Oregon · Nonprofit
Columbia Riverkeeper
Columbia Riverkeeper (Oregon) receives grants from 67 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,740,830 to it, the largest being THE SCHMIDT FAMILY FOUNDATION ($3,150,000). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.5M
- Funders on record
- 67
- Grants received
- $12M
- Net assets
- $7.1M
What Columbia Riverkeeper does
Mission
To protect and restore the water quality of the columbia river and all life connected to it, from the headwaters to the pacific ocean. Our strategy for protecting the columbia includes working in river communities and protecting the people, fish and wildlife that depend on the columbia river.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported a significant change in how it conducts a program.
Since april 2020, riverkeeper has acted as the fiscal sponsor for comunidades, aproject with a mission to amplify latino voices for environmental and social justice. Beginning in january 2024, comunidades embarked on the process of becoming an independent nonprofit organization. Columbia Riverkeeper worked with comunidades to support this process, and in december the fiscal sponsorship agreement wasterminated.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
Since april 2020, riverkeeper has acted as the fiscal sponsor for comunidades, a project with a mission to amplify latino voices for environmental and social justice. Beginning in january 2024, comunidades embarked on the process of becoming an independent nonprofit organization. Columbia Riverkeeper worked with comunidades to support this process, and in december the fiscal sponsorship agreement was terminated.
$1,618,142 spent38% of program spendingFighting fossil fuels - Columbia Riverkeeper has worked with tribal nations, local businesses, strong coalitions, and amazing people who live in river communities to defeat nearly every new fossil fuel infrastructure project on the columbia. This includes the worlds largest fracked gas to methanol refinery, the nations largest oil-by-rail shipping terminal, and the nations largest coal export terminal. Our work is not done. Highlights from Columbia Riverkeepers work in 2024 include:3 rejected long-term greenhouse gas emission reduction plans for oregons largest gas utilities, in favor of more aggressive plans to move away from fossil fuels. 4,900+ people spoke up for climate action using Columbia Riverkeepers petitions. 3 lawsuits brought by Columbia Riverkeeper to stop the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure in the pacific northwest.preventing new fossil fuel infrastructure is a critical task to protect our climate and clean water. If fossil fuel corporations build new infrastructureshipping terminals, pipelines, refineriesthey lock the region into decades of fossil fuel use at a time when we must rapidly move toward clean energy and fewer petrochemicals. In 2024, we…
$778,659 spent18% of program spendingCleaning up hanford -the columbia river runs along the hanford nuclear site, home to some of the most dangerous pollution on earth. A legacy of world war ii and the cold war, the federal government selected hanford as a top-secret site for the manhattan project, which called for enriching plutonium for nuclear weapons. The 586-square-mile hanford site rests on the ceded lands of multiple tribal nations. In 2024, riverkeeper worked in solidarity with the tribes and indigenous people who are leading the effort to hold the u.s. Government accountable for cleanup.Columbia Riverkeepers cleaning up hanford program is one of eternal hope. Working on a cleanup with no end in a single lifetime presents unique challenges that our team grapples with every day. Radioactive and toxic pollution from hanford threatens water quality, salmon and peoples health. Contamination from hanford still reaches the columbia river. Without effective cleanup, more pollution threatens to escape into the environment in the coming decades. In 2024, Columbia Riverkeeper used public pressure, grassroots organizing, and technical assessment of cleanup plans to advocate for thorough, timely cleanup. Highlights…
$649,694 spent15% of program spendingSaving salmon - Columbia Riverkeeper works to protect salmon and salmon cultures by reducing pollution, protecting and restoring habitat, and advocating for dam removal. Salmon are iconic, but these fish are far more than a symbol. The columbia supports important subsistence, commercial, and recreational salmon fisheries. For many people, the columbias salmon provide paychecks, meals, a connection to place and family, and a way to mark the changing seasons. Columbia river salmon are also food for critically endangered southern resident orcas and other wildlife. Preventing extinction of columbia river salmon is necessary but insufficient. It is not enough for salmon to persist in small numbers, in isolated placesliving museums, so to speak. Our vision is a return to healthy, abundant, harvestable runs of salmon throughout the columbia river and its many tributaries. Basin-wide abundance will ensure that salmon continue to play their critical role in northwest ecosystems and that salmon cultures flourish for generations to come. Highlights from our work in 2024 include:decades of action culminated in the signing of the columbia river basin restoration agreement. 4 rejected water…
