Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
RIVERBEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER
RIVERBEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 47 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,161,722 to it, the largest being POWELL FAMILY FOUNDATION RICHARD S POWELL FAMILY DIVISION ($135,000). 29 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.1M
- Funders on record
- 47
- Grants received
- $1.2M
- Net assets
- $4.2M
What Riverbend Environmental Education Center does
Mission
Riverbend's purpose is to foster an awareness, appreciation, and understanding of our total environment through educational programming. By growing both the love of nature and environmental literacy, we aim to inspire action that contributes to a healthier planet for all. At riverbend, we work to develop environmental literacy using tested education tools grounded in science. We believe that this is essential to live in and care for our natural world. Riverbend's nature-based stem education programs advance environmental literacy, appreciation of the natural world and our place in it. Through inquiry based learning students have direct experiences with nature and the relevant learning that advances curiosity, critical thinking, creative approaches, and problem-solving skills.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
We delivered nature education lessons to 11,882 students, with 70% of our program hours going to title 1 schools. Nature-based stem programs for schools - we delivered high-quality, customized school programs (pre-k through middle school) in schools across the region that took place during the school day. This program supports and cultivates hands-on, minds-on investigations and creates a greater connection to nature along with the skills and resources needed to make good environmental decisions. The curriculum aligns with the pa science curriculum framework and next generation science standards (ngss). A majority of students who participated reported an increase in connection to nature, and an indication of increased environmental literacy. 6,564 students in norristown, philadelphia, and upper darby learned about pennsylvania's ecosystem and the schuylkill river watershed. Of those students, 100% attended title 1 schools, lacking resources and access to nature. 19 teachers received professional development via riverbend programs. Community of practice - we ran a program that we co-designed with teachers and administrators in three school districts. This program provides teachers…
$777,303 spent$171,618 earned by the program72% of program spendingSummer camp - in 2025, we operated summer nature camp at 3 locations. Our weekly camps are for children ages 4 to 14 and run for 12 weeks. In 2025, we enrolled 886 children in camp and provided 51 scholarships. Research shows that when children spend time in nature, they are not only more receptive to learning about the task at hand but also learning in general. Riverbend educators use this opportunity to encourage campers to practice 21st century skills like resiliency, self-reflection, and grit. Most importantly, riverbend campers fall in love with nature.
$305,260 spent$638,082 earned by the program28% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,082,563.
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 2024 to 2025, from $3.2M to $4.6M (+42%).
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 2% · 2018 1% · 2020 5% · 2021 27% · 2022 10% · 2023 2% · 2024 3% · 2025 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
72% of RIVERBEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER’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. 2 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.
Board chair
Bryan Franey Esq
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 24 funders, grant income rose $24k → $197k.
10 of 47 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 28% 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 RIVERBEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 47 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
RIVERBEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 12% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
44% 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 RIVERBEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 42% · 2018 31% · 2019 28% · 2020 32% · 2021 20% · 2022 19% · 2023 16% — 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 RIVERBEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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
87% of RIVERBEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $326k arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
RIVERBEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,209 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,209 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like RIVERBEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER
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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
66% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
82%
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 RIVERBEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER: 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 RIVERBEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER?
- RIVERBEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 47 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,161,722 to it, the largest being POWELL FAMILY FOUNDATION RICHARD S POWELL FAMILY DIVISION ($135,000). 29 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does RIVERBEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 47 organizations giving $1,161,722 in grants to RIVERBEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER, 29 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of RIVERBEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER?
- POWELL FAMILY FOUNDATION RICHARD S POWELL FAMILY DIVISION is the largest funder on record, with $135,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like RIVERBEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 Riverbend Environmental Education Center →
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 47 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