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California · Nonprofit

FRIENDS OF THE EEL RIVER

FRIENDS OF THE EEL RIVER (California) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,784,631 to it, the largest being GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC ($1,500,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 89% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$358k
Funders on record
16
Grants received
$1.8M
Net assets
$493k
8/16 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 79%
01What it does

What Friends of the Eel River does

Mission

Friends of the Eel Rivers mission is to protect and restore the Eel River watershed and its fisheries. Friends of the Eel Rivers keystone priority over the next decade is to restore fish passage to the Eel River headwaters.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Dam Removal: FOER continued working to ensure timely removal of the two Potter Valley Project dams in the Eel River headwaters and to restore native fish access to prime spawning and rearing habitat in the upper basin. We reviewed and commented on both versions of PG&Es License Surrender Application, held public comment workshops, gave multiple public presentations, and continued facilitating the Free the Eel coalition.

    $116,950 spent
    32% of program spending
  2. Estuary and Lower River: FOERs board of directors voted in late 2025 to pursue an appeal in our public trust litigation seeking meaningful regulation of groundwater use in the lower Eel basin.

    $180,499 spent
    49% of program spending
  3. Water Rights and Water Quality: FOER launched a program to research and address the impacts of 6PPD-q, a newly identified pollutant. We also continued working through several water rights protests, working collaboratively with applicants where feasible, and continued research into violations of the clean water act.

    $54,832 spent
    15% of program spending
  4. Public Lands: FOER continued to facilitate the Great Redwood Trail Friends coalition and to work collaboratively with Indigneous entitites to guide trail development in a manner consistent with goals to restore and protect the environment and protect cultural resources.

    $14,081 spent
    4% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $366,362.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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.

100 = 20202020 Revenue 100 ($517k) Expenses 100 ($306k) Net assets 100 ($573k)2021 Revenue 75 ($386k) Expenses 122 ($374k) Net assets 103 ($588k)2022 Revenue 72 ($371k) Expenses 116 ($354k) Net assets 102 ($585k)2023 Revenue 64 ($332k) Expenses 129 ($393k) Net assets 93 ($535k)2024 Revenue 67 ($346k) Expenses 102 ($312k) Net assets 101 ($580k)2025 Revenue 69 ($358k) Expenses 150 ($458k) Net assets 86 ($493k)
202020212022202320242025
Revenue (69)Expenses (150)Net assets (86)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $750k to $589k (−22%).

$750k
$589k
$589k
$545k
$582k
$500k
202020212022202320242025
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

95% of FRIENDS OF THE EEL RIVER’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 4,629 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

$211k
’20
$12k
’21
$17k
’22
−$62k
’23
$34k
’24
−$100k
’25
8.8
months of
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.

202020212022202320242025
Listed777779
Joined·+0+0+0+0+3
No longer listed·00001
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income fell $270k → $262k.

6 of 16 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 89% 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 EEL RIVER’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 EEL RIVER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 84% of grant income and the top three 90%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

92% 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 EEL RIVER.

84%
largest funder
90%
top three
~1
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 93% · 2018 84% · 2019 84% · 2020 48% · 2021 83% · 2022 85% · 2023 95% — 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

11% of FRIENDS OF THE EEL RIVER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

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

89% of FRIENDS OF THE EEL RIVER'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 $204k that is directly attributable, 94% of it comes from California funders.

WA
MN
CA
KY

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.6M 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

FRIENDS OF THE EEL RIVER is better cushioned than half of the 2,433 environment nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−28% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve8.8mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)−7% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,433 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like FRIENDS OF THE EEL RIVER

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 California

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

80% of spending goes to programs.

Program 80%Management 11%Fundraising 9%

Governance

9
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention–Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

94%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FRIENDS OF THE EEL RIVER: 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.

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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 EEL RIVER?
FRIENDS OF THE EEL RIVER (California) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,784,631 to it, the largest being GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC ($1,500,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 89% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does FRIENDS OF THE EEL RIVER have?
IRS filings report 16 organizations giving $1,784,631 in grants to FRIENDS OF THE EEL RIVER, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF THE EEL RIVER?
GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,500,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like FRIENDS OF THE EEL RIVER find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Eel River →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 16 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