California · Nonprofit
THE WATERSHED RESEARCH & TRAINING CENTER
THE WATERSHED RESEARCH & TRAINING CENTER (California) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,067,788 to it, the largest being THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ($5,770,354). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 67% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $22M
- Funders on record
- 26
- Grants received
- $9.1M
- Net assets
- $9.3M
What The Watershed Research & Training Center does
Mission
To promote healthy communities and sustainable forests through research, education, training and economic development.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
458 regional forest and fire capacity ii - increase regional capacity to prioritize, develop, and implement projects that improve forest health and fire resiliency, facilitate greenhouse gas emissions reductions, and increase carbon sequestration in forests throughout california.
$2,482,847 spentof which $582,716 as grants19% of program spending507 usfs healthy and resilient forest landscape restoration - a stewardship agreement to expand cooperation, capacity, alignment, and efficiencies in all pahses of landscape restoration, with an emphasis on vegetation and fuels management so that both the shasta trinity national forest and the wrtc may realize increased pace and scale in their mutually beneficial landscape restoration and maintenance efforts.
$1,622,112 spent12% of program spending564 calfire southern trinity fire resiliency projects - a strategic, landscape-scale fuels reduction and prescribed burn project to create ridgetop fuel breaks, and reduce fuel loading in and between hayfork and hyampom, california.
$998,415 spent8% of program spendingVarious other programs to promote healthy communities and sustainable forests through research, education, training, and economic development.
$8,006,951 spentof which $818,862 as grants$224,242 earned by the program61% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $13,110,325.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 2024 to 2025, from $6.8M to $12M (+80%).
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: 2019 72% · 2020 93% · 2021 97% · 2022 76% · 2023 95% · 2024 90% · 2025 57%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of THE WATERSHED RESEARCH & TRAINING CENTER’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (23% 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 12 funders, grant income rose $10k → $2.2M.
2 of 26 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 67% 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 RESEARCH & TRAINING CENTER’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 RESEARCH & TRAINING CENTER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 64% of grant income and the top three 80%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
89% 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 RESEARCH & TRAINING CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 41% · 2019 78% · 2020 78% · 2021 49% · 2022 61% · 2023 47% — 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
50% of THE WATERSHED RESEARCH & TRAINING CENTER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% 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
67% of THE WATERSHED RESEARCH & TRAINING CENTER'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 $3.0M that is directly attributable, 58% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6.0M 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 RESEARCH & TRAINING CENTER runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,758 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding THE WATERSHED RESEARCH & TRAINING CENTER receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $38.5M on record.
- Department of Agriculture$36.9M
- Department of the Interior$1.6M
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 RESEARCH & TRAINING CENTER
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.
Where the money goes
91% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
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 RESEARCH & TRAINING CENTER: 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 RESEARCH & TRAINING CENTER?
- THE WATERSHED RESEARCH & TRAINING CENTER (California) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,067,788 to it, the largest being THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ($5,770,354). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 67% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE WATERSHED RESEARCH & TRAINING CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 26 organizations giving $9,067,788 in grants to THE WATERSHED RESEARCH & TRAINING CENTER, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE WATERSHED RESEARCH & TRAINING CENTER?
- THE NATURE CONSERVANCY is the largest funder on record, with $5,770,354 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE WATERSHED RESEARCH & TRAINING CENTER 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 26 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