Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
BONOBO CONSERVATION INITIATIVE
BONOBO CONSERVATION INITIATIVE (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,070,295 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($303,381). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 50% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $415k
- Funders on record
- 20
- Grants received
- $1.1M
- Net assets
- $87k
What Bonobo Conservation Initiative does
Mission
Protect endangered bonobos,preserve the tropical rainforest habitat, empower communities in the congo basin. Working in partnership with indigenous communities, bci is safeguarding bonobos, preserving large tracts of rainforest, benefitting people through livelihood and education
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
REDD+ Carbon Credit/Nature-Based Solutions /NBS Financing: To ensure sustainable, long-term support for the Bonobo Peace Forest, BCI is actively developing REDD+ (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) carbon credit (NBS)financing to benefit local and indigenous communities, wildlife, and the rainforest. REDD+ projects at Sankuru and Kokolopori are registered with VERRA and are now midway through the process of validation, with accomplishment of major milestones. Third-party validation/verification audit was completed as Sankuru. In tandem, BCI and partners conducted extensive field work and consultations with local communities, including FPIC (Free, Prior, and Informed Consent), participatory mapping, socioeconomic assessments, and establishment of local development committees.
$1,064,313 spent70% of program spendingThe Bonobo Peace Forest: a network of community-managed forest reserves and concessions, spanning a vast area of rainforest habitat. Includes two nationally gazetted nature reserves: Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve & Sankuru Nature Reserve, together encompasing almost 9 million acres, plus five additional community forests preparing for legal protection, where bonobos are protected. Working with The Nature Conservancy and other partners to scale up conservation activities and secure official protection for the forests and the bonobos of Lilungu, a strategic site that links a critical conservation corridor. Three additional community conservation areas completed participatory mappinga key step in the process of obtaining legal protection of their lands. In-situ activities include reserve management, wildlife protection, and sustainable livelihood initiatives. Long-term bonobo research program at Kokolopori entered its eigth year, under the auspices of Harvard University.
$463,327 spent30% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,527,640.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 $98k to $548k (+458%).
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: 2020 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of BONOBO CONSERVATION INITIATIVE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (86% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 7 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
Patrick Mehlman
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 7 funders, grant income fell $178k → $142k.
5 of 20 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 50% 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 BONOBO CONSERVATION INITIATIVE’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
BONOBO CONSERVATION INITIATIVE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 28% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
69% 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 BONOBO CONSERVATION INITIATIVE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 28% · 2018 29% · 2019 30% · 2020 32% · 2021 68% · 2022 42% · 2023 61% — growing more concentrated.
“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
31% of BONOBO CONSERVATION INITIATIVE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
50% of BONOBO CONSERVATION INITIATIVE's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $535k that is directly attributable, 75% of it comes from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 10 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $535k 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
BONOBO CONSERVATION INITIATIVE's revenue grew 16% between 2018 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,435 animals nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like BONOBO CONSERVATION INITIATIVE
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 Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
68% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
56%
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 BONOBO CONSERVATION INITIATIVE: 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 BONOBO CONSERVATION INITIATIVE?
- BONOBO CONSERVATION INITIATIVE (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,070,295 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($303,381). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 50% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BONOBO CONSERVATION INITIATIVE have?
- IRS filings report 20 organizations giving $1,070,295 in grants to BONOBO CONSERVATION INITIATIVE, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BONOBO CONSERVATION INITIATIVE?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $303,381 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BONOBO CONSERVATION INITIATIVE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 Bonobo Conservation Initiative →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 20 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