Massachusetts · Nonprofit
ESSEX COUNTY GREENBELT ASSOCIATION
ESSEX COUNTY GREENBELT ASSOCIATION (Massachusetts) receives grants from 102 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,201,279 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($3,548,480). 69 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $9.0M
- Funders on record
- 102
- Grants received
- $12M
- Net assets
- $71M
What Essex County Greenbelt Association does
Mission
Land conservation and conservation education.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
In 2024, greenbelt completed 13 conservation projects that permanently protected 447 acres. We managed the more than 400 greenbelt fee-owned properties; completed dozens of property improvement projects, and formally monitored 137 conservation easements on 5,473 acres. We held 90 in-person and virtual events,including a family nature series, workshops, community events, and a trail run, with a combined participation of over 2,500 people. 185 volunteers assisted us, and we welcomed 240 new members and 2,260 returning member households.
$4,365,603 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $4,365,603.
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 $47M to $55M (+17%).
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: 2021 3% · 2024 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
82% of ESSEX COUNTY GREENBELT ASSOCIATION’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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.
Board chair
Betsy Shields
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 25 funders to 55 funders, grant income rose $503k → $2.2M.
18 of 102 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 54% 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 ESSEX COUNTY GREENBELT ASSOCIATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 102 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
ESSEX COUNTY GREENBELT ASSOCIATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 29% 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
56% 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 ESSEX COUNTY GREENBELT ASSOCIATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 52% · 2018 43% · 2019 40% · 2020 63% · 2021 22% · 2022 23% · 2023 28% — 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
57% of ESSEX COUNTY GREENBELT ASSOCIATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 68% 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
54% of ESSEX COUNTY GREENBELT ASSOCIATION'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 $5.6M that is directly attributable, 82% of it comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6.6M 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
ESSEX COUNTY GREENBELT ASSOCIATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 2,187 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,187 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding ESSEX COUNTY GREENBELT ASSOCIATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $5.7M on record.
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$3.4M
- (NN) INFRASTRUCTURE:$2.3M
- (JJ) OPERATIONAL SERVICES$25k
- (HH) CONSULTANT SVCS (TO DEPTS)$2k
- (EE) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES$770
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 ESSEX COUNTY GREENBELT ASSOCIATION
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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
86%
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 ESSEX COUNTY GREENBELT ASSOCIATION: 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 ESSEX COUNTY GREENBELT ASSOCIATION?
- ESSEX COUNTY GREENBELT ASSOCIATION (Massachusetts) receives grants from 102 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,201,279 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($3,548,480). 69 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does ESSEX COUNTY GREENBELT ASSOCIATION have?
- IRS filings report 102 organizations giving $12,201,279 in grants to ESSEX COUNTY GREENBELT ASSOCIATION, 69 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ESSEX COUNTY GREENBELT ASSOCIATION?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $3,548,480 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ESSEX COUNTY GREENBELT ASSOCIATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Essex County Greenbelt Association →
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 102 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing