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Michigan · Nonprofit

Little Traverse Conservancy Inc

Little Traverse Conservancy Inc (Michigan) receives grants from 168 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,306,999 to it, the largest being DRAGONFLY FUND ($3,235,000). 116 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$11M
Funders on record
168
Grants received
$21M
Net assets
$155M
116/168 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 34%
01What it does

What Little Traverse Conservancy Inc does

Mission

Little Traverse Conservancy protects land in northern Michigan by owning it as Nature Preserves and Working Forest Reserves, and through Conservation Easements (perpetual, voluntary agreements that guard the conservation values of the property).

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. The Conservancy's Stewardship Program cares for the nearly 30,000 acres owned as nature preserves and working forest reserves. Primary stewardship activities on these properties include monitoring, trail creation and maintenance, and ecological restoration work. In 2024, our Stewardship work included planting 7,627 trees, building nearly 9 miles of new trail, and improving 15 parking areas. Our ECAR (Ecological Conditions and Response) program inventoried over 17,000 acres and documented 1,334 species on our preserves.

    $2,847,163 spentof which $1,450,574 as grants
    77% of program spending
  2. The Conservancy's Land Protection Program works with landowners on a voluntary basis to acquire properties that further our mission of preserving scenic and significant lands. This is accomplished through acquisitions, conservation easements, and transfer and assist projects with local governments or the State of Michigan. Through this work, the Conservancy has protected over 70,254 acres since 1972. In 2024, we protected 1,186 acres. This included six projects in Emmet County, five projects in Charlevoix County, four projects in Cheboygan County, and five projects in the Upper Peninsula.

    $424,520 spent
    12% of program spending
  3. The Conservancy's Environmental Education Program offers free field trips, lessons, and activities to foster a greater understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of the natural environment. Students can learn all year long through school field trips, weekend programs, and summer programs on Conservancy lands. In 2024, we led environmental education programs with 21 schools across our service area, impacting over 2,500 students. Additionally, we held bi-monthly programs with seniors.

    $412,989 spent
    11% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,684,672.

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 ($5.8M) Expenses 100 ($1.6M) Net assets 100 ($105M)2018 Revenue 80 ($4.6M) Expenses 109 ($1.8M) Net assets 102 ($107M)2019 Revenue 122 ($7.0M) Expenses 104 ($1.7M) Net assets 108 ($113M)2020 Revenue 117 ($6.8M) Expenses 118 ($1.9M) Net assets 114 ($120M)2021 Revenue 167 ($9.6M) Expenses 122 ($2.0M) Net assets 124 ($130M)2022 Revenue 177 ($10M) Expenses 134 ($2.2M) Net assets 128 ($134M)2023 Revenue 219 ($13M) Expenses 162 ($2.6M) Net assets 140 ($147M)2024 Revenue 195 ($11M) Expenses 266 ($4.3M) Net assets 148 ($155M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (195)Expenses (266)Net assets (148)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 2022 to 2023, from $135M to $147M (+9%).

$105M
$107M
$114M
$121M
$131M
$135M
$147M
$155M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
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
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 3% · 2021 10% · 2023 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

77% of Little Traverse Conservancy Inc’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (87% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 364 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$4.2M
’17
$2.8M
’18
$5.3M
’19
$4.9M
’20
$7.7M
’21
$8.0M
’22
$10M
’23
$7.0M
’24
16
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.

Board chair

Phil Porter

Chair

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed3736363838312727
Joined·+5+7+5+1+1+0+6
No longer listed·6731846
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 48 funders to 91 funders, grant income rose $564k → $4.3M.

33 of 168 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 41% 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 Little Traverse Conservancy Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 168 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

Little Traverse Conservancy Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 15% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left

41% 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 Little Traverse Conservancy Inc.

15%
largest funder
32%
top three
~18
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 18% · 2018 38% · 2019 34% · 2020 31% · 2021 27% · 2022 21% · 2023 23% — 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

57% of Little Traverse Conservancy Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 69% 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

64% of Little Traverse Conservancy Inc's grant income comes from Michigan funders.

VT
WA
MT
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
NV
IN
OH
PA
CT
RI
CA
CO
NE
MO
KY
VA
DE
AZ
NC
SC
DC
OK
AL
GA
TX
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. $8.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 17 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

Little Traverse Conservancy Inc runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 330 environment nonprofits its size.

Operating margin62% · top quartile
Months of reserve15.9mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)10% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 330 environment nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024

Government funding Little Traverse Conservancy Inc receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.5M on record.

Federal$1.5M
grants $1.5Mcontracts $0
18
21
22
23
24
Top agencies
  • Department of the Interior$1.5M

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 Little Traverse Conservancy Inc

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

86% of spending goes to programs.

Program 86%Management 5%Fundraising 8%

Governance

26
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

81%

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 1 related entity

  • Little Traverse Conservancy Conservation · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Little Traverse Conservancy Inc: 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 Little Traverse Conservancy Inc?
Little Traverse Conservancy Inc (Michigan) receives grants from 168 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,306,999 to it, the largest being DRAGONFLY FUND ($3,235,000). 116 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Little Traverse Conservancy Inc have?
IRS filings report 168 organizations giving $21,306,999 in grants to Little Traverse Conservancy Inc, 116 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Little Traverse Conservancy Inc?
DRAGONFLY FUND is the largest funder on record, with $3,235,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Little Traverse Conservancy Inc 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.

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 168 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