Virginia · Nonprofit
THE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION
THE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION (Virginia) receives grants from 466 organizations whose IRS filings report $271,913,254 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ($41,881,754). 248 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $329M
- Funders on record
- 466
- Grants received
- $272M
- Net assets
- $476M
What The Conservation Fund a Nonprofit Corporation does
Mission
The conservation fund is in the business of conservation, creating innovative solutions that drive nature-based action for climate protection, sustainable economies and vibrant communities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Conservation real estate activitiesthe conservation fund was founded on a straightforward conviction: conservation and economic growth depend on and reinforce each other. For more than 40 years, the conservation fund has secured at-risk land with high conservation value to protect it from degradation, fragmentation, or development, working with partners to protect the land's long-term environmental and economic vitality. Top ranked for efficiency and mission effectiveness, the conservation fund has conserved over 9 million acres across all 50 states including working forests, farms, wildlife habitat, recreation areas, historic landscapes, and urban green spaces.the conservation fund moves quickly and with purpose, delivering lasting conservation outcomes for nature and people. Its core conservation function is real estate activity: purchasing at-risk properties and holding them for interim periods, providing the time needed for its partners to secure funding to acquire, steward, and permanently manage the properties. This model ensures that funding is available in time to meet the needs of the seller when a high-conservation-value property goes up for sale.funding for the…
$287,618,592 spentof which $5,836,862 as grants$203,951,588 earned by the program94% of program spendingOther conservation servicesthe conservation fund's communities-focused programs are dedicated to advancing the organization's dual mission by integrating conservation and economic development to build vibrant communities. These programs focus on impact areas such as urban conservation, rural economic development, sustainable food systems, water quality/supply protection, and aquaculture. This program area provides expertise to communities across the country to achieve the multiple benefits gained by investing in clean air, clean water, and community livability. The conservation fund brings technical assistance and flexible funding to partnerships in rural communities where we work to conserve natural assets, helping to strengthen and sustain job-creating areas that rely on forestry, agriculture, nature and recreation. The organization's urban conservation work enhances urban sustainability and livability by advancing creation of parks and other initiatives.
$17,396,324 spentof which $10,078,758 as grants$4,109,030 earned by the program6% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $305,014,916.
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 2018 to 2019, from $788M to $939M (+19%).
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 13% · 2018 7% · 2019 5% · 2020 11% · 2021 5% · 2022 3% · 2023 7% · 2024 5% · 2025 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
35% of THE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (90% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Lawrence A Selzer
CEO & president
Board chair
Daniel Tishman
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 89 funders to 166 funders, grant income rose $29M → $37M.
73 of 466 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 33% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $10M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Sustainable Conservation Inc); $13k from one payer (the same organization on both sides, largest The Conservation Fund a Nonprofit Corporation). These are real filings, and they are not money THE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION raised.
From the IRS filings of THE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 466 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 FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 15% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 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 FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 63% · 2018 72% · 2019 31% · 2020 35% · 2021 15% · 2022 20% · 2023 19% — 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
40% of THE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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 CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION draws 99% of its grant income from funders outside Virginia, across 42 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $90M arriving through sponsors registered in 31 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 FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 15 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 15 environment nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding THE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $102.5M on record.
- Department of Agriculture$45.1M
- Department of Defense$40.8M
- Department of the Interior$16.0M
- Environmental Protection Agency$525k
- Appalachian Regional Commission$60k
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 FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION
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 Virginia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
95% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
90%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 32 states
Part of a family of 21 related entities
- Barnard Forest LLC · disregarded
- Bly Hollow LLC · disregarded
- Brandywine Beaver Valley LLC · disregarded
- Chadbourne Forest LLC · disregarded
- Clarion Junction LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: 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 FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION?
- THE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION (Virginia) receives grants from 466 organizations whose IRS filings report $271,913,254 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ($41,881,754). 248 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION have?
- IRS filings report 466 organizations giving $271,913,254 in grants to THE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION, 248 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION?
- NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $41,881,754 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. 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 466 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