California · Nonprofit
NATURE COLLECTIVE
NATURE COLLECTIVE (California) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,394,572 to it, the largest being WILD WISDOM FOUNDATION INC (FORMERLY A CERAMI & A DUNNE FDN FOR WORLD HEALTH) ($1,752,700). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.3M
- Funders on record
- 27
- Grants received
- $3.4M
- Net assets
- $14M
What Nature Collective does
Mission
Nature Collective's mission is to drive a passion for nature for all. We think inclusively and diversely when serving those devoid of nature those who remember nature and want to connect back to it and those who have an affinity with nature. We believe if everyone has a passion to connect with and experience nature they will want to protect it.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Habitat conservation:the san elijo lagoon restoration project is one of the largest wetland restorations in california. Our project includes new mudflats and tidal dredging in the san elijo lagoon ecological reserve in encinitas, ca. Mudflats are a key habitat for many animals especially waterfowl. Without restoration, we would have lost these vital habitats now restored and enhanced for sea level rise.keeping lagoon lands and waters healthy means increasing tidal circulation, a natural process that modern infrastructure had nearly halted. But wider bridge spans, and enhanced tidal channels, are now delivering tidal flow farther and deeper into san elijo lagoon. When restoration within the project area is complete, we will continue to monitor through the next 50 years ensuring that what we designed isworking as sea levels rise and our climate changes.without thriving plant species indigenous to this area, our lands and their ecosystem aren't truly healthy. That's why we work to control invasive plants in the san elijo lagoon ecological reserve, throughout the carlsbad hydrologic unit, and beyond. The more plants indigenous to this area flourish, the more that endangered animals in…
$1,737,371 spent43% of program spendingLand trust:a key priority is to protect lands in the escondido watershed, and in lands beyond, by managing habitats and the important services that nature provides. The greatest threat to the diversity of life is loss of habitat. As a land trust we acquire and protect lands in the watershed, including the latest addition of 77 acres that is conserving rare coastal sage scrub and southern coastal bluff scrub habitats. Inthese acres, special status plants surveyed include: del mar manzanita (federally endangered), sea dahlia and nuttall's scrub oak. At least two special status species of concern call this place home, the san diego pocket mouse and the california gnatcatcher. Nature Collective owns 143 acres through fee-title ownership, and holds more than 70 acres of conservation easements on private and public property. Landowners who want to make sure their land is protected for generations can contact Nature Collective about ways we can help connect conservation goals. Harbaugh seaside trails, a 3-acre coastal overlook features four indigenous plant communities and public trails. As a nonprofit land trust, Nature Collective collaborates in san elijo lagoon ecological reserve…
$1,625,277 spent41% of program spendingScience education & outreach:at Nature Collective, children can gain science skills and connect with nature from fieldwork to preparatory and post-trip lessons. Science becomes relevant and more interesting to students as they discuss ecology and explore the land. Our programs focus on observation skills, a crucial component to any science-focused education and career. As the students experience our local lands, our educators encourage them to ask questions, listen to one another, pose evidence-supported arguments, disagree respectfully, and utilize the scientific language of uncertainty.our k-12 education program connects, educates, and engages the community to act to ensure the health and wellbeing of the escondido watershed. Our partner school districts include escondido, vista, and del mar. We support the school districts by offering next generation science standards, aligned science education curriculum-based field trips and virtual experiences. Our goals are to increase the number of students who participate in outdoor nature experiences in escondido; to connect students to nature through watershed literacy and relevancy lessons and programs; and to instill a life-long…
$647,723 spent$94,438 earned by the program16% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,010,371.
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 $15M to $16M (+10%).
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 85% · 2018 85% · 2019 72% · 2020 77% · 2021 82% · 2022 76% · 2023 84% · 2024 81%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
93% of NATURE COLLECTIVE’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. 2 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.
Board chair
Michael Lea Phd
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $292k → $332k.
8 of 27 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 35% 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 NATURE COLLECTIVE’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
NATURE COLLECTIVE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 52% of grant income and the top three 73%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
38% 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 NATURE COLLECTIVE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 59% · 2018 77% · 2019 75% · 2020 76% · 2021 60% · 2022 45% · 2023 27% — 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
67% of NATURE COLLECTIVE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
94% of NATURE COLLECTIVE's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.2M 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.
Against its field
NATURE COLLECTIVE is better cushioned than half of the 2,186 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,186 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding NATURE COLLECTIVE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $91k on record.
- Department of the Interior$91k
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 NATURE COLLECTIVE
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
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 NATURE COLLECTIVE: 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 NATURE COLLECTIVE?
- NATURE COLLECTIVE (California) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,394,572 to it, the largest being WILD WISDOM FOUNDATION INC (FORMERLY A CERAMI & A DUNNE FDN FOR WORLD HEALTH) ($1,752,700). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NATURE COLLECTIVE have?
- IRS filings report 27 organizations giving $3,394,572 in grants to NATURE COLLECTIVE, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NATURE COLLECTIVE?
- WILD WISDOM FOUNDATION INC (FORMERLY A CERAMI & A DUNNE FDN FOR WORLD HEALTH) is the largest funder on record, with $1,752,700 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NATURE COLLECTIVE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Nature Collective →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 27 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