California · Nonprofit
Sierra Foothill Conservancy
Sierra Foothill Conservancy (California) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,763,512 to it, the largest being Dorrance Family Foundation ($516,500). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.4M
- Funders on record
- 27
- Grants received
- $1.8M
- Net assets
- $39M
What Sierra Foothill Conservancy does
Mission
Protect, manage and preserve lands and wildlife having unique natural resources and cultural qualities within and near the foothills of the sierra nevada range.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
LAND CONSERVATION - Sierra Foothill Conservancy has preserved approximately 64,000 acres in our Service Region that includes Fresno, Madera, and Mariposa Counties. With 10 preserves and 54 conservation easements that highlight the diverse ecology of the Sierra Nevada, SFC has active project development for an additional 2,963.5 acres in 2025 creating connected habitats and expanding the Madera/Mariposa focus area.
$2,584,997 spent68% of program spendingLAND STEWARDSHIP - From the snow-capped Sierra to the Central Valley floor, expansive landscapes, important habitats, and clean water resources are conserved and managed to ensure continuing public benefits. SFC supports a thriving land-based economy while promoting a conservation ethic that spans generations. Funding awards for forest restoration and fuels management, reestablishing blue oak woodlands & ponderosa pines, community engagement to volunteer with plantings, and opportunities for Internships along with partnerships which provide avian, vegetation & carbon monitoring, erosion controls, fig removal.
$1,013,570 spent27% of program spendingEDUCATION & ENGAGEMENT- SFC Education and Outreach offers a variety of opportunities for the public to enjoy and connect to nature. Through our over 100 Hikes and Classes which are led by trained and experienced docents, opportunities to engage in our local conserved lands is a highlight of our Programs. SFC connected more than 6,700 people, from school children to senior citizens with SFC-protected lands. SFC won the prestigious Community Participant Award from the Fresno State Richter Center for our collaborative efforts in education and outreach.Our STEM-based Youth Education Program brings underserved K-12 students from nearby communities to our McKenzie Preserve where they focus on experiential learning that relates to science standards. Our volunteer workdays allow for multi preserve trail work, collaborations with Rotary, and other service groups, Fresno State University and other local schools and universities. Through grant funded partnerships SFC is able to complete trail work and other crucial stewardship tasks on several preserves.
$148,862 spent4% of program spendingOther Program Expenses
$26,918 spent1% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,774,347.
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 2019 to 2020, from $19M to $28M (+47%).
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 7% · 2018 23% · 2019 6% · 2020 4% · 2021 11% · 2022 16% · 2023 15% · 2024 5% · 2025 20%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
78% of Sierra Foothill Conservancy’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. 1 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
Bridget Fithian
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 7 funders to 6 funders, grant income fell $128k → $51k.
10 of 27 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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 Sierra Foothill Conservancy’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
Sierra Foothill Conservancy has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 29% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
49% 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 Sierra Foothill Conservancy.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 56% · 2018 74% · 2019 59% · 2020 73% · 2021 35% · 2022 56% · 2023 58% — growing more concentrated.
“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
29% of Sierra Foothill Conservancy's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 44% 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
Sierra Foothill Conservancy draws 52% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 7 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $312k 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
Sierra Foothill Conservancy holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 1,074 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding Sierra Foothill Conservancy receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.1M on record.
- Department of the Interior$2.1M
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 Sierra Foothill Conservancy
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
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
86%
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
- Sierra Land Beef · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Sierra Foothill Conservancy: 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 Sierra Foothill Conservancy?
- Sierra Foothill Conservancy (California) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,763,512 to it, the largest being Dorrance Family Foundation ($516,500). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Sierra Foothill Conservancy have?
- IRS filings report 27 organizations giving $1,763,512 in grants to Sierra Foothill Conservancy, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Sierra Foothill Conservancy?
- Dorrance Family Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $516,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Sierra Foothill Conservancy 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 Sierra Foothill Conservancy →
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 27 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