Maryland · Nonprofit
CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY INC
CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY INC (Maryland) receives grants from 75 organizations whose IRS filings report $33,333,335 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($14,635,872). 46 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $14M
- Funders on record
- 75
- Grants received
- $33M
- Net assets
- $20M
What Chesapeake Conservancy Inc does
Mission
To conserve and restore the natural and cultural resources of the chesapeake bay watershed for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations. We serve as a catalyst for change, advancing strong public and private partnerships, developing and using new technology, and empowering environmental stewardship.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Conserve: the worlds leading scientists are calling for dramatic increases in conservation efforts to conserve 30% of the earths lands and waters by 2030. Here in the chesapeake, were working with partners to conserve 30% of the chesapeakes lands and waters by 2030, which is critical for climate resilience, biodiversity and water quality. Conserving land and forests provides habitat for wildlife and does a job that nature intended - filtering stormwater before it reaches the bay, helping to prevent sediment and nutrients from entering our waterways. When we conserve land, we also strive to ensure that it is open to the public for recreation, often by expanding or creating new parks and wildlife refuges.
$7,537,311 spentof which $36,000 as grants$5,085,757 earned by the program72% of program spendingRestore streams: together with our partners, chesapeake conservancy is using the latest groundbreaking data and precision conservation to create a healthier environment upstream, for a healthier chesapeake bay downstream. Restoration is possible through partnerships and a data-driven approach-starting with the streams. Restoring the bays 100,000 small tributaries is key to restoring the chesapeake as the watersheds land-to- water ratio is 14:1, the largest of any of the large enclosed coastal water bodies in the world. With all of that land draining into very little water by comparison, stringing together high-value projects is the fastest way to see an improvement in fish, bug and wildlife habitat.
$1,409,112 spent$216,169 earned by the program13% of program spendingEmpower with data: chesapeake conservancys conservation innovation center (cic) serves as a catalyst for change, leveraging cutting-edge geospatial data science, artificial intelligence and advanced analytics to tackle pressing environmental and conservation challenges in the chesapeake bay watershed. Our goal is to transform data into precise and actionable insights that restore and sustain the bays health for current and future generations. The cic has pioneered the use of high-resolution data products to deepen our understanding of both precision-based and landscape-scale conservation. Through strong public and private partnerships, the cics insights inform policies and drive targeted project priorities to maximize conservation outcomes. Using evidence- based strategies, quantifiable nature-based climate solutions and advanced analytics, we create innovative tools and analyses that empower evidence-based decision-making.
$1,580,243 spent$118,482 earned by the program15% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $10,526,666.
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 2020 to 2021, from $5.8M to $13M (+129%).
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 32% · 2018 36% · 2019 35% · 2020 37% · 2021 27% · 2023 16% · 2024 40% · 2025 24%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
56% of CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (87% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Chief executive
Joel Dunn
Part-year president and CEO
Board chair
Stephanie Meeks
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 17 funders to 29 funders, grant income rose $850k → $7.6M.
11 of 75 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 46% 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 CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 75 funders by total. 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
CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 59%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
56% 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 CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 47% · 2018 24% · 2019 28% · 2020 63% · 2021 26% · 2022 28% · 2023 50% — 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
42% of CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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
61% of CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY INC's grant income comes from Maryland funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $15M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 195 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 195 environment nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $21.3M on record — $20.5M federal, $784k state.
- Environmental Protection Agency$9.2M
- Department of the Interior$6.2M
- Department of Agriculture$2.6M
- Department of Commerce$2.4M
- MD$434k
- DE$350k
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 CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY INC
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 Maryland
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
68%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 6 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Chesapeake Conservancy Center LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY INC: 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 CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY INC?
- CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY INC (Maryland) receives grants from 75 organizations whose IRS filings report $33,333,335 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($14,635,872). 46 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY INC have?
- IRS filings report 75 organizations giving $33,333,335 in grants to CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY INC, 46 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY INC?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $14,635,872 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. 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 75 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