California · Nonprofit
Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Asso
Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Asso (California) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $220,246 to it, the largest being Louis L Borick Foundation ($112,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $220k
- Net assets
- $3.2M
What Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Asso does
Mission
We are dedicated to educational, scientific, historic and interpretive endeavors that enhance the public understanding, awareness, knowledge, and appreciation of the natural and cultural resources of the Anza-Borrego Desert region.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The association operates the Borrego Desert Nature Center to provide desert information, sight-seeing information, wildflower information and other visitor services for approximately 25,000 people annually.
$349,970 spent86% of program spendingThe Association provides informational handouts, original articles, and "The Sandpaper" newsletter. Over 15,000 copies published and distributed annually.
$37,654 spent9% of program spendingThe Association provides more than 150 educational and interpretive programs about the desert for the public, provides environmental education for K-12 including curriculum development and instruction, and holds special events including the Annual Desert Lecture Series, the Borrego Desert Garden Tour, the Borrego Bird Festival, California History Weekend, and Borrego Dark Sky programs.
$15,640 spent4% of program spendingThe Association operates an active volunteer program for more than 150 people.
$3,906 spent1% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $407,170.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 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 2024 to 2025, from $2.2M to $3.2M (+44%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2019 3% · 2020 21% · 2021 7% · 2022 20%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
82% of Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Asso’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 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.
Chief executive
Betsy Knaak
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income rose $12k → $29k.
6 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 47% 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 Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Asso’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
Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Asso leans on a few funders — its largest provides 51% of grant income and the top three 86%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
47% 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 Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Asso.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 58% · 2018 67% · 2019 100% · 2020 59% · 2021 98% · 2022 96% · 2023 52% — 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.
How long its funders stay
33% of Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Asso's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Asso draws 96% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $103k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 states 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
Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Asso runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,074 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Asso
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
93% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
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 Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Asso: 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 Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Asso?
- Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Asso (California) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $220,246 to it, the largest being Louis L Borick Foundation ($112,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Asso have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $220,246 in grants to Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Asso, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Asso?
- Louis L Borick Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $112,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Asso find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Asso →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 9 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