California · Nonprofit
International Rivers Network
International Rivers Network (California) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,391,119 to it, the largest being ARCUS FOUNDATION ($1,525,000). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.2M
- Funders on record
- 40
- Grants received
- $8.4M
- Net assets
- $1.8M
What International Rivers Network does
Mission
International Rivers protects rivers and defends the rights of communities that depend on them.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Programs - International Rivers works with river-dependent and dam-affected communities to ensure their voices are heard and their rights are respected. International Rivers helps to build well-resourced, active networks of civil society groups to advocate for healthy rivers. International Rivers undertakes independent, investigative research, generating robust data and evidence to inform policies and campaigns. International Rivers exposes and resists destructive projects, while also engaging with all relevant stakeholders, including industry and policymakers, to develop a vision and energy and water solutions that protect rivers and the communities that depend upon them.
$1,772,357 spentof which $92,362 as grants$21,000 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,772,357.
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 2019 to 2020, from $2.0M to $3.8M (+93%).
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: 2021 14%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of International Rivers Network’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. 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
Melina Selverston
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 14 funders to 11 funders, grant income fell $749k → $490k.
11 of 40 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 21% 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: $208k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Fund for International Rivers). These are real filings, and they are not money International Rivers Network raised.
From the IRS filings of International Rivers Network’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 40 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
International Rivers Network has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
26% 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 International Rivers Network.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 37% · 2018 30% · 2019 43% · 2020 60% · 2021 22% · 2022 41% · 2023 71% — 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
31% of International Rivers Network's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
International Rivers Network draws 75% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 13 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
International Rivers Network is better cushioned than half of the 1,074 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like International Rivers Network
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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
89% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
39%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 24 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Fund for International Rivers · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for International Rivers Network: 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 International Rivers Network?
- International Rivers Network (California) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,391,119 to it, the largest being ARCUS FOUNDATION ($1,525,000). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does International Rivers Network have?
- IRS filings report 40 organizations giving $8,391,119 in grants to International Rivers Network, 25 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of International Rivers Network?
- ARCUS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,525,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like International Rivers Network 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.
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 40 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