING PROJECT LEARNING TREE$11,288
PACIFIC EDUCATION INSTITUTE$11,265
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STEVENS POINT$10,840
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 (FY18–24, $77k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%WYOMING PROJECT LEARNING TREE: $18k → 11%WYOMING PROJECT LEARNING TREE: $16k → 11%WYOMING PROJECT LEARNING TREE: $12k → 11%WYOMING PROJECT LEARNING TREE: $11k → 11%WYOMING PROJECT LEARNING TREE: $11k → 11%WYOMING PROJECT LEARNING TREE: $9k → 11%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

AK
ME
VT
NH
WA
ID
MT
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
MA
OR
NV
WY
SD
OH
PA
CT
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
AZ
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
OK
LA
MS
AL
GA
TX
FL
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 38% of Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inclessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 41% 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.

89%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.6M · 48 repeat orgs$424k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +54% since the first grant, against +11% for those funded once.

48 repeat relationships: 23 still active in FY2024, 25 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

48
29

Total granted

$3.6M
$329k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+54%
+11%

Still filing today

65%
72%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 79% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $95k 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
EnvironmentEducationArts & CultureAnimalsHuman ServicesCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • NatureServe
    6× · 2017–2023 · $342k · revenue +6%
  • NF
    NCASI FOUNDATION
    6× · 2019–2024 · $280k · revenue ×13
  • AB
    American Bird Conservancy
    5× · 2017–2021 · $263k · revenue +54%

Funded once

  • CC
    COALITIONS & COLLABORATIVES INCgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $29k · revenue +113%
  • US
    United States Endowment for Forestry
    one grant, 2019 · $25k · revenue -26%
  • American Forestsgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $20k · revenue +253%
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
Forests Today and Forever

To research, develop, and teach ecologically effective means to protect, manage, and restore forest lands.

Unclassified
2
The Foundation for Sustainable Forests Inc
Philanthropy
3
National Association of State Foresters

Between federal government and forestry groups on forestry matters to develop and promote programs and activities, which will advance forest stewardship and use of forest resources.

—
4
Center for Sustainable Economy

Promoting economic sustainability

Environment
5
Georgia Forestwatch Inc

Our mission is to enhance the health of over 867,000 acres of georgias national forest by protecting our forests and streams, advocating for natural processes, and identifying opportunities to improve forest management.

Environment
6
Appalachian Society of American Forester

Advance the science, technology, education, and practice of forestry ensure the continued health and use of forest ecosystems and the present and futre availability of forest resources to benefit society

—
7
Idaho Forest Restoration Partnership
Environment
8
Santa Fe Forest Coalition

Educate the public on forest conservation issues in New Mexico

Environment
9
Forest Landowners Association Inc

To support, through advocacy, education, and information, forest landowners' responsible management of their private property.

—
10
Minnesota Forestry Association

Forestry education

Environment
11
Alabama Forestry Association Inc

Promote forest industry & forest products

—
12
Michigan Forest Resource Alliance

The promotion of healthy forests through broad programs of public information, education programs, and promotion of resource management.

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Society of American Foresters; the most unlike its peers is University of Miami. 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

