Illinois · Nonprofit
THE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION
THE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 62 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,297,389 to it, the largest being Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation ($2,210,308). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.5M
- Funders on record
- 62
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $14M
What The Conservation Foundation does
Mission
We improve the health of our communities by preserving and restoring natural areas, protecting rivers and watersheds, and promoting stewardship of our environment.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Facilitated the donation of 102 acres of land to the kane cty fpd. Purchased 122 acres of land in kane cty for eventual new forest preserve. Restored and managed more than 1,137 acres of natural area. Served more than 1900 families from our organic vegetable farm, including low-income families, provided more than 26,000 pounds of food to local food pantries. Provided professional staffing to 4 local watershed groups that protect the stream resource quality for 7.4 million people in the salt creek, dupage, des plaines river, and chicago area watersheds. Provided salt smart winter best practices training for over 1,300 participants. Provided environmental conservation programming and outreach to nearly 18,000 people. Organized the dupage river and fox river cleanup events, engaging more than 1160 volunteers and cleaning 47 miles of rivers. Expanded nature rx program into kane county; involved more than 1,400 people in the take-a-hike challenge. Engaged over 2,500 individuals through conservation@ home and conservation@ work, distributed over 900 rain barrels to local communities, installed 3 new pollinator and native plant demonstration gardens, and distributed thousands of native…
$3,393,265 spent$1,393,664 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $3,393,265.
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 $13M to $21M (+63%).
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 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
78% of THE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION’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. 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
Brook Mcdonald
President/CEO
Board chair
Christopher B Burke
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 14 funders to 25 funders, grant income rose $101k → $1.1M.
17 of 62 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 52% 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 CONSERVATION FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 62 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
THE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% 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
58% 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 CONSERVATION FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 27% · 2018 57% · 2019 31% · 2020 63% · 2021 26% · 2022 61% · 2023 50% — 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
59% of THE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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
52% of THE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $5.4M that is directly attributable, 82% of it comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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 CONSERVATION FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,209 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,209 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding THE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $21k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$11k
- Department of the Interior$10k
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 CONSERVATION FOUNDATION
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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
84%
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 CONSERVATION FOUNDATION: 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 CONSERVATION FOUNDATION?
- THE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 62 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,297,389 to it, the largest being Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation ($2,210,308). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 62 organizations giving $11,297,389 in grants to THE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION, 34 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION?
- Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $2,210,308 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 62 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing