Delaware · Nonprofit
DELAWARE NATURE SOCIETY INC
DELAWARE NATURE SOCIETY INC (Delaware) receives grants from 51 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,006,400 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM PENN FOUNDATION ($1,913,400). 33 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.0M
- Funders on record
- 51
- Grants received
- $5.0M
- Net assets
- $52M
What Delaware Nature Society Inc does
Mission
Delaware nature society connects people with the natural world to improve our environment through education, advocacy, and conservation.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Education:delaware nature society's role as an environmental leader is largely achieved through education. The primary objectives of our environmental education programs are to: raise awareness, deepen understanding and promote individual action to protect and improve the environment. Programs include: watershed education; citizen science; environmental science; natural history; cultural history; and, agriculture, with an emphasis on hands-on, experiential education. We reach over 35,000 school-aged students and 55,000-65,000 people annually through programs and events offered at our state-wide nature centers, preserves and farm.
$2,269,721 spent$910,781 earned by the program54% of program spendingPreservation & conservation:delaware nature society's land preservation program focuses on the preservation of ecologically significant natural areas and preservation of natural resources and biodiversity. Since our inception, delaware nature society has worked with local and state agencies, private landowners and other non-profits to protect over 120,000 acres in the state of delaware. Delaware nature society manages over 500 acres through conservation easements and deed restrictions. Our conservation team provides leadership in the state of delaware on issues related to the protection of delaware's natural recourses, habitats and biodiversity. Our conservation programs engage the public with tools to take action on protecting and preserving important watersheds through education & stewardship; technical monitoring; advocating for the protection of the environment and our natural resources including clean water; as well as gardening to protect critical habitats, clean water, and wildlife through our certified wildlife habitat program.
$1,121,247 spentof which $144,000 as grants$520,974 earned by the program26% of program spendingLand and biodiversity management:delaware nature society manages nearly 2,000 acres in delaware and southeastern pennsylvania. Land management objectives include the protection and enhancement of natural resources, biodiversity, and wildlife habitats. Surveys and monitoring of the lands we manage including flora, fauna, wildlife habitat (including birds, an indicator species); as well as soil and water quality. Restoration of meadows, woodlands, and forests is a high priority. Annual land management plans are developed for each site and preserve we own, operate, or manage.
$841,697 spent20% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,232,665.
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 2021 to 2022, from $54M to $49M (−10%).
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 3% · 2018 6% · 2019 5% · 2020 20% · 2021 8% · 2022 15% · 2023 10% · 2024 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
36% of DELAWARE NATURE SOCIETY INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue 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. 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.
Chief executive
Jennifer Adkins
Exec. Director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 15 funders to 23 funders, grant income rose $219k → $729k.
10 of 51 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 19% 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 DELAWARE NATURE SOCIETY INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 51 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
DELAWARE NATURE SOCIETY INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 38% 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
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 DELAWARE NATURE SOCIETY INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 26% · 2018 25% · 2019 59% · 2020 40% · 2021 62% · 2022 62% · 2023 58% — 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
50% of DELAWARE NATURE SOCIETY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
DELAWARE NATURE SOCIETY INC draws 74% of its grant income from funders outside Delaware, across 11 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $963k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
DELAWARE NATURE SOCIETY INC's funding base is broadening — from 15 funders to 23 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,186 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding DELAWARE NATURE SOCIETY INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.9M on record.
- GRANTS IN AID$1.5M
- FED GRANT SUB RECIPIENT$126k
- GRANTS$88k
- STUDENT BODY ACTIVITY$87k
- INSTRUCTIONAL SERVICES$44k
- OPERATING SUPPLIES$25k
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 DELAWARE NATURE SOCIETY INC
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 Delaware
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
62%
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 DELAWARE NATURE SOCIETY INC: 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 DELAWARE NATURE SOCIETY INC?
- DELAWARE NATURE SOCIETY INC (Delaware) receives grants from 51 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,006,400 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM PENN FOUNDATION ($1,913,400). 33 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DELAWARE NATURE SOCIETY INC have?
- IRS filings report 51 organizations giving $5,006,400 in grants to DELAWARE NATURE SOCIETY INC, 33 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DELAWARE NATURE SOCIETY INC?
- THE WILLIAM PENN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,913,400 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DELAWARE NATURE SOCIETY INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Delaware. 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 51 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