California · Nonprofit
WATER CLIMATE TRUST
WATER CLIMATE TRUST (California) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $405,000 to it, the largest being THE MARISLA FOUNDATION ($200,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $378k
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $405k
- Net assets
- $112k
What Water Climate Trust does
Mission
Water Climate Trust works to restore aquatic ecosystems with people who depend on them for food, jobs, health, recreation, and cultural survival. To this end, we advance water allocation policies that protect instream flows for ecosystem, climate, and community resilience. We achieve these objectives through grassroots organizing, advocacy, research,communications, and upholding public-interest laws. Our work is guided by the inherent rights of nature, place-based cultures, and future generations.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Water For Nature Program: In 2024, we (a) advanced water allocation policies in California and Oregon to protect instream flows for ecosystems and river-dependent communities,(b) helped extend temporary instream flow protections for three Klamath River tributaries and took steps to make them permanent, (c) advanced groundwater policies that protect domestic water supplies and instream flows, (d) worked to ensure that public water-related funding programs do not harm instream flows, (e) coordinated the Oregon Water Justice Alliance, and (f) helped California and Oregon agencies integrate instream flows into their racial equity,climate, and drought policies.
$164,483 spent50% of program spendingPaddle Tribal Waters Storytelling Collaborative:In 2024, we continued serving as a partner in the Paddle Tribal Waters Storytelling Collaborative, managing funds, providing advocacy training, and coordinating with partners to document and host community events centering the program. We also supported Paddle Tribal Waters during their first descent of the un-dammed Klamath River. Paddle Tribal Waters is a collaborative effort with Rios to Rivers to provide Indigenous youth with whitewater kayaking skills, public engagement training and experience,and a platform for sharing their stories as they train to paddle an undammed Klamath River from source to sea.
$133,285 spentof which $32,684 as grants40% of program spendingDam Alternatives: In 2024, we advanced alternatives to harmful dams for water storage and energy production. As a party to the water right hearing for the proposed Sites Reservoir and dam in California, we demonstrated that it is more cost-effective to balance water supply and demand through water conservation, elimination of waste, and storing water in aquifers. We also advocated against the issuance of carbon offsets from dams that emit methane, displace communities, and harm rivers.
$33,085 spent10% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $330,853.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2022 to 2023, from $47k to $91k (+94%).
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: 2023 39% · 2024 37%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of WATER CLIMATE TRUST’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. 0 of the last 6 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
J Konrad Fisher
Executive director
Board chair
Rocio Gonzalez
Board president
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $40k → $75k.
2 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% 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 WATER CLIMATE TRUST’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
WATER CLIMATE TRUST leans on a few funders — its largest provides 49% of grant income and the top three 75%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 67% · 2023 53% — 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.
Where its funders are
78% of WATER CLIMATE TRUST's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $65k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
WATER CLIMATE TRUST has grown faster than three-quarters of the 4,264 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,264 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like WATER CLIMATE TRUST
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
93% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for WATER CLIMATE TRUST: 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 WATER CLIMATE TRUST?
- WATER CLIMATE TRUST (California) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $405,000 to it, the largest being THE MARISLA FOUNDATION ($200,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WATER CLIMATE TRUST have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $405,000 in grants to WATER CLIMATE TRUST, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WATER CLIMATE TRUST?
- THE MARISLA FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $200,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WATER CLIMATE TRUST 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 FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 7 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