$516,320 spent12% of program spendingStopping pollution - people want to feed their families fish, but health advisories warn that many columbia river resident fish are too toxic to eat. The stark reality: thousands of pipes discharge pollution into the columbia and its tributaries. This pollution includes metals and toxic substances that make parts of the columbia unhealthy for fish and people. Pesticides and heavy metals enter the river from diffuse sources, such as agricultural runoff and air pollution. And pollution from former industrial sites also continues to leach into the river. We can do something about this longrunning environmental injustice. Columbia Riverkeeper sues polluters, engages in pollution-permitting decisions, and advocates for laws that protect all people that rely on locally-caught fish. Like many basic human rights, our right to clean water requires constant and unwavering defense. Highlights from Columbia Riverkeepers work in 2024 include:5 clean water act lawsuits brought or settled in 2024. 2,100+ people called on the federal government to kickstart cleanup at bradford island and surrounding waters. $2.5 million awarded to tribes and nonprofit organizations as a result of our lawsuits.in…
$492,976 spent12% of program spendingEngaging communities -through the engaging communities program, Columbia Riverkeeper aims to connect people to the river and celebrate the diverse, vibrant cultures within river communities. This includes community events and programs along the river, as well as classroom and online education. Highlights from our work in 2024 include:230 water quality samples collected at columbia river beaches. 1,000+ students who experienced bilingual (english and spanish) environmental education. 1,400+ pounds of garbage collected at community cleanup events.in 2024, our team connected with thousands of people to educate and inspire the diverse communities throughout the columbia river basin to understand, care for, use, and take action to protect the columbia river, clean water, salmon and other species, and people who rely on locally caught fish. Through webinars and classroom visits, we amplified scientific research, including information on traditional ecological knowledge, to connect the public with science. We also shared and communicated new and existing research, and connected researchers with the public through webinars and communications outreach.beyond sharing the threats to clean…
$217,824 spent5% of program spending
The 6 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,273,615.
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 2022 to 2023, from $5.5M to $8.7M (+58%).
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 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
91% of Columbia Riverkeeper’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than 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 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 34 funders, grant income rose $257k → $3.6M.
13 of 67 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 25% 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 Columbia Riverkeeper’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 67 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
Columbia Riverkeeper has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 27% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
38% 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 Columbia Riverkeeper.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 39% · 2018 37% · 2019 70% · 2020 49% · 2021 41% · 2022 24% · 2023 29% — 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
56% of Columbia Riverkeeper's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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
Columbia Riverkeeper draws 81% of its grant income from funders outside Oregon, across 17 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
Columbia Riverkeeper's funding base is broadening — from 13 funders to 34 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,187 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding Columbia Riverkeeper receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $292k on record — $242k federal, $50k state.
- Environmental Protection Agency$242k
- PAYMENTS TO NON-GOVERNMENTS$50k
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 Columbia Riverkeeper
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 Oregon
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
91%
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 Columbia Riverkeeper: 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 Columbia Riverkeeper?
- Columbia Riverkeeper (Oregon) receives grants from 67 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,740,830 to it, the largest being THE SCHMIDT FAMILY FOUNDATION ($3,150,000). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Columbia Riverkeeper have?
- IRS filings report 67 organizations giving $11,740,830 in grants to Columbia Riverkeeper, 39 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Columbia Riverkeeper?
- THE SCHMIDT FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $3,150,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Columbia Riverkeeper find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Oregon. 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 67 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