Wisconsin · Nonprofit
URBAN ECOLOGY CENTER INC
URBAN ECOLOGY CENTER INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 141 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,353,507 to it, the largest being THE BURKE FOUNDATION INC ($4,581,000). 97 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $8.4M
- Funders on record
- 141
- Grants received
- $21M
- Net assets
- $32M
What Urban Ecology Center Inc does
Mission
We connect people in cities to nature and each other.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Provide outdoor science education for milwaukee- area students. The urban ecology center partners with over 70 schools to provide each with 24 half-day field trips annually. These hands-on science and environmental education programs are designed to compliment the schools' science curricula and connect students to the natural world in the city of milwaukee. Preschool, after school and summer camp programs compliment the school program throughout the year. Over 35,000 children were served through these educational programs.
$1,920,222 spent$985,388 earned by the program34% of program spendingPromote community by offering resources that support learning, volunteerism, stewardship, recreation and camaraderie. The urban ecology center's active community centers engage adults, youth and families in opportunities to connect with each other through programming and volunteer opportunities. Over 3,000 youth and adults participated in community programs such as urban adventures, workshops, or afterschool programs. Over 5,000 people visited as part of facility rental events. Our robust volunteer program served 2,438 volunteers. An additional 32,900 people visited our branches to enjoy our community spaces.
$1,807,268 spent32% of program spendingPreserve, enhance, protect and use public natural areas, making them safe, accessible and vibrant. A variety of research opportunities are available, including surveys of birds, bats, mammals, turtles, vegetation surveys and park use surveys. Uec's land management program engages community members to restore and maintain diverse native plant communities. This year we received over 1,100 participants in these research and land management programs. Over 2,400 volunteers participated in our nature based offerings overall and gave over 9,300 total volunteer hours across 3 branches.
$1,242,497 spent22% of program spendingPrepare land for future mission impact. Practice and model environmentally responsible behaviors.
$677,725 spentof which $13,750 as grants12% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,647,712.
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 2020 to 2021, from $14M to $31M (+115%).
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 1% · 2018 1% · 2019 1% · 2020 0% · 2021 7% · 2022 12% · 2023 3% · 2024 12% · 2025 27%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
86% of URBAN ECOLOGY CENTER INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Jennifer Hense
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 34 funders to 72 funders, grant income rose $1.6M → $2.5M.
19 of 141 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 URBAN ECOLOGY CENTER INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 141 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
URBAN ECOLOGY CENTER INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
62% 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 URBAN ECOLOGY CENTER INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 33% · 2018 28% · 2019 23% · 2020 50% · 2021 19% · 2022 33% · 2023 19% — 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
52% of URBAN ECOLOGY CENTER INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 69% 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
83% of URBAN ECOLOGY CENTER INC's grant income comes from Wisconsin funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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
URBAN ECOLOGY CENTER INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,209 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,209 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding URBAN ECOLOGY CENTER INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.1M on record.
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$2.0M
- Department of Agriculture$148k
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 URBAN ECOLOGY CENTER INC
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 Wisconsin
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
75%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Uec Land Corporation · exempt
- Uec Supporting Organization Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for URBAN ECOLOGY CENTER INC: 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 URBAN ECOLOGY CENTER INC?
- URBAN ECOLOGY CENTER INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 141 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,353,507 to it, the largest being THE BURKE FOUNDATION INC ($4,581,000). 97 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does URBAN ECOLOGY CENTER INC have?
- IRS filings report 141 organizations giving $21,353,507 in grants to URBAN ECOLOGY CENTER INC, 97 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of URBAN ECOLOGY CENTER INC?
- THE BURKE FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $4,581,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like URBAN ECOLOGY CENTER INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Wisconsin. 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 141 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