Maine · Nonprofit
NATIONAL ESTUARINE RESEARCH RESERVE ASSOCIATION
NATIONAL ESTUARINE RESEARCH RESERVE ASSOCIATION (Maine) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $93,751 to it, the largest being The Pew Charitable Trusts ($51,006). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.1M
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $94k
- Net assets
- $410k
What National Estuarine Research Reserve Association does
Mission
To inspire the protection of our nation's estuaries and to promote conservation-based research, education, and stewardship by advancing the work of the national estuarine research reserve system.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The organization was organized to support research, monitoring, and educational programs and activities about estuaries, promote public awareness of estuaries, promote research and education regarding estuaries, and promote stewardship of estuarine systems.
$1,014,195 spentof which $91,307 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,014,195.
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 $465k to $1.0M (+116%).
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 38% · 2019 55% · 2020 39% · 2021 79% · 2022 64% · 2023 51% · 2024 61% · 2025 60%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of NATIONAL ESTUARINE RESEARCH RESERVE ASSOCIATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (67% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income rose $9k → $26k.
2 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 44% 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 NATIONAL ESTUARINE RESEARCH RESERVE ASSOCIATION’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
NATIONAL ESTUARINE RESEARCH RESERVE ASSOCIATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 54% of grant income and the top three 98%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
46% 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 NATIONAL ESTUARINE RESEARCH RESERVE ASSOCIATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 81% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 78% — 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.
Where its funders are
NATIONAL ESTUARINE RESEARCH RESERVE ASSOCIATION draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Maine, across 2 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $41k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
NATIONAL ESTUARINE RESEARCH RESERVE ASSOCIATION runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 210 science & tech nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 210 science & tech nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding NATIONAL ESTUARINE RESEARCH RESERVE ASSOCIATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.1M on record — $2.1M federal, $30k state.
- Department of Commerce$2.0M
- Department of the Interior$41k
- DUES/MEMBERSHIPS$30k
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 NATIONAL ESTUARINE RESEARCH RESERVE ASSOCIATION
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 Maine
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
93% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
86%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NATIONAL ESTUARINE RESEARCH RESERVE ASSOCIATION: 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 NATIONAL ESTUARINE RESEARCH RESERVE ASSOCIATION?
- NATIONAL ESTUARINE RESEARCH RESERVE ASSOCIATION (Maine) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $93,751 to it, the largest being The Pew Charitable Trusts ($51,006). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NATIONAL ESTUARINE RESEARCH RESERVE ASSOCIATION have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $93,751 in grants to NATIONAL ESTUARINE RESEARCH RESERVE ASSOCIATION, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NATIONAL ESTUARINE RESEARCH RESERVE ASSOCIATION?
- The Pew Charitable Trusts is the largest funder on record, with $51,006 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NATIONAL ESTUARINE RESEARCH RESERVE ASSOCIATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maine. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 4 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