Vermont · Nonprofit
VERMONT INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCE INC
VERMONT INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCE INC (Vermont) receives grants from 62 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,796,903 to it, the largest being ROBINS FOUNDATION ($739,000). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.0M
- Funders on record
- 62
- Grants received
- $3.8M
- Net assets
- $8.2M
What Vermont Institute of Natural Science Inc does
Mission
The mission of vins is to motivate individuals and communities to care for the environment through education, research, and avian wildlife rehabilitation.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The vins nature center, which is 47 acres of riverside forest and meadow just upstream of the quechee gorge, drew a record 81,696 visitors during fy24. Since the construction of the canopy walk in 2019, the number of visitors has roughly doubled. Attendance at on-site education events has similarly increased. Other recent improvements to the nature center include a songbird aviary and adventure playground to go along with the raptor enclosures and other exhibits, the nature store, and the network of nature trails covering the property. Updates to the outdoor pavilion, outdoor classroom, and indoor classroom have also made the nature center a more attractive destination for private events such as bird encounters and birthday parties.
$1,271,805 spent$1,225,571 earned by the program55% of program spendingEducation: in fy24, our educators reached 109,770 participants, including those impacted by vins school programs, community outreach, nature camp, afterschool programs, and visits to the nature cetner. Many of these involved repeat interactions related to school curricula or camp, improving the likelihood of a long-term educational impact. In addition, research projects involving american kestrels, broadwing hawks, native crayfish, monarch butterflies, and other species impacted landowners and other members of the public.
$719,041 spent$579,603 earned by the program31% of program spendingWild bird rehabilitation: many people in new england know vins for its expertise in rehabilitating orphaned and injured wild birds. Our rehabilitators treated over a thousand birds in fy24, and the facility can accommodate about 150 birds at any one time. The recent growth in patient intakes, which has doubled in six years, roughly tracks with the increase in human visitors to vins. Our release rate of 4o% is relatively high for rehabilitation centers in the united states. Besides healing and releasing birds, our rehabilitation staff also counsels the public by phone and help to care for the full-time resident raptors, songbirds, and reptiles that we hold on exhibit.
$332,917 spent$40,228 earned by the program14% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,323,763.
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 $4.8M to $6.0M (+25%).
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: 2021 13% · 2022 20%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
28% of VERMONT INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCE INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue 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. 2 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.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2024 and FY2025 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 33 funders, grant income rose $323k → $551k.
12 of 62 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 21% 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 VERMONT INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCE INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 62 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
VERMONT INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCE INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% 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
25% 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 VERMONT INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 33% · 2018 35% · 2019 28% · 2020 24% · 2021 28% · 2022 20% · 2023 15% — 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
57% of VERMONT INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
VERMONT INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCE INC draws 88% of its grant income from funders outside Vermont, across 20 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $812k arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
VERMONT INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCE INC's funding base is broadening — from 12 funders to 33 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding VERMONT INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCE INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $116k on record.
- Grants$76k
- Miscellaneous Grants$13k
- Other Purchased Services$12k
- ChildCare COVID RestartStipend$9k
- Contr&3rd Pty-Educ & Training$2k
- Rent Land&Bldgs-Non-Office$2k
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 VERMONT INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCE 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 Vermont
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for VERMONT INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCE 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 VERMONT INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCE INC?
- VERMONT INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCE INC (Vermont) receives grants from 62 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,796,903 to it, the largest being ROBINS FOUNDATION ($739,000). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does VERMONT INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCE INC have?
- IRS filings report 62 organizations giving $3,796,903 in grants to VERMONT INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCE INC, 39 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of VERMONT INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCE INC?
- ROBINS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $739,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like VERMONT INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCE INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Vermont. 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 Vermont Institute of Natural Science →
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 62 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