Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
Conservation Nation
Conservation Nation (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 62 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,515,898 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($3,880,639). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 92% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $989k
- Funders on record
- 62
- Grants received
- $5.5M
- Net assets
- $4.6M
What Conservation Nation does
Mission
To strengthen the conservation movement by funding and supporting conservationists from all communities, while educating and inspiring the next generation of wildlife champions.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Inspiring the next generation: The Organization offers free programs to inspire and educate an inclusive generation of wildlife champions, with a special focus on middle school students in traditionally underestimated communities. We offer the Conservation Nation Academy program with a virtually accessible in-school curriculum featuring inspiring role model conservationists and we support field trips to provide awe-inspiring experiences in nature. Our education programs aspire to develop a student's conservation mindset and ethic, to build their confidence in nature, and to cultivate future conservation champions and leaders.
$777,771 spent43% of program spendingAdvancing conservation through the Collective: The Organization cultivates a global community of individuals and organizations focused on amplifying different perspectives in conservation to solve urgent biodiversity challenges. Through the Conservation Nation Collective, the Organization engages a select group of champions and donors to partner in designing and implementing wildlife conservation and education initiatives of personal and global significance. Through these multi-year initiatives, the program advances innovative, scalable conservation solutions while expanding access to conservation education, creating opportunities for youth to connect with nature, and strengthening pathways into conservation careers. The program also builds the capacity of community-based conservation and education organizations to increase impact and long-term sustainability. Program expenses support the development, implementation, and expansion of these initiatives and related program activities.
$721,537 spentof which $603,508 as grants39% of program spendingSupporting Wildlife Conservationists: The Organization offers support to help save wildlife and their habitats around the world and builds a stronger and all-encompassing wildlife conservation community focused on solving urgent biodiversity challenges. Our programs provide funding and support to conservationists from all communities to advance their critical work and opportunities to emerging conservationists that would otherwise be beyond their reach. Programs include grants, professional development, fellowships, and internships. These conservationists then become powerful role models for the students we reach, thereby creating a much-needed 'flywheel of support' with energy powered by supporting today's wildlife champions who in turn inspire tomorrow's wildlife champions as they take the mantle and become the next larger group of inspiring role models, and so on.
$329,945 spentof which $29,500 as grants18% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,829,253.
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 2020 to 2021, from $13M to $6.4M (−50%).
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: 2020 0% · 2021 32% · 2024 1% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
56% of Conservation Nation’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (86% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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 narrowed from 16 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $79k → $1.5M.
12 of 62 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 92% 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 Nation’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 62 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 Nation leans on a few funders — its largest provides 70% of grant income and the top three 88%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
94% 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 Nation.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 35% · 2018 37% · 2019 54% · 2020 55% · 2021 91% · 2022 83% · 2023 82% — 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
24% of Conservation Nation's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 42% 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
92% of Conservation Nation'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 $417k that is directly attributable, 97% of it comes from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 15 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.1M 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 Nation's revenue fell 93% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,693 animals nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding Conservation Nation receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $30k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$30k
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 Nation
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 Washington, D.C.
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
91%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 38 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Conservation Nation: 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 Nation?
- Conservation Nation (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 62 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,515,898 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($3,880,639). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 92% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Conservation Nation have?
- IRS filings report 62 organizations giving $5,515,898 in grants to Conservation Nation, 26 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Conservation Nation?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $3,880,639 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Conservation Nation find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 62 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