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Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit

SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY

SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,898,823 to it, the largest being CEDAR TREE FOUNDATION ($8,614,475). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$3.8M
Funders on record
11
Grants received
$8.9M
Net assets
$2.8M
5/11 repeat fundersgrants exceed reported revenue in one year
01What it does

What Society for Conservation Biology does

Mission

To advance the science and practice of conserving earth's biological diversity.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Projects: scb conferences: the Society for Conservation Biology hosts the world's premiere conservation conference, the international congress for conservation biology (iccb). Iccb is a forum for addressing conservation challenges and presenting latest research and developments in conservation science and practice.

    $2,410,219 spentof which $1,255,218 as grants$331,955 earned by the program
    81% of program spending
  2. Publications: the Society for Conservation Biology publishes three scientific journals. Conservation biology, founded in 1987, is the leading publication in its discipline and one of the most frequently cited journals in its field. Conservation letters, founded in 2008, is known for its globally important, policy-relevant papers on advances in the science and practice of conservation. Conservation science and practice, founded in 2019, publishes papers that address policy, planning and the practice of conserving biological diversity.for member-oriented news and happenings in and around scb, the society maintains the scb news blog, and an e-newsletter, published ten times per year.

    $324,154 spentof which $106,525 as grants$1,042,274 earned by the program
    11% of program spending
  3. Membership: the Society for Conservation Biology was founded to provide a strong collective voice for the science and practice of conservation and to inform policy and decision-makers.

    $256,857 spent$163,005 earned by the program
    9% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,991,230.

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 ($5.4M) Expenses 100 ($3.3M) Net assets 100 ($5.7M)2018 Revenue 104 ($5.6M) Expenses 98 ($3.3M) Net assets 134 ($7.6M)2019 Revenue 38 ($2.0M) Expenses 121 ($4.0M) Net assets 103 ($5.8M)2020 Revenue 30 ($1.6M) Expenses 74 ($2.5M) Net assets 89 ($5.0M)2021 Revenue 32 ($1.7M) Expenses 73 ($2.4M) Net assets 72 ($4.1M)2022 Revenue 24 ($1.3M) Expenses 83 ($2.8M) Net assets 37 ($2.1M)2023 Revenue 71 ($3.8M) Expenses 108 ($3.6M) Net assets 42 ($2.4M)2024 Revenue 70 ($3.8M) Expenses 107 ($3.6M) Net assets 49 ($2.8M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (70)Expenses (107)Net assets (49)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 2017 to 2018, from $6.4M to $8.5M (+33%).

$6.4M
$8.5M
$6.9M
$5.7M
$5.0M
$3.2M
$3.3M
$3.7M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
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
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 11% · 2024 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

53% of SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (88% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 2,293 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$2.0M
’17
$2.3M
’18
−$2.0M
’19
−$884k
’20
−$713k
’21
−$1.5M
’22
$240k
’23
$214k
’24
3.5
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.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed2017171619161514
Joined·+3+10+1+7+1+11+1
No longer listed·610244122
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $86k → $1.9M.

3 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 1% 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 SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY’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

SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 97% of grant income and the top three 99%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

97%
largest funder
99%
top three
~1
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 56% · 2018 56% · 2020 98% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 99% — 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

67% of SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% 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

SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 5 states in all.

IL
MA
WY
CA
DE

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

’17
’18
’20
’21
’22
’23
Washington, D.C. out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $100k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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

SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY's funding base is broadening — from 4 funders to 5 as grant income climbed.

Operating margin6% · below the median
Months of reserve3.5mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)−5% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,186 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Organizations like SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY

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

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

84% of spending goes to programs.

Program 84%Management 16%Fundraising 0%

Governance

11
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

42%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 5 states

NY
MA
CA
VA
MD

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY: 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 SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY?
SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,898,823 to it, the largest being CEDAR TREE FOUNDATION ($8,614,475). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY have?
IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $8,898,823 in grants to SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY?
CEDAR TREE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $8,614,475 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY 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.

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 11 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