Maryland · Nonprofit
INSTITUTE FOR CONSERVATION LEADERSHIP
INSTITUTE FOR CONSERVATION LEADERSHIP (Maryland) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,911,448 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM PENN FOUNDATION ($1,946,004). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 17
- Grants received
- $3.9M
- Net assets
- $728k
What Institute for Conservation Leadership does
Mission
To support healthy communities and a healthy earth, the Institute for Conservation Leadership strengthens leaders, organizations, coalitions and networks.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Programs - since 2018 icl's leading environmental change initiative has created organizational and collaborative capacity across ohio. In addition, icl annually provides services and support to hundreds of organizations and collaborations working for ecological and community health. This support includes process and meeting design, meeting facilitation, training and engagement support. Since 2023, icl has worked with the national fish and wildlife foundation's chesapeake bay stewardship fund to provide ongoing capacity building support to hundreds of partners across the chesapeake bay watershed.
$866,481 spent$51,124 earned by the program82% of program spendingEducation and outreach - icl educates about effective collaboration, engagement and meeting facilitation using webinars, online meetings and discussions, workshops, blog posts, website resources, and one-on-one meetings.
$191,795 spent18% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,058,276.
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 $414k to $1.3M (+210%).
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: 2018 1% · 2019 6% · 2020 5% · 2021 10% · 2022 2% · 2023 10% · 2024 7% · 2025 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of INSTITUTE FOR CONSERVATION LEADERSHIP’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (60% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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.
Board chair
Brandon Hayes
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $181k → $695k.
8 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% 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 INSTITUTE FOR CONSERVATION LEADERSHIP’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
INSTITUTE FOR CONSERVATION LEADERSHIP leans on a few funders — its largest provides 50% of grant income and the top three 88%; 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 55% · 2018 95% · 2019 55% · 2020 68% · 2021 68% · 2022 49% · 2023 58% — 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
46% of INSTITUTE FOR CONSERVATION LEADERSHIP's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
INSTITUTE FOR CONSERVATION LEADERSHIP draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Maryland, across 6 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $614k 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
INSTITUTE FOR CONSERVATION LEADERSHIP runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 2,299 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,299 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding INSTITUTE FOR CONSERVATION LEADERSHIP receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $6k on record.
- Emp Training & Background Chks$6k
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 INSTITUTE FOR CONSERVATION LEADERSHIP
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 Maryland
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
59%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 28 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for INSTITUTE FOR CONSERVATION LEADERSHIP: 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 INSTITUTE FOR CONSERVATION LEADERSHIP?
- INSTITUTE FOR CONSERVATION LEADERSHIP (Maryland) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,911,448 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM PENN FOUNDATION ($1,946,004). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does INSTITUTE FOR CONSERVATION LEADERSHIP have?
- IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $3,911,448 in grants to INSTITUTE FOR CONSERVATION LEADERSHIP, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of INSTITUTE FOR CONSERVATION LEADERSHIP?
- THE WILLIAM PENN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,946,004 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like INSTITUTE FOR CONSERVATION LEADERSHIP find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. 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 Institute for Conservation Leadership →
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 17 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing