Washington · Nonprofit
NOOKSACK SALMON ENHANCEMENT ASSOCIATION
NOOKSACK SALMON ENHANCEMENT ASSOCIATION (Washington) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,006,998 to it, the largest being WHATCOM COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($1,981,760). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 75% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.6M
- Funders on record
- 35
- Grants received
- $3.0M
- Net assets
- $6.5M
What Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association does
Mission
Community based nonprofit organization strives to recover salmon by engaging our community in restoration, education, and stewardship.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Habitat restoration: nsea's salmon recovery focused habitat restoration projects have a strong foundation in scientific methodology and are planned and implemented with many public, private, tribal, and business partners. For the year ended december 31, 2023, nsea completed several new projects including nine large woody debris projects and the removal of five fish passage barriers which improved access to 2.4 miles of upstream habitat. Nsea also improved streambank riparian through the removal of invasive vegetation and the planting of over 33,545 native trees and shrubs. In addition to new restoration projects, 79 past sites were monitored and maintained.
$911,318 spent51% of program spendingEducation: nsea provides science education opportunities for community members of all ages. During 2023 nsea was able to slowly increase education, outreach and stewardship programming while continuing to operate safely under pandemic health guidelines. Nsea staff worked to educate and engage more than 1,811 fourth grade students throughout whatcom county in the students for salmon program. This flagship program, started in 2000, provides each class with a classroom presentation and, in 2023, facilitated 80 field trips to study stream ecology. Additionally, nsea instructors lead classes through stewardship activities which often include restoration projects. Nsea partnered with several other local nonprofit organizations to lead 121 educators in teacher training through the ten-hour clime time program. Camp keystone celebrated its third year in 2023 with 126 camp participants over ten weeks of summer camp.
$514,866 spent29% of program spendingStewardship: nsea is a community-based organization and strives to engage community members in salmon recovery. Volunteers support many different programs throughout the year and help a small core staff accomplish far more than would otherwise be possible. Community volunteers are central to the mission of involving the community in salmon recovery. In 2023, 4,533 hours were donated by 1,511 community volunteers to restore about 21.75 acres of riparian habitat. Interns and students from western washington university, bellingham technical college, whatcom community college, and northwest indian college provide critical support to nseas programs including education, monitoring, and stewardship. In 2023, 45 dedicated interns supported nseas programs while gaining valuable job skills. Summer and fall of 2023 brough increased opportunities for nsea staff and interns to do outreach: nseas summer river stewards program led guided river walks along the nooksack river and hosted outreach events. During the fall, we hosted ten salmon sighting events along several creeks, engaging over 500 people. These events provided an opportunity for 2992 community members to learn about salmon, salmon…
$350,892 spent20% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,777,076.
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 2023 to 2024, from $5.6M to $6.8M (+20%).
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 65% · 2018 53% · 2019 52% · 2020 66% · 2021 56% · 2022 47% · 2023 38% · 2024 23%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
88% of NOOKSACK SALMON ENHANCEMENT ASSOCIATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (74% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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 broadened from 7 funders to 16 funders, grant income rose $55k → $493k.
7 of 35 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 75% 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 NOOKSACK SALMON ENHANCEMENT ASSOCIATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 35 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
NOOKSACK SALMON ENHANCEMENT ASSOCIATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 66% of grant income and the top three 76%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
86% 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 NOOKSACK SALMON ENHANCEMENT ASSOCIATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 38% · 2018 50% · 2019 63% · 2020 86% · 2021 23% · 2022 42% · 2023 74% — growing more concentrated.
“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
42% of NOOKSACK SALMON ENHANCEMENT ASSOCIATION'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
75% of NOOKSACK SALMON ENHANCEMENT ASSOCIATION's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $741k that is directly attributable, 54% of it comes from funders outside Washington, across 12 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.3M 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
NOOKSACK SALMON ENHANCEMENT ASSOCIATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,559 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,559 animals nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding NOOKSACK SALMON ENHANCEMENT ASSOCIATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $664k on record.
- Department of Commerce$314k
- Environmental Protection Agency$267k
- Department of Agriculture$82k
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 NOOKSACK SALMON ENHANCEMENT 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 Washington
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
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 NOOKSACK SALMON ENHANCEMENT 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 NOOKSACK SALMON ENHANCEMENT ASSOCIATION?
- NOOKSACK SALMON ENHANCEMENT ASSOCIATION (Washington) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,006,998 to it, the largest being WHATCOM COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($1,981,760). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 75% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does NOOKSACK SALMON ENHANCEMENT ASSOCIATION have?
- IRS filings report 35 organizations giving $3,006,998 in grants to NOOKSACK SALMON ENHANCEMENT ASSOCIATION, 22 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NOOKSACK SALMON ENHANCEMENT ASSOCIATION?
- WHATCOM COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,981,760 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NOOKSACK SALMON ENHANCEMENT ASSOCIATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington. 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 Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association →
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 35 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