Alaska · Nonprofit
Copper River Watershed Project
Copper River Watershed Project (Alaska) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $390,723 to it, the largest being SEATTLE FOUNDATION ($110,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.7M
- Funders on record
- 16
- Grants received
- $391k
- Net assets
- $693k
What Copper River Watershed Project does
Mission
The Copper River Watershed Project promotes a salmon-rich, intact watershed to support culturally diverse communities by forming partnerships for watershed-scale planning and projects.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Our Fish Habitat program works to identify, monitor and restore salmon habitat throughout the Copper River drainage. In 2024 CRWP facilitated the replacement of three culverts on the Copper River highway outside Cordova. In addition, a fourth culvert was removed entirely. In total, completion the 4 projects reopened 1.1 stream miles and access to over 12 lake acres of salmon spawning and fish habitat. This work is accomplished by convening state and federal agency, community and Tribal partners whom together were able to identify salmon habitat data gaps, and key salmon habitat locations in need of restoration. By supporting and improving fish habitat, we support healthy salmon populations, culturally significant traditions, and all the salmon economies associated with this important natural resource.
$2,139,829 spent90% of program spendingIn 2024, CRWP's Invasive Plant Program focused on training, identification, and treatment of invasive species threatening habitats in the Copper River watershed and across Alaska through community engagement and partnerships. We involved 60 volunteers and 7 agencies in the manual treatment and survey of the acreage for future control. CRWP also awarded grants to nine organizations in Southcentral and Southeastern Alaska to manage invasive plants on their lands. Additionally, we conducted native plant revegetation at the 2023 Little Tonsina habitat restoration site. The Copper River watershed has a real opportunity for the eradication of certain noxious weeds and protect salmon habitat prior to the need for large-scale intervention and restoration.
$192,037 spentof which $85,075 as grants8% of program spendingCommunity Tourism: As part of The Organization's mission, they work with local government and business partners to attract small scale independent travelers to the region to help build a sustainable tourism economy. The Organization facilitates organizing the Salmon Jam Festival, a destination weekend event that draws visitors to Cordova from Anchorage and Fairbanks. With post-pandemic innovation, tourism in Cordova is being geared to environmentally-conscious approaches to having visitors engage in the community and wild spaces.
$26,891 spent1% of program spendingWatershed Education: CRWP offers outdoor, standards-based watershed education for K-12 grade students. The Organization supports a salmon rearing tank and a spring salmon fry release field trip for every school in the Copper River watershed, which engaged 100 3rd - 5th-grade students in 2024. In partnership with federal agencies and other nonprofits, the Organization organized and hosted a leadership-building, field-based fellowship program for 10 local high school students. A ladder approach that highlights stewardship and connection to place has been designed to introduce students to outdoor education opportunities at multiple points over their K-12 school experience.
$21,905 spent$3,577 earned by the program1% of program spendingRecycling: As part of The Organization's mission, they work to promote recycling throughout the Copper River area. The Organization strives to maintain sustainable practices within its own operations and encourages community members to do the same. The Organization has a focus on fish net recycling within Cordova, reducing marine debris and waste ending up in the landfill. As a ROAR partner, we help facilitate recycling and on-site cleanup of recycling containers in the Copper basin.
$1,989 spent0% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,382,651.
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 2019 to 2020, from $249k to $508k (+103%).
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 68% · 2018 31% · 2019 71% · 2020 87% · 2021 92% · 2022 96% · 2023 93% · 2024 92%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of Copper River Watershed Project’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (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 3 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $28k → $50k.
6 of 16 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 44% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $27k from one payer (the same organization on both sides, largest Copper River Watershed Project). These are real filings, and they are not money Copper River Watershed Project raised.
From the IRS filings of Copper River Watershed Project’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
Copper River Watershed Project has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 28% 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
69% 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 Copper River Watershed Project.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 71% · 2018 75% · 2019 43% · 2020 52% · 2021 57% · 2022 38% · 2023 30% — 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
50% of Copper River Watershed Project's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 69% 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
Copper River Watershed Project draws 58% of its grant income from funders outside Alaska, across 7 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $171k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
Copper River Watershed Project has grown faster than three-quarters of the 2,186 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,186 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding Copper River Watershed Project receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $19.6M on record.
- Department of the Interior$14.8M
- Department of Commerce$2.4M
- Department of Agriculture$2.2M
- Denali Commission$250k
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 Copper River Watershed Project
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 Alaska
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
91% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 Copper River Watershed Project: 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 Copper River Watershed Project?
- Copper River Watershed Project (Alaska) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $390,723 to it, the largest being SEATTLE FOUNDATION ($110,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Copper River Watershed Project have?
- IRS filings report 16 organizations giving $390,723 in grants to Copper River Watershed Project, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Copper River Watershed Project?
- SEATTLE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $110,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Copper River Watershed Project find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Alaska. 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 16 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