Montana · Nonprofit
ECOLOGY PROJECT INTERNATIONAL
ECOLOGY PROJECT INTERNATIONAL (Montana) receives grants from 56 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,737,688 to it, the largest being Alumbra Innovations Foundation ($1,248,363). 33 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $5.9M
- Funders on record
- 56
- Grants received
- $5.7M
- Net assets
- $1.1M
What Ecology Project International does
Mission
Ecology Project International's mission is to inspire youth with nature and empower them with science, fostering tomorrow's leaders. We envision a diverse movement building communities that cherish and restore the ecosystems that sustain them.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported a significant change in how it conducts a program.
We ceased to offer programs in hawaii and colorado.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
Admissions - admissions recruits, enrolls, and purchases airfare for u.s. Student to participate in epi programs.
$861,965 spent$707,348 earned by the program17% of program spendingCosta rica - epi offers a variety of field-based educational programs for international and local youth, as well as, local in-school educational programming throughout the country with a focus on the central valley and caribbean coast communities.
$824,857 spent$676,897 earned by the program17% of program spendingGreater yellowstone ecosystem, usa - epi conducts field-based local and visiting student conservation education courses within the greater yellowstone ecosystem; operated in conjunction with state entities, federal agencies, and private/non-profit program partners. Additionally, epi runs an alumni internship program in the bitterroot valley in montana in partnership with private research and conservation ranch.
$784,920 spent$644,123 earned by the program16% of program spendingMexico - epi participants monitor whale activity in the sea of cortez, collect data on green sea turtles in magdalena bay, and study island and inland ecology both on land and in the surrounding waters of espiritu santo island. Epi operates a campus in la paz hosting visiting and local students throughout the year.
$721,239 spent$591,865 earned by the program14% of program spendingPacuare reserve, costa rica - epi manages a 2,600-acre coastal lowland rainforest reserve that contains a research station and lodging for staff, students, and visitors. Additionally, the reserve contains 5 kilometers of critical sea turtle nesting habitat, an agami heron rookery, and serves as a vital migration corridor for many species.
$658,653 spent$540,506 earned by the program13% of program spendingEcuador - in the galapagos, epi partners with the ecos (education for sustainable communities) foundation to engage participants in conservation and research on the giant galapagos tortoise and habitat restoration.
$672,590 spent$551,943 earned by the program14% of program spendingBelize - epi partners with ecorana to offer activities through their partnership with the toucan ridge ecology and education society (t.r.e.e.s.) related to field based educational youth programs in marine (along the barrier reef) and terrestrial ecology. Participants also learn about the unique and diverse groups of people who live in belize.
$404,489 spent$331,933 earned by the program8% of program spendingOperations and education - epi develops risk management, curriculum, and evaluation tools in line with international best practices that are deployed across all epi field sites.
$50,574 spent$41,503 earned by the program1% of program spending
The 8 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,979,287.
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 $2.3M to $3.2M (+43%).
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: 2018 0% · 2019 0% · 2020 1% · 2021 21% · 2022 2% · 2023 3% · 2024 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
29% of ECOLOGY PROJECT INTERNATIONAL’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. 7 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
Miguel Fuentes Duran
Executive 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 10 funders to 24 funders, grant income rose $226k → $781k.
16 of 56 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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 ECOLOGY PROJECT INTERNATIONAL’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 56 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
ECOLOGY PROJECT INTERNATIONAL has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
30% 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 ECOLOGY PROJECT INTERNATIONAL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 46% · 2018 43% · 2019 24% · 2020 26% · 2021 42% · 2022 14% · 2023 51% — 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
43% of ECOLOGY PROJECT INTERNATIONAL's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
ECOLOGY PROJECT INTERNATIONAL draws 91% of its grant income from funders outside Montana, across 21 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
ECOLOGY PROJECT INTERNATIONAL's funding base is broadening — from 10 funders to 24 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,186 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding ECOLOGY PROJECT INTERNATIONAL receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $177k on record.
- Environmental Protection Agency$100k
- Department of State$77k
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 ECOLOGY PROJECT INTERNATIONAL
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 Montana
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
75%
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 ECOLOGY PROJECT INTERNATIONAL: 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 ECOLOGY PROJECT INTERNATIONAL?
- ECOLOGY PROJECT INTERNATIONAL (Montana) receives grants from 56 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,737,688 to it, the largest being Alumbra Innovations Foundation ($1,248,363). 33 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ECOLOGY PROJECT INTERNATIONAL have?
- IRS filings report 56 organizations giving $5,737,688 in grants to ECOLOGY PROJECT INTERNATIONAL, 33 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ECOLOGY PROJECT INTERNATIONAL?
- Alumbra Innovations Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $1,248,363 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ECOLOGY PROJECT INTERNATIONAL find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Montana. 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 56 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