Minnesota · Nonprofit
CHILDREN & NATURE NETWORK
CHILDREN & NATURE NETWORK (Minnesota) receives grants from 57 organizations whose IRS filings report $19,117,283 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($8,050,950). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.7M
- Funders on record
- 57
- Grants received
- $19M
- Net assets
- $6.0M
What Children & Nature Network does
Mission
See schedule o.to increase equitable access to nature so that children and the natural world can thrive. We do that by: 1) fostering belief that a connection to nature is critical to children's healthy development; 2) changing core systems that impact children's daily access to nature, such as muncipal government, public schools, etc.; 3) growing the movement to reconnect children with nature.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Foster beliefover 65,000 users have visited our online research library which holds 1,400 peer-reviewed studies on the benefits of nature and provides free access to the latest scientific evidence for nature connection. Finding nature news, our biweekly newsletter, illuminated 39 articles, spotlighting on-the-ground leaders, advocates and believers in the children and nature movement. Our resource hub of 700 publications, materials and tools was accessed by 29,000 users.
$703,438 spent$129,747 earned by the program23% of program spendingSystems changeChildren & Nature Network has provided technical assistance, tools & resources to over 80 communities through nature everywhere, our strategic initiative to advance equitable access to nature everywhere children live, learn and play in 100 communities by 2025. Our youth outdoor equity leadership fund distributed $8,000 in micro grants to 18 leaders engaged in nature-based projects in their local communities. Children & Nature Network disbursed $960,000 to transform schoolyards and support local efforts to advance access in local communities across the country.
$1,882,443 spentof which $384,450 as grants$651,100 earned by the program62% of program spendingGrow the movementover 600 leaders, caregivers and nature advocates from 10 countries attended the 2024 nature everywhere conference. C&nn provided scholarships to 30 young leaders and nature advocates to support their participation. Our membership base unites 600 individuals and organizations. Families together in nature webinars and virtual events provided content and inspiration to parents, caregivers and family service providers.
$446,630 spentof which $15,000 as grants$178,153 earned by the program15% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,032,511.
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 2019 to 2020, from $810k to $9.8M (+1110%).
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 12% · 2018 1% · 2019 3% · 2020 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
69% of CHILDREN & NATURE NETWORK’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 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
Sarah Milligan Toffler
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 18 funders, grant income rose $615k → $3.2M.
12 of 57 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 45% 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 CHILDREN & NATURE NETWORK’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 57 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
CHILDREN & NATURE NETWORK leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% of grant income and the top three 62%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
64% 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 CHILDREN & NATURE NETWORK.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 41% · 2018 42% · 2019 43% · 2020 78% · 2021 86% · 2022 25% · 2023 43% — 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
35% of CHILDREN & NATURE NETWORK's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
CHILDREN & NATURE NETWORK draws 98% of its grant income from funders outside Minnesota, across 16 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $8.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
CHILDREN & NATURE NETWORK holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 11,761 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,761 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like CHILDREN & NATURE NETWORK
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 Minnesota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
89%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CHILDREN & NATURE NETWORK: 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 CHILDREN & NATURE NETWORK?
- CHILDREN & NATURE NETWORK (Minnesota) receives grants from 57 organizations whose IRS filings report $19,117,283 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($8,050,950). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CHILDREN & NATURE NETWORK have?
- IRS filings report 57 organizations giving $19,117,283 in grants to CHILDREN & NATURE NETWORK, 36 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CHILDREN & NATURE NETWORK?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $8,050,950 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CHILDREN & NATURE NETWORK find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 57 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing