Montana · Nonprofit
THE WATERSHED EDUCATION NETWORK
THE WATERSHED EDUCATION NETWORK (Montana) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $720,615 to it, the largest being RESOURCES LEGACY FUND ($715,370). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $150k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $721k
- Net assets
- $199k
What The Watershed Education Network does
Mission
Natural resource & water education services wen's mission: to foster knowledge, appreciation and understanding of waterhsed health through citizen science, youth and school engagement and outreach to our community in order to grow future stewards.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Our Backyard Citizen Science Program:WENs team developed a project for guiding everyone in citizen science in their own backyard creek, river or pond. WENs team created a Leaders Guide, take-home kits with supplies and tools, along with data sheets. The Citizen Science Kits and Leaders Guide provide each interested group with what they need to explore, observe, and collect data at their river, creek, or pond location. WENs team leads participants through introductory demonstration sessions and guides their field data collection. This citizen science program had twenty participating groups and teams. Youth programs: consist of interactive classroom activities and experiential field trips to introduce river ecology and healthy watershed concepts to students in grades Kindergarten High School. Our field trips take place at streams and rivers across western Montana each fall and spring. Most schools visit the same reach each season to facilitate seasonal and long-term comparisons of chemical, physical, and biological data. Field trips are a great way for students to get out of the classroom, get field science experience, and learn about their watershed from a scientific inquiry…
$34,550 spent29% of program spendingBackcountry Stream Corps (BCSC) is our two-week summer program for high school-aged youth. We train our BCSC members in data collection and observation techniques and then lead them into the Rattlesnake Recreation and Wilderness Areas in order to collect specialized data on the upstream, and less accessible, reaches of the Rattlesnake Creek Watershed. The BCSC participants are hiking and biking to their field locations and gathering data in reaches beyond the Citizen Science Stream Team.
$3,000 spent2% of program spendingGrowing the next generation of watershed stewards is at the heart of all our programs. Citizen science engages everyone in exploring, observing, and recording data in their local creeks, rivers, and ponds. WEN trains and leads a collaborative network of dedicated community members all working together to understand and raise awareness about water health and share their findings. Our Citizen Science Stream Team includes people from all walks of life - including retired scientists, college professors, AmeriCorps members, students from the University of Montana, and high school students -who want to learn more about water monitoring and by collecting base-line data, help to ensure the health of our local watersheds.
$83,400 spent69% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $120,950.
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 2017 to 2018, from $33k to $80k (+145%).
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.
98% of THE WATERSHED EDUCATION NETWORK’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than 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 8 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
Debbie B Fassnacht
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2023 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base narrowed from 2 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $101k → $35.
2 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 1% 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 WATERSHED EDUCATION NETWORK’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 WATERSHED EDUCATION NETWORK leans on a few funders — its largest provides 99% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 WATERSHED EDUCATION NETWORK.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 95% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 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.
Where its funders are
THE WATERSHED EDUCATION NETWORK draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Montana, across 1 state in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5k 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 WATERSHED EDUCATION NETWORK receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $721k to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,264 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding THE WATERSHED EDUCATION NETWORK receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $80k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$80k
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 WATERSHED EDUCATION NETWORK
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 Montana
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 WATERSHED EDUCATION NETWORK: 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 WATERSHED EDUCATION NETWORK?
- THE WATERSHED EDUCATION NETWORK (Montana) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $720,615 to it, the largest being RESOURCES LEGACY FUND ($715,370). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE WATERSHED EDUCATION NETWORK have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $720,615 in grants to THE WATERSHED EDUCATION NETWORK, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE WATERSHED EDUCATION NETWORK?
- RESOURCES LEGACY FUND is the largest funder on record, with $715,370 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE WATERSHED EDUCATION NETWORK find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Montana. 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 Watershed Education Network →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 3 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