Skip to content

Michigan · Nonprofit

Kalamazoo Nature Center

Kalamazoo Nature Center (Michigan) receives grants from 57 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,246,339 to it, the largest being KALAMAZOO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($2,159,299). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$9.5M
Funders on record
57
Grants received
$7.2M
Net assets
$36M
36/57 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 42%
01What it does

What Kalamazoo Nature Center does

Mission

Create relationships & experiences that welcome and inspire people to discover, enjoy, value, and care for nature. Kalamazoo Nature Center envisions a resilient community where all people have strong interconnections with the natural world.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. We serve people of all ages through award winning education programs and community outreach to some of Kalamazoo's most vulnerable populations. Our programs include extended experiences comprising early childhood education at Nature's Way Preschool, on and offsite school K-12 programs, camp experiences from preschool through high school, and high school conservation studies at Heronwood Field Station.

    $1,178,455 spent$1,460,892 earned by the program
    31% of program spending
  2. Research activities at KNC create partnerships with scientists to understand the restoration and conservation needs of native habitats and species, with a particular focus on long-term bird surveys. Stewardship activities protect, conserve, and restore KNC's ecological heritage through a variety of sustainable land management practices across the Center's 1,500+ acres of land. KNC's ecological services division works with private and public landowners to find more sustainable solutions for their land management needs. And, conservation engagement programs cultivate care for nature through immersive education in regenerative agriculture, animal ambassador encounters, and thoughtfully maintained trails and gardens.

    $1,474,403 spent
    38% of program spending
  3. We provide year-round environmental education experiences that foster understanding and stewardship of the natural world. Services include more than 12,700 square feet of interpretive exhibits, one-time educational programs for all ages, public events and mission-aligned support for private events held on the facility's premises.

    $1,184,586 spent
    31% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,837,444.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($2.7M) Expenses 100 ($3.4M) Net assets 100 ($23M)2018 Revenue 292 ($7.8M) Expenses 106 ($3.6M) Net assets 126 ($29M)2019 Revenue 102 ($2.8M) Expenses 105 ($3.5M) Net assets 122 ($28M)2020 Revenue 134 ($3.6M) Expenses 108 ($3.7M) Net assets 124 ($29M)2021 Revenue 125 ($3.4M) Expenses 102 ($3.5M) Net assets 142 ($33M)2022 Revenue 173 ($4.6M) Expenses 122 ($4.1M) Net assets 127 ($29M)2023 Revenue 143 ($3.8M) Expenses 138 ($4.7M) Net assets 127 ($29M)2024 Revenue 157 ($4.2M) Expenses 147 ($5.0M) Net assets 134 ($31M)2025 Revenue 354 ($9.5M) Expenses 154 ($5.2M) Net assets 154 ($36M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (354)Expenses (154)Net assets (154)Peer revenue range

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 $26M to $32M (+24%).

$26M
$32M
$29M
$30M
$34M
$30M
$30M
$32M
$37M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 12% · 2022 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

58% of Kalamazoo Nature Center’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (88% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 2,303 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$700k
’17
$4.3M
’18
−$798k
’19
−$56k
’20
−$80k
’21
$522k
’22
−$822k
’23
−$786k
’24
$4.3M
’25
2.4
months of
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

Heather Graves

President & CEO

Board chair

Wendy Schlett

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed222116151614222317
Joined·+6+3+1+1+2+9+4+5
No longer listed·782041311
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 18 funders to 28 funders, grant income fell $1.1M → $1.0M.

7 of 57 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 Kalamazoo Nature Center’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 57 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

Kalamazoo Nature Center leans on a few funders — its largest provides 30% of grant income and the top three 60%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

40% 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 Kalamazoo Nature Center.

30%
largest funder
60%
top three
~6
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 45% · 2018 73% · 2019 54% · 2020 63% · 2021 39% · 2022 39% · 2023 33% — 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

59% of Kalamazoo Nature Center's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

79% of Kalamazoo Nature Center's grant income comes from Michigan funders.

IL
MI
NY
OH
PA
NJ
VA
DE
NC
DC
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Michigan out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.7M 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Kalamazoo Nature Center runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,209 environment nonprofits its size.

Operating margin45% · top quartile
Months of reserve2.4mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)17% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,209 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Government funding Kalamazoo Nature Center receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $201k on record.

Federal$201k
grants $201kcontracts $0
17
18
22
23
Top agencies
  • Department of Agriculture$153k
  • Department of the Interior$48k

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 Kalamazoo Nature Center

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 Michigan

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

73% of spending goes to programs.

Program 73%Management 18%Fundraising 9%

Governance

15
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

66%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

MI

Part of a family of 2 related entities

  • Trade Land Holdings LLC · disregarded
  • Nature Ventures · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Kalamazoo Nature Center: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Kalamazoo Nature Center?
Kalamazoo Nature Center (Michigan) receives grants from 57 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,246,339 to it, the largest being KALAMAZOO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($2,159,299). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Kalamazoo Nature Center have?
IRS filings report 57 organizations giving $7,246,339 in grants to Kalamazoo Nature Center, 36 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Kalamazoo Nature Center?
KALAMAZOO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,159,299 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Kalamazoo Nature Center find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. 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 Kalamazoo Nature Center →

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 57 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