59 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. 59 of the 83 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)
20
Early backer (in before they grew)
56/59
Grantees still filing
44/59
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE & STATE UNIVERSITY: $120,000 · OtherVIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE & STATE UNIVERSIT…THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA: $106,617 · OtherTHE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIAMICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: $97,302 · OtherMICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITYMaryland Assoc for Environmental & Outdoor Educati: $91,960 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF MAINE SYSTEM INC: $90,000 · OtherOREGON STATE UNIVERSITY: $81,039 · OtherIDAHO FOREST PROD COMMISSION: $78,950 · OtherNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR AIR AND STREAM IMPROVEMENT INC: $75,000 · OtherENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION ASSN OF ILLINOIS: $71,805 · OtherKansas Association for Conservation: $68,387 · OtherMISSISSIPPI FORESTRY FOUNDATION INC: $59,889 · Other+38 more: $790,979 · Other+38 moreNatureServe: $342,381 · EnvironmentNatureServeALABAMA FORESTRY FOUNDATION: $113,980 · EnvironmentALABAMA FORESTRY FOUNDATIONKENTUCKY ASSOCIATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION: $102,820 · EnvironmentKENTUCKY ASSOCIATION FOR ENVIRONME…MAINE TREE FOUNDATION: $98,950 · EnvironmentMAINE TREE FOUNDATIONCOLORADO ALLIANCE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION INC: $76,520 · EnvironmentCOLORADO ALLIANCE FOR ENVIRONMENTA…MANOMET INC: $75,000 · EnvironmentMANOMET INCARKANSAS FORESTRY ASSOCIATION EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $72,907 · EnvironmentARKANSAS FORESTRY ASSOCIATION EDUC…SOUTH CAROLINA FORESTRY FOUNDATION: $67,151 · EnvironmentSOUTH CAROLINA FORESTRY FOUNDATIONSOUTH DAKOTA PROJECT LEARNING TREE INC: $63,555 · EnvironmentGREEN BLUE INSTITUTE: $46,875 · Environment+11 more: $151,579 · Environment+11 moreNCASI FOUNDATION: $280,481 · AnimalsNCASI FOUNDATIO…American Bird Conservancy: $262,600 · AnimalsAmerican Bird C…University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc: $119,383 · EducationUniversity of Miami: $23,000 · EducationENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION ASSOC OF NM: $12,500 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-STEVENS POINT FOUNDATION INC: $10,840 · EducationWHITEFISH SCHOOL DISTRICT EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $10,000 · EducationTEXAS FORESTRY ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL FUND INC: $83,754 · Human ServicesWyoming Project Learning Tree: $76,698 · Human ServicesPACIFIC EDUCATION INSTITUTE: $115,836 · PhilanthropyPROJECT LEARNING TREE OHIO: $68,575 · Arts & CultureWENATCHEE VALLEY MUSEUM & CULTURAL CENTER: $10,000 · Arts & CultureSouthern Forest Hertiage Museum: $10,000 · Arts & Culture
Other$1,731,928Environment$1,211,718Animals$543,081Education$175,723Human Services$160,452Philanthropy$115,836Arts & Culture$88,575

