Oregon · Nonprofit
Johnson Creek Watershed Council
Johnson Creek Watershed Council (Oregon) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $814,442 to it, the largest being THE OREGON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($320,293). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 51% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.1M
- Funders on record
- 14
- Grants received
- $814k
- Net assets
- $536k
What Johnson Creek Watershed Council does
Mission
Johnson Creek Watershed Council (the organization) is an oregon nonprofit corporation formed in 1995. The organization is an outgrowth of citizen groups and government collaboration to develop community solutions to key watershed issues. Our mission is to promote restoration and stewardship of a healthy johnson creek watershed through sound science and community engagement.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Restoration -jcwcs 2015-2025 action plan serves as the guide for multiple restoration projects funded by numerous public and private entities. Jcwc secured funding to launch a 3-year restoration plan addressing salmon habitat with large wood installations and other stream enhancements at milwaukie bay, north fork at peppers farm and badger creek at rugg road. Other projects included collaboration with portland-area nonprofits to enhance stormwater processes through depaving efforts.
$1,367,429 spent77% of program spendingOutreach and community stewardship -volunteers participated in stewardship events to plant thousands of trees, shrubs, and native plants; remove significant amounts of garbage from johnson creek; and install rain gardens in newly-depaved landscapes. In addition, jcwcs americorps member engaged youth through hands-on activities, helping inspire the next generation of environmental stewards, scientists, and advocates.
$239,472 spent13% of program spendingMonitoring -jcwc participates in the interjurisdictional committee including the council and 10 agency partners whose efforts gather and monitor water quality, fish and wildlife data that tells everyone about the health of the johnson creek watershed. From this data, jcwc is better able to plan both restoration projects and community stewardship events, both of which have immeasurable benefits to the lands, waters, wildlife, and people who live, work and play in the watershed.
$168,105 spent9% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,775,006.
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 2018 to 2019, from $349k to $476k (+36%).
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: 2020 36% · 2021 48% · 2022 71% · 2023 79% · 2024 79% · 2025 92%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of Johnson Creek Watershed Council’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. 2 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.
Chief executive
Deb Merchant
Inter Exec Dir
Board chair
Shirley Craddick
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 3 funders, grant income fell $68k → $57k.
4 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 51% 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 Johnson Creek Watershed Council’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
Johnson Creek Watershed Council leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 80%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
68% 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 Johnson Creek Watershed Council.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 52% · 2018 66% · 2019 84% · 2020 29% · 2021 51% · 2022 65% · 2023 80% — 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
40% of Johnson Creek Watershed Council'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
51% of Johnson Creek Watershed Council's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $401k that is directly attributable, 69% of it comes from Oregon funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $414k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
Johnson Creek Watershed Council has grown faster 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
Government funding Johnson Creek Watershed Council receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $5.4M on record — $3.8M federal, $1.6M state.
- Department of Commerce$3.8M
- DISTRIBUTION TO NON-GOVERNMENTS$1.5M
- DISTRIBUTION TO OTHER GOVERNMENTS$69k
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 Johnson Creek Watershed Council
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 Oregon
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
90% 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 Johnson Creek Watershed Council: 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 Johnson Creek Watershed Council?
- Johnson Creek Watershed Council (Oregon) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $814,442 to it, the largest being THE OREGON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($320,293). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 51% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Johnson Creek Watershed Council have?
- IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $814,442 in grants to Johnson Creek Watershed Council, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Johnson Creek Watershed Council?
- THE OREGON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $320,293 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Johnson Creek Watershed Council find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Oregon. 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 Johnson Creek Watershed Council →
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 14 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