Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCY
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCY (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 153 organizations whose IRS filings report $26,533,406 to it, the largest being RICHARD KING MELLON FOUNDATION ($9,250,201). 82 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $42M
- Funders on record
- 153
- Grants received
- $27M
- Net assets
- $148M
What Western Pennsylvania Conservancy does
Mission
The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy protects and restores exceptional places to provide our region with clean waters and healthy forests, wildlife and natural areas for the benefit of present and future generations. The conservancy creates green spaces and gardens, contributing to the vitality of our cities and towns, and preserves fallingwater, a symbol of people living in harmony with nature.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Fallingwater administration and education program: fallingwater is frank lloyd wright's world-famous masterwork. A house that is operated as an architectural museum, fallingwater symbolizes people living in harmony with nature. Fallingwater hosts close to 145,000 visitors, including more than 10,000 students, each year. Fallingwater conducts school programs, lectures, exhibitions and tours of various kinds to help learners of all ages advance their knowledge about art, architecture and nature. Fallingwater offers on-site and virtual workshops and residencies as well as internships to further enhance the educational experiences available at the location.
$7,895,594 spentof which $3,007 as grants$6,965,573 earned by the program28% of program spendingNatural heritage and conservation science program: this program furnishes important conservation information and assessments to wpc as well as other partners. The natural heritage program is part of a pennsylvania state partnership program that collects and manages a variety of information concerning the status and locations of rare plants and animals throughout the commonwealth and shares that information to assist with planning, environmental review and land protection.
$4,079,565 spent15% of program spendingWatershed conservation program: the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy's watershed conservation program works to improve our region's water quality. Through a number of strategic projects and initiatives - such as streambank restorations, in-stream habitat work, aquatic organism passage improvements and riparian plantings - our watershed conservation program works to protect and restore local rivers and streams. We improve wildlife habitats and increase opportunities for recreation, while working to ensure that our waterways remain healthy and viable for generations to come. Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has protected or restored more than 3,000 miles of rivers and streams.
$7,887,258 spentof which $44,215 as grants28% of program spendingIa/communications: these services consist of the preparation and distribution of educational materials regarding conservation, environmental science, ecological research, architecture, and community greening.
$1,139,163 spent$105,497 earned by the program4% of program spendingLand conservation program: this program includes land protection and land stewardship. These programs focus on the permanent protection and management of the region's natural areas, as well as important farmland, historic properties and outdoor recreational resources. Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has helped establish eleven state parks and conserved more than 295,000 acres of natural lands.
$2,940,051 spent$38,829 earned by the program11% of program spendingCommunity greening: this program implements high impact greening projects to promote attractive and sustainable communities. Supported by strategic partners and almost 3,000 volunteers, the program annually facilitates approximtely 125 community flower gardens, 50 community vegetable gardens, and 1,300 urban floral baskets and planters along city streets, implements green infrastructure systems to help manage storm water, executes greening and outdoor learning projects on school grounds, and since 2008, has planted more than 42,000 trees in western pennsylvania, including in allegheny, blair, cambria, erie, armstrong, and westmoreland counties.
$3,891,184 spent$336,517 earned by the program14% of program spending
The 6 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $27,832,815.
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 2022 to 2023, from $111M to $129M (+15%).
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 25% · 2018 22% · 2019 25% · 2020 34% · 2021 34% · 2022 31% · 2023 30% · 2024 31% · 2025 36%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
70% of WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCY’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (87% 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.
Chief executive
Thomas Saunders
President & CEO
Board chair
Debra H Dermody
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 26 funders to 68 funders, grant income rose $592k → $3.8M.
19 of 153 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.
Left out of every figure on this page: $1.4M from 6 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Pittsburgh Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCY raised.
From the IRS filings of WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 153 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
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 35% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
35% 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 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 53% · 2018 53% · 2019 33% · 2020 61% · 2021 32% · 2022 38% · 2023 38% — 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
49% of WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCY'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
81% of WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCY's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 14 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
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCY runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 210 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 210 environment nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $4.2M on record — $4.2M federal, $6k state.
- Department of Agriculture$2.1M
- Department of the Interior$2.0M
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$88k
- Exhibitions,Shows,Spec.Events$6k
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 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCY
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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
90%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 39 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCY: 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 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCY?
- WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCY (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 153 organizations whose IRS filings report $26,533,406 to it, the largest being RICHARD KING MELLON FOUNDATION ($9,250,201). 82 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCY have?
- IRS filings report 153 organizations giving $26,533,406 in grants to WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCY, 82 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCY?
- RICHARD KING MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $9,250,201 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 153 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