Michigan · Nonprofit
LEELANAU CONSERVANCY
LEELANAU CONSERVANCY (Michigan) receives grants from 119 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,280,147 to it, the largest being ANDREW R AND JANET F MILLER FOUNDATION ($4,545,000). 81 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.0M
- Funders on record
- 119
- Grants received
- $17M
- Net assets
- $51M
What Leelanau Conservancy does
Mission
To conserve the land, water and scenic character of leelanau county, and to provide educational programs to develop an understanding and appreciation of leelanau county's natural heritage.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
In 2024, the conservancy completed seven land protection projects protecting an additional 1,085 acres. Included were: (1) completion of one land protection project protecting 67 acres in suttons bay township, (2) completion of two land conservation easement projects protecting 203 acres in leelanau township, (3) completion of two conservation easement projects protecting 267 acres in suttons bay township, (4) completion of one conservation easement project protecting 134 acres in omena, (5) completion of one conservation easement project protecting 117 acres in grand traverse county, (6) completion of one conservation easement project protecting 80 acres in traverse city, (7) completion of one conservation easement project protecting 66 acres in centerville township. (8) completion of one conservation easement project protecting 18 acres in cedar, (9) completion of two conservation easement projects protecting 171 acres in leland township.
$8,637,640 spent$147,621 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $8,637,640.
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 2022 to 2023, from $37M to $44M (+19%).
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: 2017 19% · 2018 21% · 2019 12% · 2020 25% · 2021 12% · 2022 14% · 2023 10% · 2024 8% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
92% of LEELANAU CONSERVANCY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Thomas Nelson
Executive director
Board chair
Amy Tennis
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 32 funders to 68 funders, grant income rose $561k → $2.4M.
24 of 119 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 32% 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 LEELANAU CONSERVANCY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 119 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
LEELANAU CONSERVANCY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% 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
33% 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 LEELANAU CONSERVANCY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 22% · 2018 37% · 2019 26% · 2020 18% · 2021 22% · 2022 40% · 2023 43% — 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
61% of LEELANAU CONSERVANCY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 68% 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
LEELANAU CONSERVANCY draws 64% of its grant income from funders outside Michigan, across 19 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 16 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
LEELANAU CONSERVANCY runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,209 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,209 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like LEELANAU CONSERVANCY
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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
57% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
91%
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 LEELANAU CONSERVANCY: 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 LEELANAU CONSERVANCY?
- LEELANAU CONSERVANCY (Michigan) receives grants from 119 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,280,147 to it, the largest being ANDREW R AND JANET F MILLER FOUNDATION ($4,545,000). 81 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LEELANAU CONSERVANCY have?
- IRS filings report 119 organizations giving $17,280,147 in grants to LEELANAU CONSERVANCY, 81 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LEELANAU CONSERVANCY?
- ANDREW R AND JANET F MILLER FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $4,545,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LEELANAU CONSERVANCY 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 Leelanau Conservancy →
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 119 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