Texas · Nonprofit
Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute
Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute (Texas) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $363,433 to it, the largest being PERMIAN BASIN AREA FOUNDATION ($105,300). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.1M
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $363k
- Net assets
- $6.0M
What Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute does
Mission
The mission of the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute is to promote public awareness, appreciation, and concern for nature generally and the natural diversity of the Chihuahuan Desert region specifically, through education, the visitor experience, and through the support of research.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Nature Center/Gardens/Public Outreach Program: CDRI operates from a 507 acre site named the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center & Botanical Gardens. The Nature Center contains a wide range of features including: i) a 20 acre botanical and pollinator garden, ii) a cactus house, iii) over 5 miles of trails including a canyon with a year round spring and pools and an overlook trail featuring one of three geologic exhibits at the Nature Center, iv) a mining exhibit, v) a visitor center with a well merchandised gift shop and vi) a bird blind with a year round water feature. CDRI offers annual memberships of varying levels and benefits to nearly 450 members and hosts over 14,000 visitors annually to its site. CDRI employs three full time personnel: the Executive Director, Events Coordinator and gardener, and 2-3 part time personnel, depending on seasonal demands. CDRI also utilizes the help of volunteer Host Campers throughout the year. Consistent with its mission, CDRI offers educational programs for Grades Pre-K through 8th, all free to Region 18 students, in addition to adult workshops and the Conant Lecture program (2x annually), also free of admission fees. There are 2 fundraiser…
$294,719 spent$108,994 earned by the program79% of program spendingEducation Program: CDRI has three major mission tenets: i)visitor experience, ii)education and iii) the support of research. The educational focus centers on programs for school aged children in a served market of schools within an approximate distance of 100 or so miles from the Nature Center. CDRI hosts two spring programs for area 1st-3rd , a summer day camp for Pre-K through 8th grades, and two fall programs for area 4th & 5th graders. All programs are designed to comply with TX Essential Knowledge & Skills (TEKS) tests. In addition to the site-based student programs, throughout the year the Nature Center hosts schools from across the State who visit for guided hikes and tours focusing on Chihuahuan Desert plants, geology, anthropology and animals from this unique biome. These costs include payroll for the personnel who design and coordinate these programs, and include other education program related costs. Additionally, CDRI funds, subject to eligible applicants, one or two $1000 scholarships to graduate students attending Texas colleges, and is continuing its 8 week summer college internship program begun in 2023.
$78,342 spent21% of program spendingResearch and Conservation Program: The other major tenet of CDRIs mission is the support of research and both education and research support are linked to conservation and sustainable practices. CDRI actively and overtly promotes the use of the Nature Center site in furtherance of research initiatives. CDRI allocates a portion of its site based costs to this expense classification.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $373,061.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $5.0M to $6.1M (+22%).
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: 2021 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Chief executive
Lisa Gordon
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $30k → $96k.
2 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 29% 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 Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute’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
Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute leans on a few funders — its largest provides 29% of grant income and the top three 75%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
30% 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 Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 67% · 2018 55% · 2019 41% · 2020 73% · 2021 69% · 2022 39% · 2023 47% — 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
14% of Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% 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
55% of Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $105k 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.
Organizations like Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute
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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
92% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
79%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute: 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 Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute?
- Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute (Texas) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $363,433 to it, the largest being PERMIAN BASIN AREA FOUNDATION ($105,300). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $363,433 in grants to Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute?
- PERMIAN BASIN AREA FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $105,300 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute →
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 13 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