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Virginia · Nonprofit

RARE

RARE (Virginia) receives grants from 141 organizations whose IRS filings report $131,438,944 to it, the largest being THE JEREMY AND HANNELORE GRANTHAM ENVIRONMENTAL TRUST ($22,631,629). 74 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$43M
Funders on record
141
Grants received
$131M
Net assets
$28M
74/141 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 78%
01What it does

What Rare does

Mission

Rare inspires change so people and nature thrive.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Sustainable fisheries and farming - Rare's coastal fisheries program, fish forever, uses an innovative behavior-centered approach to strengthen community-led coastal fisheries management and restore the marine ecosystems where more than 70% of marine life is found. Rare leverages biological, behavioral, and social sciences with partners and local leaders to sustain fisheries production, build coordinated advocacy among governments, and elevate coastal fishers' voices. Rare empowers local communities and governments to design, implement, and enforce a proven fisheries management system: managed access areas with no-take reserves (ma+r). This system balances people's sustainable use of coastal fishing waters with their protection. Smallholder farmers shape our global food system and economy. Through regenerative farming, farmers can create new social norms for sustainable farming. The results are incredible. We restore the soil, biodiversity flourishes, carbon remains in the ground, and we create better community climate resilience. Regenerative agriculture is a powerful solution to promote food security, climate resilience, and farmer livelihood.Rare's regenerative agriculture…

    $16,582,879 spentof which $1,775,438 as grants
    52% of program spending
  2. Behavioral science and research - communities around the world are leading efforts to protect nature and strengthen resilience to climate change. But lasting conservation solutions depend on more than science and policy - they depend on people.Rare applies behavioral and social science, narrative change, and innovation to design solutions that help communities protect ecosystems while strengthening livelihoods, food security, and climate resilience. Through research, practitioner tools, and partnerships with governments, ngos, funders, communities, and academic institutions, Rare's behavioral science work is helping shape conservation practice worldwide.by understanding what drives human behavior - and shifting the norms that shape it - Rare helps conservation solutions take root in communities and spread.

    $10,604,299 spentof which $167,324 as grants
    33% of program spending
  3. Conservation finance - where traditional financial approaches and instruments fail, innovative finance bridges the gap. Rare's innovative finance builds resilience to both financial shocks and climate change in underserved, rural, and remote communities. The program uses a three-pronged approach to protect vital ecosystems and benefit local economies, by de-risking investments, advancing nature-based solutions, and building sustainable local economies with pathways to the formal economy.

    $4,495,690 spent$485,198 earned by the program
    14% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $31,682,868.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($33M) Expenses 100 ($25M) Net assets 100 ($20M)2018 Revenue 67 ($22M) Expenses 98 ($25M) Net assets 87 ($18M)2019 Revenue 114 ($38M) Expenses 107 ($27M) Net assets 139 ($29M)2020 Revenue 70 ($23M) Expenses 100 ($25M) Net assets 129 ($26M)2021 Revenue 114 ($38M) Expenses 113 ($28M) Net assets 174 ($36M)2022 Revenue 77 ($25M) Expenses 124 ($31M) Net assets 138 ($28M)2023 Revenue 94 ($31M) Expenses 128 ($32M) Net assets 132 ($27M)2024 Revenue 102 ($34M) Expenses 148 ($37M) Net assets 117 ($24M)2025 Revenue 130 ($43M) Expenses 154 ($39M) Net assets 135 ($28M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (130)Expenses (154)Net assets (135)Peer revenue range

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 $37M to $47M (+27%).

$28M
$36M
$41M
$37M
$47M
$38M
$41M
$35M
$40M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 8% · 2018 7% · 2019 20% · 2020 0% · 2021 4% · 2022 7% · 2024 5% · 2025 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

97% of RARE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (87% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 364 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$7.8M
’17
−$2.6M
’18
$11M
’19
−$2.3M
’20
$9.3M
’21
−$5.7M
’22
−$1.2M
’23
−$3.6M
’24
$4.3M
’25
2.6
months of
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

Brett Jenks

CEO

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed293132303537363540
Joined·+8+9+6+11+4+7+3+11
No longer listed·68862846
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 28 funders to 53 funders, grant income rose $9.7M → $24M.

26 of 141 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 37% 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 RARE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 141 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

RARE 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

59% 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 RARE.

17%
largest funder
40%
top three
~12
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 60% · 2018 52% · 2019 26% · 2020 29% · 2021 21% · 2022 21% · 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

47% of RARE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

RARE draws 81% of its grant income from funders outside Virginia, across 22 states in all.

ME
VT
WA
MN
IL
WI
NY
MA
OR
PA
NJ
CT
CA
CO
VA
MD
DE
AR
DC
GA
TX
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Virginia out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $48M arriving through sponsors registered in 17 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

RARE's funding base is broadening — from 28 funders to 53 as grant income climbed.

Operating margin10% · below the median
Months of reserve2.6mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)3% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 210 environment nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025

Government funding RARE receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.1M on record — $1.1M federal, $189 state.

Federal$1.1M
grants $1.1Mcontracts $0
17
20
Top agencies
  • Agency for International Development$892k
  • Department of State$198k
State$189
Top programs
  • REFUNDS - GENERAL $189

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 RARE

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 Virginia

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

82% of spending goes to programs.

Program 82%Management 10%Fundraising 8%

Governance

24
board members
96%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

71%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 47 states

AK
ME
VT
NH
WA
MT
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
WY
SD
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
CO
NE
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
DE
AZ
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
OK
LA
MS
AL
GA
FL

Part of a family of 7 related entities

  • Unique Impact · disregarded
  • Associacao Rare Do Brasil · disregarded
  • Rare Germany Gmbh · disregarded
  • Wuhan Hezhong Ecological Agriculture Development Co Ltd · disregarded
  • The Meloy Fund I Gp LLC · disregarded

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for RARE: 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.

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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 RARE?
RARE (Virginia) receives grants from 141 organizations whose IRS filings report $131,438,944 to it, the largest being THE JEREMY AND HANNELORE GRANTHAM ENVIRONMENTAL TRUST ($22,631,629). 74 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does RARE have?
IRS filings report 141 organizations giving $131,438,944 in grants to RARE, 74 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of RARE?
THE JEREMY AND HANNELORE GRANTHAM ENVIRONMENTAL TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $22,631,629 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like RARE find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.

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 141 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