Oregon · Nonprofit
Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership
Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership (Oregon) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,573,612 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ($2,057,777). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $12M
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $2.6M
- Net assets
- $3.6M
What Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership does
Mission
To preserve and enhance the water quality of the lower columbia river estuary to support its biological and human communities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership is located in portland, oregon, and focuses its operations on the lower 146 miles of the columbia river and its estuary. The organization works with the federal government, various state and local governments, and local communities to restore and care for the waters and ecosystems of the lower columbia river, for current and future generations of fish, wildlife, and people. The organization is funded primarily through grants and contracts from the u.s. Environmental protection agency, bonneville power administration, and the states of oregon and washington.
$11,731,177 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $11,731,177.
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 2020 to 2021, from $5.6M to $6.9M (+23%).
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 90% · 2018 91% · 2019 88% · 2020 88% · 2021 97% · 2022 94% · 2023 92% · 2024 85% · 2025 92%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (87% 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
Rian Sallee
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2020 and FY2021 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $21k → $414k.
3 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 2% 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 Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership’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
Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership leans on a few funders — its largest provides 80% of grant income and the top three 95%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
97% 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 Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 71% · 2018 74% · 2019 80% · 2020 49% · 2021 87% · 2022 98% · 2023 52% — 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
33% of Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% 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
Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership draws 82% of its grant income from funders outside Oregon, across 5 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $46k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership has grown faster than half of the 195 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 195 environment nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $23.4M on record — $21.9M federal, $1.6M state.
- Environmental Protection Agency$14.0M
- Department of Commerce$7.6M
- Department of Agriculture$209k
- Department of the Interior$104k
- DISTRIBUTION TO NON-GOVERNMENTS$1.5M
- PROFESSIONAL SERVICES NON-IT$29k
- DISTRIBUTION TO OTHER GOVERNMENTS$18k
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 Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership
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
94% 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 Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership: 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 Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership?
- Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership (Oregon) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,573,612 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ($2,057,777). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $2,573,612 in grants to Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership?
- NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,057,777 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership 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 Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership →
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 13 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