Minnesota · Nonprofit
FRESHWATER SOCIETY
FRESHWATER SOCIETY (Minnesota) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,636,664 to it, the largest being THE JOYCE FOUNDATION ($850,635). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 28
- Grants received
- $1.6M
- Net assets
- $4.6M
What Freshwater Society does
Mission
Inspiring and empowering people to value and preserve our freshwater resources.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Education and engagement:we led impactful community outreach and engagement initiatives, including the mn water stewards program, leading the minnesota water workforce team, our nature-based education work with the teacher field school, growing greater lakes promise to build land conservation to improve water quality in the great lakes. The weatherguide continued to inspire environmental stewardship, with efforts to streamline production and connect with thousands of people. Through events, presentations, and partnerships, we elevated water stewardship awareness and workforce pathways. Policy:we strengthened our advocacy efforts by creating a cross-functional policy team to address water issues at local, state, and federal levels. Highlights include national work on smart data center siting, testifying at the minnesota legislature, engaging with state and eight federal legislative leaders, and participating in the national water policy fly-in. Our team championed critical issues like sustainable water supply, nitrate contamination, access to safe drinking water, and infrastructure funding, ensuring a strong voice for water quality and accessibility.research:we advanced water…
$1,328,992 spentof which $140,735 as grants$297,795 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,328,992.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2024 to 2025, from $6.4M to $4.9M (−23%).
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 23% · 2020 35% · 2021 11% · 2022 0% · 2023 0% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
45% of FRESHWATER SOCIETY’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (67% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 7 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
Michelle Stockness
Executive director
Board chair
Dave Leuthe
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $14k → $373k.
6 of 28 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 5% 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 FRESHWATER SOCIETY’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
FRESHWATER SOCIETY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 52% of grant income and the top three 85%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 67% · 2018 82% · 2019 90% · 2020 85% · 2021 57% · 2022 52% · 2023 92% — 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
17% of FRESHWATER SOCIETY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 46% 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
FRESHWATER SOCIETY draws 63% of its grant income from funders outside Minnesota, across 9 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $76k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
FRESHWATER SOCIETY's funding base is broadening — from 4 funders to 9 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 210 science & tech nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like FRESHWATER SOCIETY
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 Minnesota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
68% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
72%
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 FRESHWATER SOCIETY: 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 FRESHWATER SOCIETY?
- FRESHWATER SOCIETY (Minnesota) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,636,664 to it, the largest being THE JOYCE FOUNDATION ($850,635). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FRESHWATER SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 28 organizations giving $1,636,664 in grants to FRESHWATER SOCIETY, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRESHWATER SOCIETY?
- THE JOYCE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $850,635 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRESHWATER SOCIETY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. 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 2019–2025), and the filings of 28 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