Hawaii · Nonprofit
MERWIN CONSERVANCY INC
MERWIN CONSERVANCY INC (Hawaii) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,023,075 to it, the largest being JONATHAN & KATHLEEN ALTMAN FNDTN ($354,000). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 39
- Grants received
- $1.0M
- Net assets
- $3.4M
What Merwin Conservancy Inc does
Mission
Part iii, line 1 - rooted in the convictions of renowned american poet w.s. Merwin, the merwin conservancy imagines ways of engaging with place, poetry, and practice. We care for the thriving, internationally recognized palm garden on maui that william merwin and his wife paula planted on land depleted by extractive agricultural practices; offer a residency program in the merwins' home to writers and artists who make new possibilities for language and land; and foster attention to nature and the imagination through programming and storytelling.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Tending the merwin palm tree collection: since assuming stewardship of the merwin palm tree collection in 2020, the merwin conservancy has continued to care for, protect, and catalog one of the worlds most significant and diverse palm collections. In 2025, we advanced ongoing garden care through the work of contract gardeners, staff, and volunteers, further refining infrastructure, pathways, and conservation practices to support the long- term health of the garden. In parallel, we assessed long-term staffing needs for the dedicated, expert oversight of the collection, engaging in planning and resource development toward the hiring of a horticulturalist. We continued our efforts to propagate native loulu (pritchardia) palms for future planting within the garden and for potential contribution to broader recovery and conservation efforts on maui. Our residents maintained the tradition of planting a native loulu palm, deepening the connection between artistic practice and ecological stewardship.
$149,297 spent30% of program spendingArts and ecology programming: through our public program series the green room, the merwin conservancy presented the work of poets, writers, and artists to local, national, and international audiences. We hosted in- person programs on maui and o'ahu featuring current and former residents and offered virtual programs to extend access to our global community. We continued our open garden days program, welcoming visitors twice monthly for guided, contemplative experiences that center the ecological and literary legacy of this place. In addition, we hosted educational groups, community organizations, and individual visitors, and launched our educator ambassador program, connecting teachers and students across maui with the conservancy through visits, program attendance, and teaching resources. These programs advanced our mission to foster meaningful connections between nature, language, and the imagination. In 2025, the merwin conservancy advanced its stewardship of w.s. Merwins literary legacy through archival preservation and public access. During the year, the conservancy completed the transfer of w.s. Merwins remaining papers to the harry ransom center at the university of texas,…
$121,348 spent25% of program spendingResidency program:the merwin conservancys residency program, launched in 2021, continued in 2025 to offer the merwins home and garden as a sanctuary for writers, artists, and thinkers who make new possibilities for language and land. Residents are selected through a nomination process involving advisors working across disciplines. During the year, the conservancy continued to make improvements to the house and residency experience to support comfort, accessibility, and the practical needs of residents. In 2025, we hosted two residents, supporting their creative practices while inviting meaningful exchange with our broader community through public programs.
$49,399 spent10% of program spendingContinued key repairs & restoration of the merwins' home: as we became stewards of the property, we continued repairs to the two-story home, which is approximately 40 years old, readying the home as the site of our residency and arts and ecology programming. Archivals: we placed a portion of w.s. Merwin's late archives with the renowned literary archive, the harry ransom center. The placement ensures the preservation of this important material and facilitates broad and deep access by scholars, students, researchers, writers, and others.
$174,089 spent35% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $494,133.
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 2019 to 2020, from $1.4M to $2.8M (+97%).
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 0% · 2021 15% · 2022 0% · 2023 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
55% of MERWIN CONSERVANCY INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (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.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 10 funders, grant income rose $10k → $181k.
11 of 39 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 30% 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 MERWIN CONSERVANCY INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 39 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
MERWIN CONSERVANCY INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 35% 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
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 MERWIN CONSERVANCY INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 98% · 2018 100% · 2019 54% · 2020 29% · 2021 39% · 2022 60% · 2023 55% — 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
24% of MERWIN CONSERVANCY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 41% 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
MERWIN CONSERVANCY INC draws 80% of its grant income from funders outside Hawaii, across 12 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $305k arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
MERWIN CONSERVANCY INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,074 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like MERWIN 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 Hawaii
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MERWIN 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.
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 MERWIN CONSERVANCY INC?
- MERWIN CONSERVANCY INC (Hawaii) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,023,075 to it, the largest being JONATHAN & KATHLEEN ALTMAN FNDTN ($354,000). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MERWIN CONSERVANCY INC have?
- IRS filings report 39 organizations giving $1,023,075 in grants to MERWIN CONSERVANCY INC, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MERWIN CONSERVANCY INC?
- JONATHAN & KATHLEEN ALTMAN FNDTN is the largest funder on record, with $354,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MERWIN CONSERVANCY INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Hawaii. 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 Merwin 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 39 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