South Carolina · Nonprofit
The Kiawah Island Natural Habitat Conservancy Inc
The Kiawah Island Natural Habitat Conservancy Inc (South Carolina) receives grants from 63 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,496,391 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($445,410). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 68% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.4M
- Funders on record
- 63
- Grants received
- $2.5M
- Net assets
- $5.2M
What The Kiawah Island Natural Habitat Conservancy Inc does
Mission
The Kiawah Conservancy provides the vision, leadership and resources necessary to preserve and enhance Kiawah Island's unique balance of nature and development. We are an independent, research driven non-political, not-for-profit organization.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The Organization currently maintains 85 properties and conservation easements totaling over 3,876 acres in the Sea Islands region covering Johns Island, Kiawah Island, and Seabrook Island, South Carolina. The organization maintains these owned properties and conservation easements for the expressed purpose of keeping land in their natural, undeveloped state for perpetuity. The organization has stewardship responsibility for all conservation properties including the maintenance of established nature trails, native plant demonstration gardens, and demonstration rain gardens outfitted with educational signage.(See Schedule O)The Organization has been accredited by the land trust accreditation commission since February 16, 2017, with its accreditation renewed in 2023. This important distinction independently confirms that the organization continually operates according to the highest standards in land conservation and nonprofit management. In particular, it assures that the organization fulfills its responsibility to conserve its land and easements in perpetuity.The Organization's habitat improvement plan aims to consistently support Sea Island property owners in creating and…
$1,253,725 spent81% of program spendingThe Organization supports and conducts numerous research studies to deepen understanding of the natural environment on Johns Island, Kiawah Island, and Seabrook Island, South Carolina, while advancing its broader mission.Bird Banding The Kiawah Island Banding Station (KIBS) is supported by the Kiawah Conservancy and operated by the Town of Kiawah Island. Annual banding and monitoring efforts include:(See Schedule O)Fall Migration MonitoringFall migration monitoring began in 2009 at the west end of Kiawah Island. In 2015, an additional station was created at the East End of Kiawah Island on Little Bear Island, a property held under conservation easement by the Kiawah Conservancy. Mist nets are operated by the Town Wildlife Biologist and seasonal. The nets are operated daily from mid-August through November. They are opened 30 minutes before sunrise and closed approximately six hours later.Groundwater Table StudyThis long-term study was initiated in 2019 to monitor groundwater conditions on Kiawah Island. A series of 24 groundwater monitoring wells were installed and will continue to be monitored and utilized overtime, with data being compared alongside other non-invasive subsurface…
$236,869 spent15% of program spendingThe Organization develops, publishes, and distributes educational materials, maintains an active social media presence, and manages its website to advance understanding of the importance of preserving the natural environments of Johns, Kiawah, and Seabrook Islands. These outreach efforts engage a broad audienceincluding property owners, visitors, businesses, associations, governments, partner organizations, and other conservation organizationsto promote informed stewardship across the region.(See Schedule O)ROOTS, the Kiawah Conservancy's annual magazine, is distributed to all supporters and highlights key initiatives, upcoming educational opportunities, and ongoing conservation and preservation efforts that support the Organization's mission. In addition, the Kiawah Conservancy produces a wide range of brochures, booklets, and other publications to further support and communicate its work.
$61,470 spent4% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,552,064.
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 2022 to 2023, from $3.5M to $5.5M (+57%).
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 4% · 2018 6% · 2019 1% · 2020 7% · 2021 8% · 2022 3% · 2023 9% · 2024 30%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
103% of The Kiawah Island Natural Habitat Conservancy Inc’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Donna Windham
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 34 funders, grant income rose $32k → $317k.
20 of 63 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 68% 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 Kiawah Island Natural Habitat Conservancy Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 63 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 Kiawah Island Natural Habitat Conservancy Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
72% 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 Kiawah Island Natural Habitat Conservancy Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 34% · 2018 38% · 2019 33% · 2020 41% · 2021 25% · 2022 22% · 2023 18% — 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
44% of The Kiawah Island Natural Habitat Conservancy Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
68% of The Kiawah Island Natural Habitat Conservancy Inc'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 $796k that is directly attributable, 97% of it comes from funders outside South Carolina, across 19 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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 Kiawah Island Natural Habitat Conservancy Inc runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,074 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like The Kiawah Island Natural Habitat Conservancy 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 South Carolina
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
91%
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 Kiawah Island Natural Habitat Conservancy 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 Kiawah Island Natural Habitat Conservancy Inc?
- The Kiawah Island Natural Habitat Conservancy Inc (South Carolina) receives grants from 63 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,496,391 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($445,410). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 68% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does The Kiawah Island Natural Habitat Conservancy Inc have?
- IRS filings report 63 organizations giving $2,496,391 in grants to The Kiawah Island Natural Habitat Conservancy Inc, 36 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of The Kiawah Island Natural Habitat Conservancy Inc?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $445,410 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like The Kiawah Island Natural Habitat Conservancy Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in South Carolina. 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 63 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