California · Nonprofit
The River Project
The River Project (California) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $431,874 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($125,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $59k
- Funders on record
- 8
- Grants received
- $432k
- Net assets
- $-4135
What The River Project does
Mission
To realize a regenerative, equitable, just, and climate-resilient Los Angeles through radical curiosity, evidence-based watershed planning, and positive action. Through our work we provide local government and communities with the tools to safely adapt to rapidly changing conditions and co-create a climate-resilient future.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
The River Project serves as an ongoing resource for local government, academia, organizations, and community members interested in watershed management, native habitats, land use, and climate resiliency. We participated in the City's Community Plan Updates,the Local Hazards Mitigation Plan, and the Safety Element of the City's General Plan, as well as the County Climate Adaptation Plan, and the US Army Corps LA River Disposition Study. We served on numerous technical advisory and steering committees, including: the California Biodiversity Network's Systematic Convservation and Stewardship working groups; the Southland 30X30 Regional Advisory Group; the Advisory Committee for the City's Biodiversity Index; the Steering Committee for the Upper Los Angeles River Watershed's Integrated Regional Water Management Group; the Science Advisory Board of Woodbury Univeristy; the Technical Advisory Committee for Taylor Yard's Parcel G2; the Policy Committee of the Green LA Water Group; the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Areas Steering Committee; the Neighborhood Council Sustainability Alliance; and the Urban Waters Federal Partnership for the Los Angeles River. The River Project continues to…
The River Project continued to serve as Fiscal Sponsor for the development of creative and visual assets for nonviolent climate actions by Extinction Rebellion Los Angeles.
$825 spent100% of program spendingStudio City Greenway: The River Project continued to maintain relationships with and field questions from stakeholders, and participate in meetings between local government and others to determine a path forward.
Spatial Dataset and Concept Development for the Tributaries of the Mid/Upper San Gabriel River: The River Project collaborated with Balance Hydrologics on a project for the Watershed Conservation Authority to develop an original hydrologic-focused spatial database providing a contextual overview of historical and exisiting conditions and establishing priority areas where hydrologic and geomorphic restoration or management actions could be implemented to protect or improve existing (or future) creek functions and values. We performed spatial analysis that resulted in new quantitative and qualitative data to help identify and prioritize restoration potential at sub-watershed to neighborhood scales (e.g., "daylighting" creek reaches, stormwater capture at residential-to-neighborhood scales, floodplain reconnections, water quality improvements via riparian connectivity, etc.), and provided insight into patterns within and between sub-watersheds and neighborhoods, and contributed to the final report.
Wind Down of Operations - Our Founder and President, Melanie Winter, passed away in October of 2025. She was the driving force of the Organization and there is no one left to take over for her. We are in the process of closing down all projects and expect to cease operations by the end of the next fiscal year.
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $825.
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 2021 to 2022, from $277k to $60k (−79%).
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 117% · 2018 61% · 2019 99% · 2020 93% · 2021 50% · 2023 94%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
83% of The River Project’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (92% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Board chair
Walker Foley
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 2 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $42k → $35k.
2 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 29% 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 River Project’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 River Project leans on a few funders — its largest provides 29% of grant income and the top three 83%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
67% 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 River Project.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 64% · 2018 100% · 2019 98% · 2020 51% · 2021 50% · 2022 67% · 2023 100% — 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
0% of The River Project's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
56% of The River Project's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $126k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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 River Project runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 2,195 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,195 environment nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Organizations like The River Project
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
99%
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 River Project: 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 River Project?
- The River Project (California) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $431,874 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($125,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does The River Project have?
- IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $431,874 in grants to The River Project, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of The River Project?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $125,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like The River Project find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 River Project →
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 8 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