Skip to content

Massachusetts · Nonprofit

MERRIMACK RIVER WATERSHED COUNCIL INC

MERRIMACK RIVER WATERSHED COUNCIL INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 38 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,071,804 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ($217,716). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$870k
Funders on record
38
Grants received
$1.1M
Net assets
$1.2M
23/38 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 68%
01What it does

What Merrimack River Watershed Council Inc does

Mission

Merrimack river watershed council's mission is to protect the merrimack river watershed and promote the wise use of its watershed. This is accomplished through water quality monitoring, land restoration and protection, watershed education and outreach, advocacy and recreation.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. The merrimack river watershed council (mrwc) partners with other organizations in massachusetts and new hampshire to protect the merrimack river and its watershed. Mrwc offers public events for all massachusetts and new hampsire residents. These programs include paddling trips, public lectures, educational workshops, school presentations and classes, outreach, and policy development with regard to stormwater and water pollution, and the organization of coalitions to address the same. Mrwc is the only full-time activitst group focused on water quality and public recreational access to the 125-mile long merrimack river and its tributaries in massachusetts and new hampshire.

    $811,600 spent
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $811,600.

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 ($231k) Expenses 100 ($198k) Net assets 100 ($638k)2018 Revenue 68 ($158k) Expenses 78 ($155k) Net assets 100 ($640k)2019 Revenue 54 ($125k) Expenses 60 ($119k) Net assets 101 ($646k)2020 Revenue 77 ($178k) Expenses 62 ($123k) Net assets 110 ($701k)2021 Revenue 173 ($400k) Expenses 148 ($293k) Net assets 127 ($807k)2022 Revenue 322 ($744k) Expenses 340 ($675k) Net assets 106 ($674k)2023 Revenue 383 ($884k) Expenses 443 ($879k) Net assets 107 ($680k)2024 Revenue 695 ($1.6M) Expenses 544 ($1.1M) Net assets 189 ($1.2M)2025 Revenue 377 ($870k) Expenses 430 ($853k) Net assets 192 ($1.2M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (377)Expenses (430)Net assets (192)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 2023 to 2024, from $871k to $1.4M (+61%).

$651k
$652k
$652k
$763k
$863k
$932k
$871k
$1.4M
$1.5M
'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

98% of MERRIMACK RIVER WATERSHED COUNCIL INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 4,629 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$32k
’17
$2k
’18
$6k
’19
$55k
’20
$107k
’21
$69k
’22
$6k
’23
$526k
’24
$17k
’25
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.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed87111110141189
Joined·+0+5+3+2+6+0+2+1
No longer listed·11332350
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $75k → $190k.

8 of 38 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 31% 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 MERRIMACK RIVER WATERSHED COUNCIL INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 38 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

MERRIMACK RIVER WATERSHED COUNCIL INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% 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

60% 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 MERRIMACK RIVER WATERSHED COUNCIL INC.

20%
largest funder
43%
top three
~11
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 45% · 2018 86% · 2019 71% · 2020 42% · 2021 18% · 2022 22% · 2023 44% — broadly stable.

“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

47% of MERRIMACK RIVER WATERSHED COUNCIL INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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

MERRIMACK RIVER WATERSHED COUNCIL INC draws 55% of its grant income from funders outside Massachusetts, across 11 states in all.

ME
NH
NY
MA
PA
CO
MO
NC
DC
TX
FL

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $327k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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

MERRIMACK RIVER WATERSHED COUNCIL INC is better cushioned than half of the 2,433 environment nonprofits its size.

Operating margin2% · below the median
Months of reserve16.4mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)18% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,433 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Government funding MERRIMACK RIVER WATERSHED COUNCIL INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $602k on record.

Federal$602k
grants $602kcontracts $0
21
25
Top agencies
  • Environmental Protection Agency$352k
  • Department of Agriculture$250k

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 MERRIMACK RIVER WATERSHED COUNCIL 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 Massachusetts

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

68% of spending goes to programs.

Program 68%Management 23%Fundraising 9%

Governance

9
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

99%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 2 states

NH
MA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MERRIMACK RIVER WATERSHED COUNCIL 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 MERRIMACK RIVER WATERSHED COUNCIL INC?
MERRIMACK RIVER WATERSHED COUNCIL INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 38 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,071,804 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ($217,716). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does MERRIMACK RIVER WATERSHED COUNCIL INC have?
IRS filings report 38 organizations giving $1,071,804 in grants to MERRIMACK RIVER WATERSHED COUNCIL INC, 23 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of MERRIMACK RIVER WATERSHED COUNCIL INC?
NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $217,716 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like MERRIMACK RIVER WATERSHED COUNCIL INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 Merrimack River Watershed Council →

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 38 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