Colorado · Nonprofit
Conservation Lands Foundation
Conservation Lands Foundation (Colorado) receives grants from 89 organizations whose IRS filings report $34,615,181 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($10,035,100). 57 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $10M
- Funders on record
- 89
- Grants received
- $35M
- Net assets
- $11M
What Conservation Lands Foundation does
Mission
To protect, restore, and expand the National Conservation Lands through education,advocacy, and partnerships.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Constituency Development Program: The Foundation works hand-in-hand with 80 plus organizations and hundreds of citizen advocates throughout the nation. Giving them financial and professional resources for policy, legal, restoration and advocacy work. Their individual strength and success on the ground authentically builds our collective impact, translating to bigger, better and more enduring protections for National Conservation Lands. Resources include but are not limited to: Grants for project-specific work; grants for general support and organizational development; fundraising support, including trainings and resource development; consulting for legal, policy or technical help; trainings for board and staff development; media engagement and communications training; restoration projects and participation at our bi-annual conference, the Friends' Grassroots Network Summit.
$4,113,237 spentof which $2,644,284 as grants58% of program spendingPolicy and Legal/Conservation Campaigns: The Foundation leads a national movement of community-based advocates to care for America's National Conservation Lands of environmental, cultural and recreational significance. To achieve this, we are building place-based, local proposals to identify places that are worthy of durable and lasting protections now and for future generations. Our work ensures that the voices of conservationists, business owners, sportsmen, Native Americans and others from these local communities are respected and reflected in conservation management policies. This program builds and conveys grassroots and national support for lands deserving of National Conservation Lands designation and improved management policies. CLF also works with our partners to promote and defend the Antiquities Act and other policies vital to caring for America's National Conservation Lands.
$2,487,954 spentof which $10,500 as grants35% of program spendingCommunications Program: The goal of the communications program is to increase awareness of the values and beauty of the National Conservation Lands to the American people and hold policymakers accountable for their conservation. CLF works with its Friends Grassroots Network and other allies to pursue media coverage of the National Conservation Lands.
$541,104 spent8% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $7,142,295.
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 2024 to 2025, from $8.7M to $11M (+29%).
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 0% · 2021 13% · 2022 1% · 2023 1% · 2024 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of Conservation Lands Foundation’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (87% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Christine Hill
Executive Director
Board chair
Mark Headley
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2024 and FY2025 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 16 funders to 40 funders, grant income rose $3.0M → $5.7M.
19 of 89 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 41% 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 Conservation Lands Foundation’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 89 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
Conservation Lands Foundation 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
43% 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 Conservation Lands Foundation.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 51% · 2018 53% · 2019 57% · 2020 38% · 2021 50% · 2022 32% · 2023 26% — 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
53% of Conservation Lands Foundation's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
Conservation Lands Foundation draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Colorado, across 23 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $14M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
Conservation Lands Foundation is better cushioned than half of the 195 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 195 environment nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding Conservation Lands Foundation receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $330k on record.
- Department of the Interior$330k
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 Conservation Lands Foundation
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.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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 Conservation Lands Foundation: 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 Conservation Lands Foundation?
- Conservation Lands Foundation (Colorado) receives grants from 89 organizations whose IRS filings report $34,615,181 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($10,035,100). 57 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Conservation Lands Foundation have?
- IRS filings report 89 organizations giving $34,615,181 in grants to Conservation Lands Foundation, 57 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Conservation Lands Foundation?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $10,035,100 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Conservation Lands Foundation 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.
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 89 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