Michigan · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF THE ROUGE
FRIENDS OF THE ROUGE (Michigan) receives grants from 34 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,317,853 to it, the largest being THE RALPH C WILSON JR FOUNDATION ($2,388,790). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.9M
- Funders on record
- 34
- Grants received
- $5.3M
- Net assets
- $3.0M
What Friends of the Rouge does
Mission
To restore, protect, and enhance the rouge river watershed through stewardship, education, and collaboration.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
1.the rouge education project (rep) is a 36-year-old nationally recognized model water quality monitoring program that engages thousands of students each year in hands-on science education and provides meaningful service-learning opportunities for students to get further involved with stewarding their hometown river. 2.watershed monitoring engages hundreds of volunteers in immersive science education while they observe, listen, and study benthic macroinvertebrates (aquatic insects), frogs and toads, fish populations and habitat throughout the watershed. Local residents become citizen scientists and collect critical data that fotr provides to a variety of organizations and agencies about the health of the river over time. 3.river restoration work across the watershed includes riparian corridor and storm water management training for residents and municipal employees as well as hands-on implementation and green infrastructure installation such as rain gardens. 4.the expanding trails program aims to develop a 29-mile water trail along the lower and main stems of the rouge river along with paralleled greenway (bike/walk trails) access with shared trailheads. Universally accessible…
$1,438,237 spent$9,120 earned by the program100% of program spendingRain barrel and native michigan plant sales - for watershed residents to manage stormwater on their properties. Rain garden installations reduce rainwater runoff by providing temporary stormwater storage where it will be cleaned, cooled, infiltrated into the ground, and transpired by the native plants. Rain gardens help to mitigate the impact of flooding and the heat island effect. Many additional benefits result from the existence of rain gardens including habitat creation for insects and pollinators, community engagement, and improvements to quality of life for urban residents. The gardens also restore the connection between land and water. Rain barrels provide the same stormwater management benefits of rain gardens by collecting rainwater, keeping it out of the storm drains, and providing a source of water for flora and fauna.
$30,922 earned by the program
The 2 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,438,237.
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 2021 to 2022, from $1.5M to $4.2M (+171%).
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 11% · 2018 18% · 2019 18% · 2020 39% · 2021 10% · 2022 3% · 2023 1% · 2024 12%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of FRIENDS OF THE ROUGE’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. 3 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $12k → $433k.
8 of 34 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 FRIENDS OF THE ROUGE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 34 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
FRIENDS OF THE ROUGE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 45% of grant income and the top three 77%; 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 84% · 2018 50% · 2019 68% · 2020 44% · 2021 38% · 2022 58% · 2023 59% — 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
29% of FRIENDS OF THE ROUGE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
89% of FRIENDS OF THE ROUGE's grant income comes from Michigan funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $240k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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 ROUGE is better cushioned than half of the 2,186 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,186 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding FRIENDS OF THE ROUGE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $260k on record.
- Department of Commerce$235k
- Department of the Interior$15k
- Department of Agriculture$10k
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 FRIENDS OF THE ROUGE
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 Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
62% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
90%
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 FRIENDS OF THE ROUGE: 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 ROUGE?
- FRIENDS OF THE ROUGE (Michigan) receives grants from 34 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,317,853 to it, the largest being THE RALPH C WILSON JR FOUNDATION ($2,388,790). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF THE ROUGE have?
- IRS filings report 34 organizations giving $5,317,853 in grants to FRIENDS OF THE ROUGE, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF THE ROUGE?
- THE RALPH C WILSON JR FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,388,790 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF THE ROUGE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. 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 Rouge →
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 34 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