Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
THE COMMONS INC
THE COMMONS INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,760,997 to it, the largest being THE KEITH CAMPBELL FOUNDATION FOR THE ENVIRONMENT INC ($1,108,060). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.1M
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $2.8M
- Net assets
- $1.5M
What The Commons Inc does
Mission
To partner with individuals and organizations to access, organize, and share data that inspires action that restores our environment.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Common products for environmental restoration - this program develops the software platforms, such as water reporter and fielddoc, which meet the overlapping needs of the restoration community to document their work, recruit and manage volunteers, and develop a unified picture of water quality.
$612,907 spentof which $416 as grants$48,250 earned by the program66% of program spendingDigital services for environmental restoration - this program provides custom software to nonprofits for a fee on a sliding scale basis to help them become more efficient in their mission to improve water quality and the environment.
$237,947 spent$155,147 earned by the program25% of program spendingResearch and development - this program enables the commons to stay abreast of trending technologies that can benefit its stakeholders working to restore the environment.
$60,958 spent7% of program spendingWater data collaborative - this program was established to grow and maintain an inclusive community of trained and qualified community water scientists who employ best available practices and technologies to collect data that enable the protection and restoration of the nation's waterway.
$11,982 spent1% of program spendingShared knowledge initiative - this program helps policymakers make complex issues clearer with data journalism and well-designed information products; resulting in science-based policy to protect the environment.
$9,920 spent1% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $933,714.
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.
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 $485k to $952k (+96%).
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: 2020 6% · 2024 24% · 2025 31%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 8 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
Robert John Dawes
Executive director
Board chair
Myra Jackson
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 8 funders, grant income rose $100k → $574k.
From the IRS filings of THE COMMONS INC’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
THE COMMONS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 40% of grant income and the top three 82%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
45% 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 THE COMMONS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 48% · 2021 41% · 2022 34% · 2023 46% — 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
83% of THE COMMONS INC's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 70% 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
THE COMMONS INC draws 67% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 6 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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.
Government funding THE COMMONS INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $41k on record.
- Grants$31k
- Advertising - Print$6k
- Advertising - Job Vacancies$4k
- Service of Papers$300
- Foster Parent Recruitment$264
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 THE COMMONS INC
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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
93% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
48%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE COMMONS INC: 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 THE COMMONS INC?
- THE COMMONS INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,760,997 to it, the largest being THE KEITH CAMPBELL FOUNDATION FOR THE ENVIRONMENT INC ($1,108,060). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE COMMONS INC have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $2,760,997 in grants to THE COMMONS INC, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE COMMONS INC?
- THE KEITH CAMPBELL FOUNDATION FOR THE ENVIRONMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,108,060 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE COMMONS INC 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 10 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