Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
BERKS NATURE
BERKS NATURE (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 29 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,262,652 to it, the largest being BERKS COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($4,846,225). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.1M
- Funders on record
- 29
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $47M
What Berks Nature does
Mission
Our vision is to be a cornerstone of excellence in the stewardship of the environment. Clearly identified with our specific mission, we strive to meet the ever-changing needs of the county and to conserve its heritage and essential character. We provide environmental leadership, direct action, expertise, land use planning, advocacy, research and education.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
To preserve farmlands, open spaces, wooded highlands and historical areas, as well as to educate the general public as to the importance of conservation and environmental issues. In 2025 we protected 91.45 acres by easement bringing our total acres protected to over 11,455.
$1,898,674 spent$59,227 earned by the program71% of program spendingEducational programs: we served 958 students through our summer eco camp, 87 children in our nature preschool and nearly 12,000 students and visitors who came to the nature place to learn about the environment, conservation, watershed science and to connect with nature.
$783,297 spent$808,130 earned by the program29% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,681,971.
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 2020 to 2021, from $30M to $36M (+17%).
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: 2021 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
78% of BERKS NATURE’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. 0 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.
Board chair
Kirsten Deysher
Chair/director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 16 funders, grant income rose $277k → $2.0M.
7 of 29 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 46% 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 BERKS NATURE’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
BERKS NATURE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 43% of grant income and the top three 73%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
68% 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 BERKS NATURE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 81% · 2018 50% · 2019 31% · 2020 30% · 2021 45% · 2022 45% · 2023 59% — 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
64% of BERKS NATURE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 72% 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
BERKS NATURE draws 61% of its grant income from funders outside Pennsylvania, across 10 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
BERKS NATURE runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,209 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,209 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like BERKS NATURE
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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
67%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Berks Nature Education Programs LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BERKS NATURE: 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 BERKS NATURE?
- BERKS NATURE (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 29 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,262,652 to it, the largest being BERKS COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($4,846,225). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BERKS NATURE have?
- IRS filings report 29 organizations giving $11,262,652 in grants to BERKS NATURE, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BERKS NATURE?
- BERKS COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $4,846,225 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BERKS NATURE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 Berks Nature →
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 29 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing