California · Nonprofit
California Ricelands Waterbird Foundation
California Ricelands Waterbird Foundation (California) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $361,708 to it, the largest being THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ($224,623). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 64% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $82k
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $362k
- Net assets
- $323k
What California Ricelands Waterbird Foundation does
Mission
Enhance the ecological value of California rice fields to help sustain the millions of waterbirds and other wildlife in the pacific flyway for future generations.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Program
Over the past year or so, weve seen a continued transition to more reliance on use of our donor funds to keep significant numbers of enhanced habitat acres out on the landscape as the State investments continued to trend lower with lessening reduced overall concerns over drought conditions in California. With the support of all our many donors we have kept the habitat pipeline flowing and even forged new ground by continuing our pilot testing of new innovative approaches to nesting habitat. We also continued to assist our partner organizations in deploying their funding to projects helping birds the Sacramento Valley. Our Bid4Birds web-based platform continues at the one-stop shop for our partners to communicate about funded programs and gather digital applications from rice growers who are interested in participating. We accomplish this through implementation of several ongoing projects.Bid4Birds Habitat Program: This innovative habitat enhancement program focuses on creating critical shorebird and waterfowl habitat at the precise time periods when habitat is the most scarce. This special targeting of habitat investment, precisely where and when its most needed, provides…
$79,481 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $79,481.
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 2021 to 2022, from $109k to $198k (+82%).
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.
100% of California Ricelands Waterbird Foundation’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (100% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 8 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 Buttner
Chair/Ex Dir.
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $100k → $5k.
2 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 64% 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 Ricelands Waterbird Foundation’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 Ricelands Waterbird Foundation leans on a few funders — its largest provides 62% of grant income and the top three 93%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
66% 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 Ricelands Waterbird Foundation.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 97% · 2023 100% — 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
64% of California Ricelands Waterbird Foundation'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 $132k that is directly attributable, 83% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $230k 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
California Ricelands Waterbird Foundation runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 4,996 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,996 animals nonprofits under $100k, FY2024
Organizations like California Ricelands Waterbird Foundation
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 California Ricelands Waterbird Foundation: 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 Ricelands Waterbird Foundation?
- California Ricelands Waterbird Foundation (California) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $361,708 to it, the largest being THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ($224,623). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 64% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does California Ricelands Waterbird Foundation have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $361,708 in grants to California Ricelands Waterbird Foundation, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of California Ricelands Waterbird Foundation?
- THE NATURE CONSERVANCY is the largest funder on record, with $224,623 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like California Ricelands Waterbird Foundation 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 Ricelands Waterbird →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), 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