Texas · Nonprofit
Big Thicket Association
Big Thicket Association (Texas) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $310,305 to it, the largest being THE EDAREN FOUNDATION ($180,372). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $191k
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $310k
- Net assets
- $433k
What Big Thicket Association does
Mission
The Big Thicket Associations mission is to preserve, protect, and promote the Big Thicket region, its natural resources and cultural history, for the enjoyment and well-being of present and future generations through advocacy, education and research.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Awareness and Conservation: The Association promotes awareness of the Big Thicket National Preserve and the need to protect the natural resources and natural beauty of the Big Thicket.
$31,865 spent$6,630 earned by the program18% of program spendingNeches River Adventures: The Association operates the Ivory Bill, a covered excursion boat on the Neches River for school field trips, social events and nature classes. Public tours are conducted most Saturdays between late March and early November. The Ivory Bill is also available for private tours all year. During the year ended December 31, 2025, the Ivory Bill conducted 25 private charters, 41 public tours, and 91 school field trips.
$121,042 spent$16,087 earned by the program66% of program spendingThicket of Diversity and Field Research Learning Center: The Association, in partnership with the Big Thicket National Preserve, The Nature Conservancy, and other entities, administers and coordinates the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI). The ATBI is undertaken to enhance the ability of the National Park Service management to identify every living species inhabiting the Big Thicket National Preserve and surrounding areas and the role of ecosystem dynamics in its health. The Field Research Station and Learning Center includes a small laboratory, classroom and domitory. For a nominal fee, FRSLC provides lodging for reasearch scientists and their graduate students, conservation groups, and volunteers. As part of ATBI, the Assoiation administers and disburses grant funding received from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and other grantors.
$29,146 spentof which $10,166 as grants$6,640 earned by the program16% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $182,053.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2018 to 2019, from $412k to $367k (−11%).
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: 2017 22% · 2018 26% · 2019 32% · 2020 35% · 2021 51% · 2022 32% · 2023 32% · 2024 31% · 2025 40%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Diane Thompson
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 $21k → $33k.
From the IRS filings of Big Thicket Association’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
Big Thicket Association leans on a few funders — its largest provides 58% of grant income and the top three 80%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 62% · 2018 40% · 2019 100% · 2020 76% · 2021 100% · 2022 59% · 2023 61% — broadly stable.
“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
69% of Big Thicket Association's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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.
Organizations like Big Thicket Association
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 Texas
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
79%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Big Thicket Association: 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 Big Thicket Association?
- Big Thicket Association (Texas) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $310,305 to it, the largest being THE EDAREN FOUNDATION ($180,372). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Big Thicket Association have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $310,305 in grants to Big Thicket Association, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Big Thicket Association?
- THE EDAREN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $180,372 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Big Thicket Association find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
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 7 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