Illinois · Nonprofit
THE NATURE INSTITUTE
THE NATURE INSTITUTE (Illinois) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,316,550 to it, the largest being JAMES AND AUNE NELSON FOUNDATION ($3,098,950). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- Agency for Community Transitlocal
- Wildlife Protection Solutionsportfolio match
- Planet Womenportfolio match
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income fell $498k → $6k.
1 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 5% 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 NATURE 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 NATURE INSTITUTE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 93% of grant income and the top three 99%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 99% · 2019 99% · 2020 74% · 2021 98% · 2022 99% · 2023 50% — 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.
Where its funders are
99% of THE NATURE INSTITUTE's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $160k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 stateis 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first.
- Agency for Community TransitlocalIL · funds 34 organizations near you
- Wildlife Protection Solutionsportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Planet Womenportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Johanette Wallerstein Institute 5607-00-43portfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Commonwealth Zoological Corporation D/B/A Zoo New Englandportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Rainforest Trustportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Joseph and Marie Field Family Environmental Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Avatar Alliance Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Kisco Cares Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Margot Marsh Biodiversity Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Betty Lewis Environmental Charitable Trustportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Sacharuna Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Organizations like THE NATURE INSTITUTE
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of 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.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE NATURE 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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds THE NATURE INSTITUTE?
- THE NATURE INSTITUTE (Illinois) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,316,550 to it, the largest being JAMES AND AUNE NELSON FOUNDATION ($3,098,950). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE NATURE INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $3,316,550 in grants to THE NATURE INSTITUTE, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE NATURE INSTITUTE?
- JAMES AND AUNE NELSON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $3,098,950 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE NATURE INSTITUTE 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 FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 6funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing