Maryland · Nonprofit
THE COMMUNITY ECOLOGY INSTITUTE
THE COMMUNITY ECOLOGY INSTITUTE (Maryland) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $983,422 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF HOWARD COUNTY INC ($213,850). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 18
- Grants received
- $983k
- Net assets
- $2.3M
What The Community Ecology Institute does
Mission
To cultivate communities where people and nature thrive together.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Cei offers seven core experiential education programs:1. A community of families in nature (cfin): the mission is to provide frequent, fun, and friendly nature-based experiential education that can be enjoyed by the entire family - children of all ages and their caregivers. 2. Roots & wings learning community: the mission is to offer supplemental experiential education for home-schooled children that nurtures a deep connection to self, community and the environment through programming that emphasizes creativity, social and emotional learning, and hands-on, nature-based exploration.3. Green seeds internship: the mission is to provide experiential education and work experience for high-school, college, and graduate students across a range of social and ecological themes.4. Nourishing gardens: the mission is to transform lawns into gardens that nourish our families, the community, and the environment. The goals of the program are two-fold: (1) installing food and pollinator gardens in yards, community spaces, and with community-based organizations and businesses, and (2) providing a green-infrastructure jobs training program. The program brings the benefits, learning, and experience…
$555,881 spent$451,855 earned by the program68% of program spendingIn 2019, cei purchased a 6.4-acre organic farm in our hometown of columbia, maryland. We have created a community center on this unique property where people can learn through hands-on experiences about how they can have happier, healthier, more connected, and sustainable lives. We are actively farming this property and collaboratively grow tons of produce for our community each year with an emphasis on education and provision of food to those who are facing food insecurity. In 2022 we purchased a second 6-acre property, the green farmacy garden in fulton, which is a unique medicinal botanical garden. From both properties and across our seven core programs, in 2024 alone we provided experiential education to over 3,500 distinct and diverse community members that equated to over 59,000 hours of learning.
$261,012 spent$7,708 earned by the program32% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $816,893.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2021 to 2022, from $903k to $2.0M (+117%).
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 69% · 2021 64% · 2022 51% · 2024 29%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
60% of THE COMMUNITY ECOLOGY INSTITUTE’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. 0 of the last 6 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
Chiara D'Amore
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 8 funders, grant income rose $3k → $142k.
4 of 18 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 THE COMMUNITY ECOLOGY INSTITUTE’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 COMMUNITY ECOLOGY INSTITUTE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% 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
63% 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 COMMUNITY ECOLOGY INSTITUTE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 50% · 2020 66% · 2021 28% · 2022 44% · 2023 38% — 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
60% of THE COMMUNITY ECOLOGY INSTITUTE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
69% of THE COMMUNITY ECOLOGY INSTITUTE's grant income comes from Maryland funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $271k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
THE COMMUNITY ECOLOGY INSTITUTE has grown faster than half of the 1,003 public benefit nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,003 public benefit nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding THE COMMUNITY ECOLOGY INSTITUTE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $558k on record.
- Grant$558k
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 COMMUNITY ECOLOGY INSTITUTE
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 Maryland
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
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 THE COMMUNITY ECOLOGY INSTITUTE: 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 COMMUNITY ECOLOGY INSTITUTE?
- THE COMMUNITY ECOLOGY INSTITUTE (Maryland) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $983,422 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF HOWARD COUNTY INC ($213,850). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE COMMUNITY ECOLOGY INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $983,422 in grants to THE COMMUNITY ECOLOGY INSTITUTE, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE COMMUNITY ECOLOGY INSTITUTE?
- THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF HOWARD COUNTY INC is the largest funder on record, with $213,850 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE COMMUNITY ECOLOGY INSTITUTE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. 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 Community Ecology Institute →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 18 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