Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
Potomac Riverkeeper Network
Potomac Riverkeeper Network (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 61 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,917,847 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($987,657). 44 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.6M
- Funders on record
- 61
- Grants received
- $5.9M
- Net assets
- $2.2M
What Potomac Riverkeeper Network does
Mission
To stop pollution and to restore clean water in the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers and their tributaries through enforcement and community engagement.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Watershed Protection - We identify sources of pollution and analyze how to stop them. We regularly patrol the rivers we work to protect. We respond to tips and complaints. We review public records - like discharge monitoring reports and inspection reports to assess whether violations have occurred. We collect evidence water quality samples, photographs, videos, victim interviews- and build the case we need to stop the pollution and enforce the law. And we organize - we listen to communities along the river and work with them to stop the problems about which they care the most. We build grassroots support for clean water through stewardship, including our on-the-water paddle series: Riverpalooza.
$1,383,718 spent77% of program spendingShenandoah: We upgraded our monitoring equipment for toxic algal outbreaks so we dont have to rely on the state to determine when and where they occur. We filed multiple algae complaints with the Commonwealth to encourage the state to monitor for algal outbreaks. We organized a cleanup with 16 partner organizations of 62 sites on Earth Day, removing 60 tires and 200 bags of trash from the Shenandoah River System. We renewed our internship program with four universities: Shenandoah University, Howard University Law School, Trinity University, and Hood College. We also expanded partnerships with community groups led by people of color for stopping pollution, reducing public health risks to communities, and increasing recreational access programs.
$252,980 spent14% of program spendingUpper Potomac: We expanded our investigation and awareness campaign for PFAS (forever chemicals), including partnering with USGs on testing PFAS levels in fish tissue and blood and partnering with faculty at Frostburg State. We expanded our community science water quality monitoring program in partnership with Hood College to test for conventional pollutants and also acid mine drainage.
$111,913 spent6% of program spendingLower Potomac: We pursued our Trash-free Potomac Campaign with volunteer trash cleanups in Alexandria, National Harbor, and Oxon Run and participated in efforts to pass legislation to reduce the sources of plastic pollution. We expanded our community science water quality monitoring on the Potomac River in DC, Maryland and Virginia. We expanded our 50 Million Mussels Campaign at National Harbor. We worked with Congresswoman Norton to fund a study by The Army Corps of Engineers to assess where swimming can safely occur in the rivers in DC. We brought litigation against the city of Alexandria for unpermitted discharges of coal tar and creosote into the river and litigation against the navy for more than 100 years of unpermitted discharges of munitions into the Potomac River, including the critical habitat of the endangered atlantic sturgeon. We worked with Maryland legislators to increase funding for inspection and enforcement personnel to protect Marylands waterways.
$41,227 spent2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,789,838.
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 $1.1M to $2.5M (+119%).
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 1% · 2020 10% · 2021 7% · 2022 0% · 2024 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
90% of Potomac Riverkeeper Network’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
Randy Benn
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 30 funders, grant income rose $272k → $787k.
11 of 61 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 31% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $15k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Waterkeepers Chesapeake Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money Potomac Riverkeeper Network raised.
From the IRS filings of Potomac Riverkeeper Network’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
Potomac Riverkeeper Network has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 17% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
41% 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 Potomac Riverkeeper Network.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 46% · 2018 43% · 2019 36% · 2020 23% · 2021 20% · 2022 14% · 2023 18% — 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
52% of Potomac Riverkeeper Network's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 72% 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
Potomac Riverkeeper Network draws 90% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 15 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
Potomac Riverkeeper Network runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 2,187 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,187 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding Potomac Riverkeeper Network receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $87k on record.
- Department of the Interior$61k
- Department of Agriculture$26k
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 Potomac Riverkeeper Network
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, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
85%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 5 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Potomac Riverkeeper Network: 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 Potomac Riverkeeper Network?
- Potomac Riverkeeper Network (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 61 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,917,847 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($987,657). 44 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Potomac Riverkeeper Network have?
- IRS filings report 61 organizations giving $5,917,847 in grants to Potomac Riverkeeper Network, 44 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Potomac Riverkeeper Network?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $987,657 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Potomac Riverkeeper Network find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 Potomac Riverkeeper Network →
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 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing