Connecticut · Nonprofit
HIGHSTEAD FOUNDATION INC
HIGHSTEAD FOUNDATION INC (Connecticut) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $502,935 to it, the largest being United States Endowment for Forestry ($349,999). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.3M
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $503k
- Net assets
- $5.3M
What Highstead Foundation Inc does
Program
The foundation was established in 1985 to own, manage & conserve the highstead arboretum, which consists of more than 100 deeded acres and buildings in redding, ct. The foundation also makes occasional grants to ecological, conservation, horticultural, & other organizations to further research, education, & conservation activities in fields related to land conservation & ecology. The emphasis of highstead has been on the development of infrastructure, programs, & the landscape as a center for research & education & for hosting programs that promote the conservation of natural & cultural landscapes. Broad developments have included the construction of a headquarters & trail infrastructure to allow for ecological experiments, long-term studies, & demonstration areas for the visiting public. The foundation has facilitated the advancement of collaborative landscape through science, sound stewardship, & collaboration with diverse partners to achieve the wildlands & woodlands vision.
$2,263,860 spent
The program described on its FY2022 Form 990-PF.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
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 $4.0M to $4.6M (+14%).
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
George W Elkins
Director, executive director
Board chair
Dorothy Adams
Director, president and chairperson of
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990-PF.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income rose $20k → $43k.
2 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 9% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $20M from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Highstead Fund Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money HIGHSTEAD FOUNDATION INC raised.
From the IRS filings of HIGHSTEAD FOUNDATION 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
HIGHSTEAD FOUNDATION INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 70% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
95% 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 HIGHSTEAD FOUNDATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 98% · 2018 100% · 2019 80% · 2020 86% · 2021 73% · 2023 75% — 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
13% of HIGHSTEAD FOUNDATION INC'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
HIGHSTEAD FOUNDATION INC draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Connecticut, across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $45k 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.
Organizations like HIGHSTEAD FOUNDATION 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 Connecticut
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for HIGHSTEAD FOUNDATION 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 HIGHSTEAD FOUNDATION INC?
- HIGHSTEAD FOUNDATION INC (Connecticut) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $502,935 to it, the largest being United States Endowment for Forestry ($349,999). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does HIGHSTEAD FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $502,935 in grants to HIGHSTEAD FOUNDATION INC, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HIGHSTEAD FOUNDATION INC?
- United States Endowment for Forestry is the largest funder on record, with $349,999 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HIGHSTEAD FOUNDATION INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Connecticut. 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 2018–2025), and the filings of 10 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