Colorado · Nonprofit
ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIRD OBSERVATORY
ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIRD OBSERVATORY (Colorado) receives grants from 54 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,922,059 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ($5,347,593). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $11M
- Funders on record
- 54
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $6.9M
What Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory does
Mission
Our mission is to conserve birds and their habitats through an integrated approach of science, education and land stewardship. We envision a future where birds are forever abundant, contributing to healthy landscapes and inspiring human curiosity and love of nature. Our mission is to conserve birds and their habitats through an integrated approach of science, education and land stewardship. We envision a future where birds are forever abundant, contributing to healthy landscapes and inspiring human curiosity and love of nature. Our work radiates from the rockies to the great plains, mexico and beyond. Our efforts are advanced by sound science, achieved through empowering people, realized through stewardship and sustained through partnerships. Together, we are improving native bird populations, the land and the lives of people.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Science - bird conservancy of the rockies monitors, evaluates and researches birds and their habitats generating data that guides science-based conservation efforts across the full annual cycle of birds' lives. Our work extends from the breeding grounds in the u.s. And canada to wintering grounds in mexico and beyond. Strategic partnerships and volunteer community scientists expand our reach and increase our impact. We work with state and federal agencies, universities, ngos, local communities and landowners to build capacity, knowledge and support for the conservation of ecosystems important to migratory and resident birds and people. Join us in the discovery.
$4,673,927 spent$1,189,130 earned by the program58% of program spendingStewardship - our network of strategically-placed private lands wildlife biologists engage directly with landowners, local communities and managers to enact voluntary, pro-active conservation action. We build a grassroots land stewardship ethic that links birds, habitat and land health. Together, we're creating long-term conservation solutions for people, birds and the land. With your support, we can engage landowners and communities in conservation efforts, integrating the ecological health, economic drivers and habitat needs of bird populations. Help us impart a stewardship ethic.
$2,008,636 spent$900 earned by the program25% of program spendingEducation - birds, nature and science are powerful sources of inspiration. Bird conservancy focuses on connecting people of all ages with the natural world. We provide year-round learning and exposure to science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics (steam). We spark the physical and mental abilities of the whole person to empower and encourage individual growth and confidence, well-being, and a passion for our natural world. This is achieved through field and classroom programs, youth summer camps, field excursions, training for teachers and landowners, and programming for seniors and others in long-term care facilities. Inspire in nature.
$1,056,633 spent$74,111 earned by the program13% of program spendingCgri - bird conservancy of the rockies catalyzed the central grassland roadmap initiative including hiring the first-ever central grassland roadmap director to increase communication, coordination and collaboration across the region. The initiative is designed to lift all voices including tribal nations, us, mexico and canada as well as 7-sectors: private landowners, state and federal agencies, non-governmental organizations, industry, foundations and academia and create a movement to save our grasslands across the central great plains. We are striving to ensure healthy grasslands, human communities and wildlife for generations to come. Our three pillars of focus include: policy and funding, partnerships and engagement, and research and evaluation. Together we can change the story and trajectory of our grasslands.
$305,101 spent4% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $8,044,297.
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 $5.7M to $7.7M (+35%).
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 75% · 2018 70% · 2019 66% · 2020 51% · 2021 77% · 2022 76% · 2023 70% · 2024 81% · 2025 61%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
89% of ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIRD OBSERVATORY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (67% 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.
Chief executive
Tammy Vercauteren
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 21 funders, grant income rose $760k → $2.0M.
13 of 54 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 13% 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 ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIRD OBSERVATORY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 54 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
ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIRD OBSERVATORY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 49% of grant income and the top three 75%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
65% 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 ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIRD OBSERVATORY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 50% · 2018 63% · 2019 51% · 2020 53% · 2021 66% · 2022 73% · 2023 48% — broadly stable.
“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
31% of ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIRD OBSERVATORY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIRD OBSERVATORY draws 98% of its grant income from funders outside Colorado, across 22 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.4M 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
ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIRD OBSERVATORY runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 119 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 119 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIRD OBSERVATORY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $21.3M on record.
- Department of Agriculture$14.3M
- Department of the Interior$7.0M
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 ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIRD OBSERVATORY
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 Colorado
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
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 ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIRD OBSERVATORY: 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 ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIRD OBSERVATORY?
- ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIRD OBSERVATORY (Colorado) receives grants from 54 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,922,059 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ($5,347,593). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIRD OBSERVATORY have?
- IRS filings report 54 organizations giving $10,922,059 in grants to ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIRD OBSERVATORY, 32 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIRD OBSERVATORY?
- NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $5,347,593 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIRD OBSERVATORY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Colorado. 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 Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory →
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 54 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