Colorado · Nonprofit
TREES WATER & PEOPLE
TREES WATER & PEOPLE (Colorado) receives grants from 120 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,094,050 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF NORTHERN COLORADO ($865,540). 67 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2026
- $3.1M
- Funders on record
- 120
- Grants received
- $7.1M
- Net assets
- $1.8M
What Trees Water & People does
Mission
Trees, water and people is dedicated to provide a community-based approach to sustainable development through reforestation, watershed protection, cleantech and clean cookstoves, and educational programs in latin america and indigenous lands in the united states. Our work is guided by two core beliefs: natural resources are best protected when the local community plays an active role in their care and management; and the preservation of local ecosystems is essential for ongoing social, economic and environmental health of communities elsewhere.
As stated on its FY2026 Form 990.
Programs
Mesoamerica program education, training and community development in the areas of reforestation, fuel-efficient cookstoves, food security and environmental education programs in central american countries, as well as mexico.
$1,252,418 spentof which $557,015 as grants53% of program spendingIndigenous lands program education, training and community development on native american reservations focusing on reforestation, employment and food security.
$1,092,126 spentof which $158,664 as grants47% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2026 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,344,544.
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 $1.8M to $2.3M (+29%).
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: 2018 4% · 2021 8% · 2026 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of TREES WATER & PEOPLE’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
Sebastian Africano
Executive director
As listed on its FY2026 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 18 funders to 49 funders, grant income rose $424k → $1.6M.
29 of 120 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 52% 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 TREES WATER & PEOPLE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 120 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
TREES WATER & PEOPLE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 12% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left
60% 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 TREES WATER & PEOPLE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 77% · 2018 51% · 2019 33% · 2020 21% · 2021 22% · 2022 17% · 2023 27% — 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
42% of TREES WATER & PEOPLE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
52% of TREES WATER & PEOPLE'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 $3.4M that is directly attributable, 91% of it comes from funders outside Colorado, across 28 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 16 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
TREES WATER & PEOPLE has grown faster than half of the 23 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 23 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2026
Government funding TREES WATER & PEOPLE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $125k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$125k
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 TREES WATER & PEOPLE
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 Colorado
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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 TREES WATER & PEOPLE: 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 TREES WATER & PEOPLE?
- TREES WATER & PEOPLE (Colorado) receives grants from 120 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,094,050 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF NORTHERN COLORADO ($865,540). 67 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does TREES WATER & PEOPLE have?
- IRS filings report 120 organizations giving $7,094,050 in grants to TREES WATER & PEOPLE, 67 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of TREES WATER & PEOPLE?
- COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF NORTHERN COLORADO is the largest funder on record, with $865,540 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like TREES WATER & PEOPLE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Colorado. 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 FY2026 (financials across 2018–2026), and the filings of 120 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing