Virginia · Nonprofit
ADVANCED CONSERVATION STRATEGIES
ADVANCED CONSERVATION STRATEGIES (Virginia) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,239,955 to it, the largest being Walton Family Foundation Inc ($2,134,895). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $824k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $3.2M
- Net assets
- $503k
What Advanced Conservation Strategies does
Mission
We combine science and human-centered design to create new ways of approaching environmental problem solving. We conduct synthetic science to inform environmental conservation and sustainability decision-making. We collaborate with foundations and others to monitor, evaluate, and learn from existing environmental efforts and programs.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program and a significant change in how it conducts a program.
Conservation Value and Risk Assessment - Leading assessments for the bioscience company Colossal to provide species-specific guidance around de-extinction to maximize conservation impact while minimizing and mitigating potential harm.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
Concluded the following programs: Capital Azul Marine Program; Coastal Solutions Fellows Program Evaluation; Maya Forest Trust Conservation Plan; Mingamar Capacity Building Program; and Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) for Packard Foundation.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
Improving fisheries sustainability in chile and peru: systems-level research to assess, synthesize, and design intervention plans for priority fisheries to improve their sustainability.
$246,111 spent32% of program spendingReducing Illegal Fishing - Research to understand the extent and drivers of illegal fishing in Chile. Support a collaboration to develop and implement methodologies to provide low-cost monitoring data on vessels to reduce illegal activities.
$216,703 spent28% of program spendingMarine Protected Area Management Effectiveness in Western Indian Ocean - Leading the design and implementation of a new funding program in the Western Indian Ocean to support improving management effectiveness of marine protected areas.
$139,831 spent18% of program spendingOTHER PROGRAM SERVICES - (1) Coastal Solutions Fellows Program Evaluation - Led a mid-term evaluation for Cornell University's Coastal Solutions Fellows Program. (2) Testing New Rodenticide in Urban Environments - Testing new methods for rodent control in urban environments on Google campuses in California. (3) Maya Forest Trust Conservation Plan - Design and implement applied social science to characterize the stakeholders living near the Maya Forest National Park in Belize. (4) Discretionary Spending - Explored and developed new potential collaborations and funding proposals, as well as supported interns. (5) Plataforma Costera - Design and support an online platform whose goal is to provide a central location for knowledge dissemination and collaboration for the Chileans working on coastal sustainability issues. (6) Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) for Packard Foundation - Led various MEL activities for the David & Lucile Packard Foundation's Shorebird and Chile Oceans programs. (7) Conservation Value and Risk Assessment - Leading assessments for the bioscience company Colossal to provide species-specific guidance around de-extinction to maximize conservation impact…
$161,876 spent21% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $764,521.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $517k to $863k (+67%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
98% of ADVANCED CONSERVATION STRATEGIES’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $150k → $626k.
1 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 15% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of ADVANCED CONSERVATION STRATEGIES’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
ADVANCED CONSERVATION STRATEGIES leans on a few funders — its largest provides 66% of grant income and the top three 89%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
27% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund ADVANCED CONSERVATION STRATEGIES.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2020 85% · 2021 98% · 2022 55% · 2023 56% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Where its funders are
ADVANCED CONSERVATION STRATEGIES draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Virginia, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $474k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
ADVANCED CONSERVATION STRATEGIES's funding base is broadening — from 1 funders to 2 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,264 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like ADVANCED CONSERVATION STRATEGIES
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Virginia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ADVANCED CONSERVATION STRATEGIES: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds ADVANCED CONSERVATION STRATEGIES?
- ADVANCED CONSERVATION STRATEGIES (Virginia) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,239,955 to it, the largest being Walton Family Foundation Inc ($2,134,895). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ADVANCED CONSERVATION STRATEGIES have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $3,239,955 in grants to ADVANCED CONSERVATION STRATEGIES, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ADVANCED CONSERVATION STRATEGIES?
- Walton Family Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $2,134,895 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ADVANCED CONSERVATION STRATEGIES find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Advanced Conservation Strategies →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 6 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing