California · Nonprofit
PEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION
PEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 61 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,333,920 to it, the largest being SONOMA COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($8,233,400). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 77% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.6M
- Funders on record
- 61
- Grants received
- $15M
- Net assets
- $36M
What Pepperwood Foundation does
Mission
Pepperwood Foundation's mission is to inspire conservation through science.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Research, citizen science, and conservation: pepperwood is a permanently protected 3,200 acre nature preserve located in sonoma county. The preserve serves as a field site for cutting edge university research and leads ground-based habitat and watershed restoration programs in concert with dedicated citizen scientists. We systematically monitor weather, water, and the health of local plant and animal populations and pursue onsite restoration aimed at increasing the health and resilience of the many species that call this region home. These applied research and conservation projects serve as learning models for land and water managers throughout the bay area and beyond. In 2016, our science programs were honored by inclusion in a new white house climate adaptation initiative and by a national science foundation biological field station award.
$2,895,611 spent88% of program spendingEnvironmental education and outreach: pepperwood's 3,200 acre nature preserve serves over 10,000 visitors annually via a comprehensive environmental education program for adults, youth, and families in partnership with local school districts and the santa rosa junior college. We ignite a passion for conservation at every educational level, teach our citizens how to better steward our wild lands, and inspire an increasingly diverse population to join the professional conservation community. We strengthen the eco literacy of our community as a foundation for conservation action. In 2016, our elementary education program was awarded certification as an official sonoma county "upstream investments" portfolio selection and we tripled the number of conservation science internships for santa rosa junior college students.
$394,539 spent$22,902 earned by the program12% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,290,150.
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 $29M to $35M (+21%).
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 6% · 2018 4% · 2019 2% · 2020 2% · 2021 15% · 2022 27% · 2023 20% · 2024 23% · 2025 23%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
79% of PEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Chief executive
Margaret Boeger
Executive director
Board chair
Herbert M Dwight Jr
Co-founder & chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 21 funders to 26 funders, grant income rose $832k → $1.2M.
11 of 61 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 77% 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 PEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 61 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
PEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 54% 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
80% 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 PEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 72% · 2018 73% · 2019 73% · 2020 41% · 2021 42% · 2022 27% · 2023 40% — 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
44% of PEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
77% of PEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION'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 $3.5M that is directly attributable, 81% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $12M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
PEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION receives grants from 61 organizations whose IRS filings report $15M to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding PEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $719k on record.
- Environmental Protection Agency$499k
- Department of Agriculture$175k
- Department of the Interior$45k
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 PEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION
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
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
83%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- California Academy of Science · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION: 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 PEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION?
- PEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 61 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,333,920 to it, the largest being SONOMA COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($8,233,400). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 77% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does PEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 61 organizations giving $15,333,920 in grants to PEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION, 39 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION?
- SONOMA COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $8,233,400 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION 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 Pepperwood →
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 61 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