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 budgetNatureServe: $342,381 over 6y, 0.9% of budgetNCASI FOUNDATION: $280,481 over 6y, 12% of budgetAmerican Bird Conservancy: $262,600 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetUniversity of Georgia Research Foundation Inc: $119,383 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetPACIFIC EDUCATION INSTITUTE: $115,836 over 7y, 3.1% of budgetALABAMA FORESTRY FOUNDATION: $113,980 over 7y, 1.8% of budgetKENTUCKY ASSOCIATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION: $102,820 over 7y, 6.6% of budgetMAINE TREE FOUNDATION: $98,950 over 6y, 5.7% of budgetMaryland Assoc for Environmental & Outdoor Educati: $91,960 over 7y, 7.2% of budgetTEXAS FORESTRY ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL FUND INC: $83,754 over 7y, 4.3% of budgetWyoming Project Learning Tree: $76,698 over 6y, 50% of budgetCOLORADO ALLIANCE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION INC: $76,520 over 6y, 2.9% of budgetMANOMET INC: $75,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR AIR AND STREAM IMPROVEMENT INC: $75,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetARKANSAS FORESTRY ASSOCIATION EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $72,907 over 6y, 9.0% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION ASSN OF ILLINOIS: $71,805 over 7y, 41% of budgetPROJECT LEARNING TREE OHIO: $68,575 over 5y, 100% of budgetKansas Association for Conservation: $68,387 over 5y, 6.1% of budgetSOUTH CAROLINA FORESTRY FOUNDATION: $67,151 over 6y, 20% of budgetSOUTH DAKOTA PROJECT LEARNING TREE INC: $63,555 over 4y, 46% of budgetMISSISSIPPI FORESTRY FOUNDATION INC: $59,889 over 4y, 8.4% of budgetGeorgia Forestry Foundation Inc: $48,247 over 5y, 6.0% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $45,600 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTENNESSEE FORESTRY ASSOCIATION: $43,846 over 5y, 1.6% of budgetUTAH SOCIETY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION: $41,816 over 4y, 29% of budgetNORTH AMERICAN FOREST PARTNERSHIP INC: $40,000 over 4y, 4.6% of budgetCOALITIONS & COLLABORATIVES INC: $28,779 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetUnited States Endowment for Forestry: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetUniversity of Miami: $23,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMICHIGAN ALLIANCE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND OUTDOOR EDUCATION: $21,968 over 2y, 17% of budgetSIERRA NEVADA JOURNEYS: $21,919 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCONNECTICUT FOREST & PARK ASSOCIATION: $20,810 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetAmerican Forests: $20,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNEW HAMPSHIRE TIMBERLAND OWNERS ASSOCIATION: $19,500 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetALASKA ASSOCIATION OF CONSERVATION DISTRICTS INC: $15,100 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetCal-Wood Education Center: $15,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION ASSOC OF NM: $12,500 over 1y, 18% of budgetTHE GEORGIA HEIRS PROPERTY LAW CENTER INC: $11,500 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-STEVENS POINT FOUNDATION INC: $10,840 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWHITEFISH SCHOOL DISTRICT EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 17% of budgetTHE GREENING OF DETROIT: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetSOCIETY OF AMERICAN FORESTERS: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFLORIDA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION: $10,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetWENATCHEE VALLEY MUSEUM & CULTURAL CENTER: $10,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetBOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 312 - GREATER ST LOUIS AREA COUNCIL: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSOCIETY OF AMERICAN FORESTERS: $10,000 over 1y, 9.9% of budgetSouthern Forest Hertiage Museum: $10,000 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetROANOKE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INC: $10,000 over 1y, 2.5% 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 NatureServe ↗
  • Who funds NCASI FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds American Bird Conservancy ↗
  • Who funds University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds PACIFIC EDUCATION INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds ALABAMA FORESTRY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds KENTUCKY ASSOCIATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION ↗
  • Who funds MAINE TREE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Maryland Assoc for Environmental & Outdoor Educati ↗
  • Who funds TEXAS FORESTRY ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL FUND INC ↗
  • Who funds Wyoming Project Learning Tree ↗
  • Who funds COLORADO ALLIANCE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION INC ↗
  • Who funds MANOMET INC ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR AIR AND STREAM IMPROVEMENT INC ↗
  • Who funds ARKANSAS FORESTRY ASSOCIATION EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION ASSN OF ILLINOIS ↗
  • Who funds PROJECT LEARNING TREE OHIO ↗
  • Who funds Kansas Association for Conservation ↗
  • Who funds SOUTH CAROLINA FORESTRY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds SOUTH DAKOTA PROJECT LEARNING TREE INC ↗
  • Who funds MISSISSIPPI FORESTRY FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Georgia Forestry Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds GREEN BLUE INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds TENNESSEE FORESTRY ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds UTAH SOCIETY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION ↗
  • Who funds NORTH AMERICAN FOREST PARTNERSHIP INC ↗
  • Who funds COALITIONS & COLLABORATIVES INC ↗
  • Who funds United States Endowment for Forestry ↗

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.

American Forest Found…National Fish and Wil…The Nature ConservancyUnited States Endowme…American ForestsRei Cooperative Actio…The Conservation Fund…International Paper C…The Chicago Community…The Blackbaud Giving …American Endowment Fo…The Bank of America C…
American Forest FoundationDC57.2× affinity25 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: American Forest Foundation · National Fish and Wildlife Foundation · The Nature Conservancy · United States Endowment for Forestry · American Forests · Rei Cooperative Action Fund · The Conservation Fund a Nonprofit Corporation · International Paper Company Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · American Endowment Foundation · The Bank of America Charitable 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 Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Maryland Assoc for Environmental & Outdoor Educati: 35% of income from government
  • Connecticut Forest & Park Association: 16% of income from government
  • Manomet Inc: 12% of income from government
  • University of Miami: 5% of income from government
  • Florida Forestry Association: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
12report 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 83 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 Sustainable Forestry Initiative’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