Oregon · Nonprofit
NEARBY NATURE
NEARBY NATURE (Oregon) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $89,666 to it, the largest being THE AHRENS FAMILY FOUNDATION ($52,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $545k
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $90k
- Net assets
- $95k
What Nearby Nature does
Mission
Dedicated to fostering appreciation of nature nearby and providing tools for ecological living our staff and volunteers lead nature walks youth programs daycamps events and restoration work primarily in Eugenes Alton Baker Park. We also teach Network Charter School classes maintain a Learnscape Outdoor Classroom and serve as Alton Baker Parks Official Host.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Network Charter School: Nearby Nature offers classes throughout the academic year for NCS an alternative public charter school serving students in grades 7-12. These classes serve the schools up to 120+ students and include everything from nature literature to field biology to outdoor physical education. Some of our teachers are also very involved in the schools fabulous field trip credit recovery program that gets kids outside in nature everywhere from local to State to National parks natural areas to hike camp and learn about natural science.
$233,292 spent$279,090 earned by the program50% of program spendingSummer Daycamps: We had 587 enrollments in 53 camps during the summer of 2024! Our camps provided kids from 3-11 years old with hands-on outdoor experiences focused on a variety of nature and conservation-themed topics -- from bugs to bikes rivers to rocks. All camps took place outdoors in local parks including Alton Baker Park and our Learnscape as well as Mount Pisgah Arboretum and Hendricks Park. This year as in the past we hosted multiple bilingual Spanish-English camps. Over 35 children received scholarships through our Every Child Outside Fund and community partner support total $6,800+. Note that these fund releases which are not reflected in income here supported this program. For the second year we provided small stipends for our teen Outdoor Leaders and college interns and were able to provide 8 teen stipends of $250-$500 and nine intern stipends of $1000. This made assisting with our programs accessible to more young people. More money will need to be raised to support these efforts going forward.
$108,911 spent$122,852 earned by the program23% of program spendingNature Schooling: In 2024 we continued to offer our Natural Neighbors After School program for K-5th graders three times a week and our Wonder Keepers preschool for 3-5 year olds with options of one-three times a week in Alton Baker Park. These all outdoor nature-science play and adventure based programs served kids throughout the school year. Volunteers and interns contributed 682 hours to these programs in 2024! The value of this time at the 2024 volunteer rate of $34.79 hour is $23,727!
$47,041 spent$70,719 earned by the program10% of program spendingPark Host Residence Learnscape: Nearby Nature serves as Eugenes Alton Baker Park Host. We do park caretaking & education in turn for free use of a city-owned building & its grounds where we maintain a Learnscape Garden and Outdoor Classroom. The Learnscape is used during summer camps family programs Nature School programs Network Charter School classes and school year field trips. Between this program and our Park Restoration programs interns and volunteers shared over 1,000 hours of their time with us in 2024!
$23,549 spent5% of program spendingProgram Support and Outreach: In 2024 this included production of an eNewsletter website maintenance & content creation volunteer recruitment & support general program outreach & support educational article writing for Oregon Family Magazine professional development and community coalition development & participation.
$26,682 spent6% of program spendingNo School Days: Nearby Nature held 12 No School Days in 2024 for 170 kids! All events took place outdoors in local parks including Alton Baker and Hendricks. These programs provided educational and entertaining nature activities for kids when local schools were out of session. Volunteers contributed 104 hours of their time to these programs. The value of this service at the 2024 rate of $34.79 per hour is $3,618!
$7,331 spent$18,342 earned by the program2% of program spendingAlton Baker Park Nature Walks: Nearby Nature conducted field trips for 1,144 kids in 2024. Seventeen volunteers contributed 326 hours of their time to lead walks for these programs. At the 2024 rate of $34.79 an hour that time has a value of $11,342!
$6,962 spent$3,515 earned by the program1% of program spendingPark Restoration and Caretaking: Nearby Nature recruits community individuals as well as groups to do work parties and caretaking projects in Alton Baker Park. We also have a TAG Team Taskforce Against Graffiti that maintains a lovely stencil mural that we created in 2018 on the Frohnmayer Footbridge. In 2024 we hosted several community park clean-ups as well as worked with student interns on a regular basis throughout the year. See Park Host-Learnscape for hours shared.
$1,387 spent0% of program spendingSpecial and Community Events Green Start Play Days Nature Quests School Visits Community Science and Other Youth Program: In 2024 we hosted 10 Green Start Play Days preschool family events that happen throughout the year and are a key way for families with young children to connect with our work. Many Green Start children end up enrolling in our preschool! In 2024 we also hosted two family Nature Quests on weekends and shared nature-themed activities at multiple community festivals. Our annual Haunted Hike drew 381 people in 2024 and 50+ volunteers donated 173 hours to events fun costumed critter walk crafts and games. At the volunteer rate of $34.79 per hour the value of this time was $5,584!
$9,305 spent$3,519 earned by the program2% of program spending
The 9 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $464,460.
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.
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 $156k to $260k (+66%).
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 2% · 2021 32% · 2022 29% · 2023 0% · 2024 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income fell $6k → $3k.
4 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 34% 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 NEARBY NATURE’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
NEARBY NATURE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 58% of grant income and the top three 85%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
34% 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 NEARBY NATURE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 90% · 2021 61% · 2022 90% · 2023 65% — 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
50% of NEARBY NATURE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 33% 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
NEARBY NATURE draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Oregon, across 4 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $30k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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.
Government funding NEARBY NATURE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $7k on record.
- DISTRIBUTION TO CONTRACT SVC PROVIDER$7k
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 NEARBY NATURE
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 Oregon
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
10%
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 NEARBY NATURE: 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 NEARBY NATURE?
- NEARBY NATURE (Oregon) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $89,666 to it, the largest being THE AHRENS FAMILY FOUNDATION ($52,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NEARBY NATURE have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $89,666 in grants to NEARBY NATURE, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NEARBY NATURE?
- THE AHRENS FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $52,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NEARBY NATURE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Oregon. 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 Nearby Nature →
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 9 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