Michigan · Nonprofit
Detroit Bird Alliance
Detroit Bird Alliance (Michigan) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $314,309 to it, the largest being NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY INC ($204,969). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $297k
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $314k
- Net assets
- $306k
What Detroit Bird Alliance does
Mission
To foster appreciation and conservation of birds and the environment we share through education, research, and action.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Conservation & advocacy: partner with other environmental and education groups to develop services, educational programs, and research projects with end goal of advocacy and conservation. Partners have included/ currently include national audubon, audubon great lakes, nat fish & wildlife, detroit city parks, belle isle nature center, detroit zoological society, detroit riverfront conservancy, us fish and wildlife, greening of detroit, huron clinton metroparks, national geographic, semi-wild, and more. Joint conservation and advocacy projects include detroit bird city, urban bird treaty and others. Detroit bird city is a long-term major focus project, partnering with detroit city parks, national fish and wildlife, national geographic, national audubon, urban neighborhood initiatives, mi state university, and others to develop multiple parks and vacant city lots as native meadow grassland habitats for enjoyment by birds and residents. Additional growth of program has come in ford corktown project and in the 1000 acre meadows project. Conservation also includes pursuit of opportunities to preserve land by purchase, easements, or support of other 501c3's purchase for conservation…
$63,012 spent40% of program spendingCommunications and educational publications - print and digital: provide over 5000 members and the public with online news-magazine and informational website, as well as regular digital newsletters and social media sharing. Provide detroit chapter members with periodic print magazine. Publications provide information regarding conservation, research, education, programs, events, advocacy.
$43,926 spent28% of program spendingEducation programs for members and public: regularly scheduled programs such as classroom and library presentations or workshops. Frequent field trips for new and experienced birders, field trips to regional conservancy lands and at area nature centers, community programming to encourage conservation activities, leadership of young birders, periodic owl prowls. Holding and/or speaking/teaching at conferences. Award events to recognize and encourage area individuals and organizations in conservation efforts. Partners / recipients include belle isle nature center, area libraries, garden clubs, audubon chapters, audubon great lakes, schools in detroit, and general public. Education programs also include continued offerings of live webinars and lessons, virtual field trips, and access to archived webinars after the events.
$40,442 spent$16,230 earned by the program25% of program spendingResearch programs: continuing multi-year research: conduct multi-year research on black tern and other avian species or groups that are at risk or pertinent to the region as well as other related habitat characteristics. Research also includes safe passage program and various bird counts, including winter waterfowl, christmas count, and multiple grassland. All research programs also include involvement and education of volunteers as citizen scientists, as well as partnerships with other conservation, education, and research organizations. Partners have/do include mi state univ, univ of mi, wayne state, mi dnr, usfw, detroit zoological society, national audubon and others.
$9,062 spent6% of program spendingMiscellaneous program expenses: includes program management expenses that cannot be allocated primarily to a single program category but is inherent to all programs of the organization.
$2,228 spent1% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $158,670.
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 2018 to 2019, from $195k to $316k (+62%).
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 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
89% of Detroit Bird Alliance’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. 3 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 3 funders to 2 funders, grant income fell $26k → $22k.
4 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 17% 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 Detroit Bird Alliance’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
Detroit Bird Alliance leans on a few funders — its largest provides 65% of grant income and the top three 77%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
93% 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 Detroit Bird Alliance.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 76% · 2018 96% · 2019 59% · 2020 64% · 2021 94% · 2022 60% · 2023 98% — 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
33% of Detroit Bird Alliance's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 23% 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
Detroit Bird Alliance draws 88% of its grant income from funders outside Michigan, across 4 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $54k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
Detroit Bird Alliance has grown faster than half of the 4,264 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,264 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding Detroit Bird Alliance receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $52k on record.
- Department of the Interior$52k
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 Detroit Bird Alliance
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 Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
54% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
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 Detroit Bird Alliance: 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 Detroit Bird Alliance?
- Detroit Bird Alliance (Michigan) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $314,309 to it, the largest being NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY INC ($204,969). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Detroit Bird Alliance have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $314,309 in grants to Detroit Bird Alliance, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Detroit Bird Alliance?
- NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY INC is the largest funder on record, with $204,969 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Detroit Bird Alliance find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. 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 13 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