Texas · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF THE COLORADO RIVER FOUNDATION
FRIENDS OF THE COLORADO RIVER FOUNDATION (Texas) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $352,233 to it, the largest being Jacob and Terese Hershey Foundation ($50,000). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $725k
- Funders on record
- 22
- Grants received
- $352k
- Net assets
- $597k
What Friends of the Colorado River Foundation does
Mission
To champion the long-term vitality of the texas colorado river through education and engagement and encourage thoughtful stewardship of this irreplaceable natural resource.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Texas colorado river mobile learning experience: launched in 2015, the texas colorado river mobile learning experience provides a high-quality stem field-trip experience to middle school students, inspiring the next generation of texas water stewards. Housed in a 40-foot trailer, the immersive, museum-quality learning experience is a watery world where science and technology merge to encourage critical thinking and reflection regarding our precious resource - water. Interactive models engage and instruct, inspiring students to take personal action to make a difference in conserving water quantity and quality.
$157,105 spent32% of program spendingCommunity engagement: the colorado river alliance convenes and engages stakeholders across the river basin in meaningful dialogue, volunteering opportunities, and educational opportunities to understand and improve the health of the river and our community. These activities include waterway cleanups and restoration work such as the annual lake travis clean-up, spring cleanup, and quarterly creek cleanups; the educators' institute groundwater to gulf; and speaker series program river resilience.
$253,557 spent51% of program spendingEducational programs at redbud center: the colorado alliance leads tours and youth programming at the wilkerson center for colorado river education at redbud center in west austin. Owned by lcra, the five-acre riverside grounds features exhibits that demonstrates the history and importance of the texas colorado river. Interactive water features reveal how flooding and water supply is managed by the highland lakes and dam system. Rainwater can be conserved and protected. The grounds are open to the public free of charge. Youth programming and field trips for students from title 1 schools provided by the colorado river alliance include exhibit and grounds exploration, docent led teks aligned activities, and knowledge gain analysis.
$82,194 spentof which $120 as grants$8,440 earned by the program17% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $492,856.
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 $457k to $258k (−44%).
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: 2017 18% · 2018 14% · 2019 12% · 2020 26% · 2021 49% · 2022 20% · 2023 23% · 2024 18% · 2025 20%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
109% of FRIENDS OF THE COLORADO RIVER FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations 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. 4 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 held at 7 funders, grant income rose $44k → $45k.
7 of 22 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 41% 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 FRIENDS OF THE COLORADO RIVER FOUNDATION’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
FRIENDS OF THE COLORADO RIVER FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
41% 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 FRIENDS OF THE COLORADO RIVER FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 34% · 2018 36% · 2019 54% · 2020 23% · 2021 100% · 2022 98% · 2023 47% — 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
15% of FRIENDS OF THE COLORADO RIVER FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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
66% of FRIENDS OF THE COLORADO RIVER FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $143k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
FRIENDS OF THE COLORADO RIVER FOUNDATION 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 FRIENDS OF THE COLORADO RIVER FOUNDATION
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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Friends of the Colorado River Endow · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FRIENDS OF THE COLORADO RIVER FOUNDATION: 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 FRIENDS OF THE COLORADO RIVER FOUNDATION?
- FRIENDS OF THE COLORADO RIVER FOUNDATION (Texas) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $352,233 to it, the largest being Jacob and Terese Hershey Foundation ($50,000). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF THE COLORADO RIVER FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 22 organizations giving $352,233 in grants to FRIENDS OF THE COLORADO RIVER FOUNDATION, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF THE COLORADO RIVER FOUNDATION?
- Jacob and Terese Hershey Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $50,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF THE COLORADO RIVER FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 Friends of the Colorado River →
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 22 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