California · Nonprofit
BIRD SCHOOL PROJECT
BIRD SCHOOL PROJECT (California) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $240,005 to it, the largest being The David and Lucile Packard Foundation ($100,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $199k
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $240k
- Net assets
- $80k
What Bird School Project does
Mission
Bird School Project offers outdoor science and birding education programs for students in Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties. Through on-campus visits students learn bird identification observation skills field journaling and scientific inquiry using binoculars and field guides. By providing programs at schools the organization eliminates transportation and cost barriers to outdoor education. In the past year Bird School Project served over 6,000 students focusing on under-resourced public schools and multilingual student communities. The organization also supports teachers in integrating outdoor learning and environmental observation into their classrooms.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
The Bird School Project provided schoolyard outdoor education and nature-based science classes for over 6,000 students in various districts through out the Monterey Bay region.
$145,068 spent75% of program spendingThe Bird School Project provided services for a nature-based after school program leading students on field trips throughout the Monterey Bay region.
$36,674 spent19% of program spendingThe Bird School Project hosts an annual birding festival for local communities to explore nature and learn about birds in the region through field trips and workshops facilitated by leaders with expertise in the field of birding art and natural history.
$10,769 spent6% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $192,511.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 2021 to 2022, from $108k to $28k (−74%).
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: 2024 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
22% of BIRD SCHOOL PROJECT’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (91% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $11k → $15k.
2 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 10% 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 BIRD SCHOOL PROJECT’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
BIRD SCHOOL PROJECT leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 76% · 2020 71% · 2021 69% · 2022 88% · 2023 69% — 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
25% of BIRD SCHOOL PROJECT's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 33% 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
98% of BIRD SCHOOL PROJECT's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $25k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
BIRD SCHOOL PROJECT runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 13,062 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 13,062 human services nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like BIRD SCHOOL PROJECT
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.
Public support
100%
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 BIRD SCHOOL PROJECT: 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 BIRD SCHOOL PROJECT?
- BIRD SCHOOL PROJECT (California) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $240,005 to it, the largest being The David and Lucile Packard Foundation ($100,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BIRD SCHOOL PROJECT have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $240,005 in grants to BIRD SCHOOL PROJECT, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BIRD SCHOOL PROJECT?
- The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $100,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BIRD SCHOOL PROJECT 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 Bird School Project →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), 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