California · Nonprofit
California Institute of Environmental Studies
California Institute of Environmental Studies (California) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,328,021 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ($781,750). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.6M
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $1.3M
- Net assets
- $527k
What California Institute of Environmental Studies does
Mission
The institute is dedicated to scientific research, the results of which are used to promote public awareness and education in the areas of conservation biology and ecology,including the wise use of natural resources.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
California Institute of Environmental Studies (CIES) is a non-profit organization that was established with the purpose of promoting conservation of marine and coastal birds and their habitats. In recent years, CIES has expanded its role in habitat conservation to include working with a variety of heavily impacted island habitats within the Channel Islands. During this past year, CIES was a key stakeholder in the conservation of natural resources, particularly marine birds and their habitats, within the Channel Islands. During fiscal year 2024_2025, CIES continued to be a leader within California for marine bird conservation. CIES conducted numerous studies and conservation actions for 16 species of marine birds working with land managers within the Channel Islands. Seabird conservation and monitoring work was conducted on 6 of the 8 Channel Islands, working with 6 different organizations. In addition, CIES staff assisted the Marine Bird Restoration Group of Japan, a sister nonprofit organization, with a study of Japanese murrelets. CIES produced numerous annual reports for its clients and presented results at several scientific conferences. CIES also conducted an innovative study…
$1,282,713 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,282,713.
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 2022 to 2023, from $518k to $613k (+18%).
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 93% · 2018 85% · 2019 91% · 2020 87% · 2021 71% · 2022 57% · 2023 65% · 2024 71% · 2025 44%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of California Institute of Environmental Studies’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (74% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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
Paul R Kelly
President/Chair
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 $105k → $162k.
1 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 33% 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 California Institute of Environmental Studies’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
California Institute of Environmental Studies leans on a few funders — its largest provides 59% of grant income and the top three 98%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
91% 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 California Institute of Environmental Studies.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 90% · 2018 72% · 2019 97% · 2020 95% · 2021 100% · 2022 57% · 2023 87% — 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.
Where its funders are
California Institute of Environmental Studies draws 87% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 2 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $433k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
California Institute of Environmental Studies has grown faster than half of the 717 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 717 animals nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding California Institute of Environmental Studies receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $4.6M on record.
- Department of the Interior$4.6M
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like California Institute of Environmental Studies
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
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 California Institute of Environmental Studies: 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 California Institute of Environmental Studies?
- California Institute of Environmental Studies (California) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,328,021 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ($781,750). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does California Institute of Environmental Studies have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $1,328,021 in grants to California Institute of Environmental Studies, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of California Institute of Environmental Studies?
- NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $781,750 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like California Institute of Environmental Studies 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 California Institute of Environmental Studies →
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 5 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