Colorado · Nonprofit
CLOUD RIDGE NATURALISTS
CLOUD RIDGE NATURALISTS (Colorado) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $35,600 to it, the largest being FORTERRA NW ($20,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $55k
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $36k
- Net assets
- $244k
What Cloud Ridge Naturalists does
Mission
Cloud Ridge Naturalists and Cloud Ridge Publishing focuses on science literacy through the creation of books and other visual media that emphasize natural history and inspire conservation stewardship. We underwrite and publish books independently and in cooperation with mainstream publishing houses, currently Sasquatch Books/Penguin Random House. We donate all royalties from Sasquatch Books for our 2 Salish Sea books to UC Davis' SeaDoc Society, a research and educational outreach nonprofit. Royalties from our 2 Rocky Mountain titles are deposited as income in our nonprofit's publishing account.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Pacific Northwest Titles (2): Salish Sea: Jewel of the Pacific Northwest (2015, Sasquatch Books and Cloud Ridge Publishing, Seattle authors Audrey DeLella Benedict (Cloud Ridge Naturalists) and Joseph K. Gaydos (SeaDoc Society). ISBN: 978-1-57061-9 85-4 (Library of Congress). Nautilus Gold Award winner. By contractual arrangements between the authors and Sasquatch Books, all annual royalties paid by Sasquatch Books to Cloud Ridge Publishing are donated to the SeaDoc Society by Cloud Ridge Publishing. The SeaDoc Society is part of the Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center at the University of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. Refer to seadocsociety.org for more information. Book 3: Explore the Salish Sea: A Nature Guide for Kids (2018, Little Bigfoot/Penguin Random House, Seattle); authors: Joseph K Gaydos (SeaDoc Society) Audrey DeLella Benedict (Cloud Ridge Naturalists). ISBN: 978-1-63217-095-8 (Library of Congress). Nautilus Silver Award winner. All royalties received for sales of both books, by contractual arrangement, are donated to the SeaDoc Society.
$0 spentColorado Titles: A Naturalists Guide to the Southern Rockies: Colorado, Southern Wyoming, and Northern New Mexico (originally published by Sierra Club Books in 1991; printed and released again by Falcon Publishing in 2008; revised and re-printed from 2010 to present by Cloud Ridge Publishing). This 655 page natural history guide to the southern Rockies continues to be used by several universities as a required field biology textbook and remains the most popular regional guidebook for university students, nature lovers and national park visitors. Sold to universities and NPS at a 40% discount. ISBN-13:978-0-9845257-1-3 (pbk). Valley of the Dunes: Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve; author: Audrey DeLella Benedict. photographers: Bob Rozinski and Wendy Shattil. ISBN: 978-0-9845257-0-6 (Library of Congress). Originally published by Fulcrum Publishing in 2005 in (Golden, Colorado); revised edition published by Cloud Ridge Naturalists in 2010. Both books are contractually warehoused and catalog marketed by Mountain Press Publishing (Missoula, MT). Royalties from books sold and shipped by Mountain Press (less their warehouse storage and shipping costs) and books sold by us…
$0 spentePostcards From Around the World: Our online educational outreach was highlighted by the 4th year of our ePostcards Series, which launched in May 2020 during the COVID-pandemic. Beautifully designed by our website manager, Clyde Lovett, the ePostcards are global in scope, natural history-focused, and written and illustrated by Audrey Benedict. We regard the ePostcard series as our monthly educational outreach effort and there is no subscription fee. Clicking on our website (www.cloudridge.org) and the ePostcard menu bar allows readers access to the current ePostcard as well as to an archive of over 150 series postings.
$0 spent
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $0.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 $146k to $210k (+44%).
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.
91% of CLOUD RIDGE NATURALISTS’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (92% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 5 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
Audrey D Benedict
Founder & Executive Director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2018: the base narrowed from 3 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $25k → $11k.
1 of 4 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 CLOUD RIDGE NATURALISTS’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
CLOUD RIDGE NATURALISTS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 56% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
86% 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 CLOUD RIDGE NATURALISTS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 80% · 2018 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
CLOUD RIDGE NATURALISTS draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Colorado, across 3 states in all.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $11k 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
CLOUD RIDGE NATURALISTS runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,152 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,152 environment nonprofits under $100k, FY2024
Organizations like CLOUD RIDGE NATURALISTS
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 Colorado
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
61%
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 CLOUD RIDGE NATURALISTS: 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 CLOUD RIDGE NATURALISTS?
- CLOUD RIDGE NATURALISTS (Colorado) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $35,600 to it, the largest being FORTERRA NW ($20,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CLOUD RIDGE NATURALISTS have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $35,600 in grants to CLOUD RIDGE NATURALISTS.
- Who is the largest funder of CLOUD RIDGE NATURALISTS?
- FORTERRA NW is the largest funder on record, with $20,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CLOUD RIDGE NATURALISTS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Colorado. 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 Cloud Ridge Naturalists →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 4 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