Ohio · Nonprofit
FOUNDATION FOR OHIO RIVER EDUCATION
FOUNDATION FOR OHIO RIVER EDUCATION (Ohio) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $201,500 to it, the largest being EQT FOUNDATION ($80,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $173k
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $202k
- Net assets
- $109k
What Foundation for Ohio River Education does
Mission
Education empowers communities to value and protect their watersheds. The Foundation for Ohio River Education teaches people of all ages in the ohio river basin to become environmental stewards through hands-on programs that get people on the water and engaged in preserving the cultural, ecological, and economic value of our rivers.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
River reach is a floating classroom program that provides hands-on environmental education and stem learning experiences focused on the ohio river and its tributaries. Through partnerships with riverboat operators, schools, and community organizations, students participate in immersive field-based learning aboard riverboats and canoe excursions, transforming the river into a living laboratory for scientific discovery and stewardship.
$173,598 spent$5,520 earned by the program82% of program spendingThe ohio river sweep is a basinwide environmental stewardship and litter prevention program that mobilizes thousands of volunteers annually to remove litter and debris from the ohio river and its tributaries. Through coordinated community cleanup events conducted along nearly 3,000 miles of shoreline, the program supports protection of water quality, aquatic habitat, recreation, and public health while promoting long-term environmental stewardship, pollution prevention, recycling, and public engagement throughout the ohio river basin.
$38,937 spentof which $69,661 as grants18% of program spendingRiver watchers is a classroom-based citizen science and environmental education program that engages students in hands-on water quality monitoring and aquatic ecosystem assessment throughout the ohio river basin. Participating students use scientific testing equipment to measure water quality indicators and study aquatic organisms, including macroinvertebrates, while contributing data to regional monitoring efforts coordinated in partnership with the ohio river valley water sanitation commission (orsanco). The program promotes stem education, scientific literacy, and environmental stewardship by connecting students directly to the health and protection of local waterways and the ohio river system.
Life below the waterline is a mobile environmental education and public outreach program featuring a 2,200-gallon traveling aquarium that showcases live fish species native to the ohio river basin. The program provides hands-on educational experiences at schools, festivals, and community events throughout the region, increasing public understanding of aquatic biodiversity, water quality, and ecosystem health within the ohio river system. Through direct engagement with scientists and educators, the program promotes environmental stewardship and enhances public awareness of the ecological and drinking water importance of the ohio river and its tributaries.
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $212,535.
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 2017 to 2018, from $371k to $315k (−15%).
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: 2019 6% · 2025 20%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of FOUNDATION FOR OHIO RIVER EDUCATION’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. 6 of the last 9 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 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income rose $5k → $49k.
2 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 12% 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 FOUNDATION FOR OHIO RIVER EDUCATION’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
FOUNDATION FOR OHIO RIVER EDUCATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 40% of grant income and the top three 61%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 96% · 2020 60% · 2021 91% · 2022 67% · 2023 51% — 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
40% of FOUNDATION FOR OHIO RIVER EDUCATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 42% 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
FOUNDATION FOR OHIO RIVER EDUCATION draws 99% of its grant income from funders outside Ohio, across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $25k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
FOUNDATION FOR OHIO RIVER EDUCATION is better cushioned than half of the 2,433 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,433 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like FOUNDATION FOR OHIO RIVER EDUCATION
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 Ohio
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
94% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FOUNDATION FOR OHIO RIVER EDUCATION: 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 FOUNDATION FOR OHIO RIVER EDUCATION?
- FOUNDATION FOR OHIO RIVER EDUCATION (Ohio) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $201,500 to it, the largest being EQT FOUNDATION ($80,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FOUNDATION FOR OHIO RIVER EDUCATION have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $201,500 in grants to FOUNDATION FOR OHIO RIVER EDUCATION, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FOUNDATION FOR OHIO RIVER EDUCATION?
- EQT FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $80,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FOUNDATION FOR OHIO RIVER EDUCATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 12 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