Maine · Nonprofit
Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust
Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust (Maine) receives grants from 61 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,486,445 to it, the largest being THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ($3,348,136). 41 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 69% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.4M
- Funders on record
- 61
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $18M
What Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust does
Mission
Caring for the lands, waters, and communities of the Damariscotta-Pemaquid Region.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Conservation efforts center on the Damariscotta-Pemaquid Region, encompassing eight towns. As of 6/30/25, Coastal Rivers owns 106 preserves, holds 67 conservation easements, and co-manages more than 15 additional properties, together totaling more than 7,100 acres under permanent conservation. We work in partnership with private landowners, agencies, and other non-profits. Gifts of land and conservation easements from generous donors, as well as targeted purchases, help us grow and connect our network of conserved lands for public benefit - wildlife, water quality, scenic integrity, historical preservation, and public access.
$890,317 spent$751 earned by the program50% of program spendingOperation and maintenance of two historic farm houses and surrounding land. These serve as nature centers, educational facilities, and administrative offices. In addition, these resources provide a community hub for the Damariscotta region, farmers' market, and central meeting space for nature education and community programs.
$537,300 spent30% of program spendingEducation, outreach, and marine and freshwater programs and materials, including the School for Field Naturalists and related programs. Connecting people and place is central to our mission. We are convinced that engaging youth and adults alike with the natural world in this exceptional region builds a stronger community of caring stewards dedicated to the integrity of the Damariscotta-Pemaquid Region.
$343,494 spent$137,291 earned by the program19% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,771,111.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 $16M to $18M (+14%).
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 4% · 2022 3% · 2025 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
78% of Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 7 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
Steven Hufnagel
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 14 funders to 28 funders, grant income rose $450k → $1.8M.
17 of 61 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 69% 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 Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 61 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
Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 29% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
77% 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 Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 37% · 2018 84% · 2019 30% · 2020 15% · 2021 44% · 2022 50% · 2023 40% — 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
47% of Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
69% of Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust'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 $3.6M that is directly attributable, 50% of it comes from funders outside Maine, across 15 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $7.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 14 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
Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,209 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,209 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust
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 Maine
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
67% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
65%
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 Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust: 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 Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust?
- Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust (Maine) receives grants from 61 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,486,445 to it, the largest being THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ($3,348,136). 41 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 69% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust have?
- IRS filings report 61 organizations giving $11,486,445 in grants to Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust, 41 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust?
- THE NATURE CONSERVANCY is the largest funder on record, with $3,348,136 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maine. 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 Coastal Rivers Conservation →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 61 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