Kentucky · Nonprofit
HEADWATERS INC
HEADWATERS INC (Kentucky) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $190,700 to it, the largest being FLOCK INC ($113,200). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $89k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $191k
- Net assets
- $109k
What Headwaters Inc does
Mission
In response to water-quality concerns, community members formed Headwaters in 2005 to promote local water resource management and encourage the stewardship of Letcher County waterways. Headwaters works with a variety of community members, local educators, elected leaders, researchers and academics to lead water sampling efforts and school and community environmental education.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Because the three rivers, Kentucky, Cumberland, and Big Sandy, with headwaters in Letcher County continue to have frequent water quality violations, Headwaters' work to assist in determining causes and working toward solutions continues. One aspect of this work is through the continuation of our partnership on the Mountain Drinking Water Project (MDWP). This project is a collaboration between US Academic leads, Dr. Jason Unrine and Dr. Anna Hoover with the University of Kentucky (UK) and Headwaters' Research Coordinator, Deborah Sexton. As work on the project continues, the number of citizen scientists (CS) has expanded through the recruitment of additional local citizen scientists to collect water samples from their homes which are analyzed to help determine the causes of and solutions for problems related to disinfection byproducts. Sixteen CS have completed training administered by our research coordinator in the proper procedure to collect samples from their homes on designated days which were/are placed in coolers with ice packs, promptly collected from the homes by the research coordinator, and safely packaged on additional ice for overnight shipment to the UK lab for…
$45,589 spent$39,266 earned by the program54% of program spendingBecause Headwaters, Inc.'s vision is to be a part of a community where members are committed to and take responsibility for clean water and a desirable environment, our executive director, Justin Branham, works toward the development and implementation of projects, relationships, collaborations, and other endeavors committed to that vision. Justin Branham was hired as Executive Director in May of 2024. He works as a liaison with many community agencies and organizations to share and expand Headwaters' vision, goals, and objectives. Those facets include small municipalities, local governments, and the general public. In addition, he works with grant facilitation, including the Mountain Drinking Water Project, and documentation to share ideas, identify issues, provide background knowledge, and propose solutions to address specific water quality and environmental issues. Branham is very community-minded and has a strong scientific background. His work as our executive director melds the two together and provides a key component as Headwaters moves forward in its efforts to take responsibility for clean water and a desirable environment.
$38,580 spent$50,000 earned by the program46% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $84,169.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 $26k to $62k (+137%).
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.
56% of HEADWATERS INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (92% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 5 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
Justin Branham
Executive Director
Board chair
Courtney Rhoades Mullins
Board President
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income rose $4k → $35k.
2 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 37% 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 HEADWATERS INC’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
HEADWATERS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 59% of grant income and the top three 96%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
39% 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 HEADWATERS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 75% · 2018 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 71% · 2023 71% — 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.
Where its funders are
HEADWATERS INC draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Kentucky, across 4 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $70k 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
HEADWATERS INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 2,195 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,195 environment nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Organizations like HEADWATERS INC
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 Kentucky
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
100% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 HEADWATERS INC: 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 HEADWATERS INC?
- HEADWATERS INC (Kentucky) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $190,700 to it, the largest being FLOCK INC ($113,200). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does HEADWATERS INC have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $190,700 in grants to HEADWATERS INC, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HEADWATERS INC?
- FLOCK INC is the largest funder on record, with $113,200 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HEADWATERS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Kentucky. 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 Headwaters →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 6 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