Wisconsin · Nonprofit
Mequon Nature Preserve Inc
Mequon Nature Preserve Inc (Wisconsin) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,490,963 to it, the largest being GREATER MILWAUKEE FOUNDATION INC ($934,749). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $889k
- Funders on record
- 40
- Grants received
- $3.5M
- Net assets
- $1.9M
What Mequon Nature Preserve Inc does
Mission
The mission of Mequon Nature Preserve is to be a guiding example habitat restoration by returning the land to a mosaic of forests, prairies and wetlands and to establish an education conservancy that inpires exploration and cultivates stewardship.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Education Outreach MNP staff work to instill environmental empathy and action into the consciousness of surrounding communities. This is achieved through various field trips and other educational programs offered free of charge. Throughout the 2023-2024 academic year over 3,000 students attended a field trip at MNP. Of those three thousand, 60 were form the City of Milwaukee schools. Middle schools participated in our Water Passport Program, which is in partnership with the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District MMSD. During 2024, MNP offered several events, guided hikes, and workshops. MNP hosted a weeklong ACT 31 training program run by MPS First Nations Department.
$324,638 spent$21,210 earned by the program30% of program spendingLand Restoration Monitoring MNP follows a 150-year land restoration plan to return 510 acres of predominantly agricultural land to its pre-settlement condition as a mesic beech-maple-oak forest. The past 20 years, staff have been working hard to return the land back to its historic condition. We are happy to say that based off our 150-year Master Plan, we are 25 years ahead of schedule in our land restoration efforts. Through a MMSD Wetland Restoration and Reforestation Program, MNP staff planted native short grass prairie and wetland seed as the first step in revegetation for the 52-acre program. Volunteers and staff planted over 43,000 trees that will establish over the next three years.
$676,512 spent63% of program spendingLand Building MNP is responsible for the repairs, maintenance and utilities at all the facilities on the 510 acres. MNP receives rental income from agricultural land, a farmhouse, barns and storage buildings on the preserve. In addition, PieperPower Education Center is rented to corporations and agencies when not being used for educational programming.
$40,780 spent4% of program spendingProgram Service Expenses 29,387, Grants and allocations 0, Revenue 0 Special Projects Every year various funding comes in to fund specific projects that would normally not occur. In 2024, we continued our book project launching two more childrens books. Onsite events included a monthly Craft and Storytime, Maple Sugar Tapping, Summer Playdate, guided hikes, Monarch Tagging, and Habitat Haunting. All events were free of charge and open to the public. The MNP Executive Director Book Club, Junior Nature Book Club, MNP Photography Club and MNP Bee Club meet monthly and are open to all that are interested. There were new structures installed at Martys Playspace as well as two Observation Platforms installed at the new Swan Road wetland and at Pauls Pond. The Rig and one other off-road wheelchair were purchased for individuals of limited mobility to use free of charge.
$29,387 spent3% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,071,317.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 $1.6M to $2.2M (+35%).
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 14% · 2021 12%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
91% of Mequon Nature Preserve Inc’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 5 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
Kristin Thiel
Executive Director
Board chair
Kurt Theune
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 19 funders, grant income rose $96k → $664k.
7 of 40 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 38% 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 Mequon Nature Preserve Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 40 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
Mequon Nature Preserve Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 27% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
45% 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 Mequon Nature Preserve Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 49% · 2018 30% · 2019 28% · 2020 31% · 2021 39% · 2022 38% · 2023 32% — 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
68% of Mequon Nature Preserve Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 75% 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
79% of Mequon Nature Preserve Inc's grant income comes from Wisconsin funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.3M 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.
Against its field
Mequon Nature Preserve Inc's funding base is broadening — from 8 funders to 19 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,264 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding Mequon Nature Preserve Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $239k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$239k
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 Mequon Nature Preserve 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 Wisconsin
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
78%
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 Mequon Nature Preserve 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.
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 Mequon Nature Preserve Inc?
- Mequon Nature Preserve Inc (Wisconsin) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,490,963 to it, the largest being GREATER MILWAUKEE FOUNDATION INC ($934,749). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Mequon Nature Preserve Inc have?
- IRS filings report 40 organizations giving $3,490,963 in grants to Mequon Nature Preserve Inc, 30 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Mequon Nature Preserve Inc?
- GREATER MILWAUKEE FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $934,749 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Mequon Nature Preserve Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Wisconsin. 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 Mequon Nature Preserve →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 40 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