Washington · Nonprofit
WHATCOM LAND TRUST
WHATCOM LAND TRUST (Washington) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,222,893 to it, the largest being WHATCOM COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($548,011). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 61% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.2M
- Funders on record
- 35
- Grants received
- $3.2M
- Net assets
- $32M
What Whatcom Land Trust does
Mission
The mission of the Whatcom Land Trust is to preserve and protect wildlife habitat, scenic, agricultural and open space lands in Whatcom County for future generations by securing interests in land and promoting land stewardship.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Legal securement of land - Permanent land protections are secured through outright purchases, gifts and transfers, including those that have created 15 parks and preserves, the establishment of conservation easements for farmland, wildlife habitat, and other purposes. In fiscal year 2024-25, Whatcom Land Trust secured 166.5 new acres for a total of 16,713 of acres protected.
$256,319 spent21% of program spendingLand stewardship and restoration that increase landscape connectivity, improve ecosystem biodiversity and restore natural systems to support the recovery of key fish and wildlife species. In fiscal year 2024-25, the Trust monitored, managed, and reported on 6,642 acres of Whatcom Land Trust owned property across Whatcom County; worked with over 100 Conservation Easement landowners across 10,071 acres to uphold easements, monitor, and report for annual records; hosted 32 stewardship volunteer events on WLT properties to restore habitat through invasive plant removal, native plant installation, and other management needs.
$756,818 spent$183,138 earned by the program62% of program spendingCommunity engagement in conservation action - We involve community members in Whatcom Land Trust's mission and work through events, volunteer programs, storytelling, digital engagement, and other outreach activities. We highlight the positive ecological impacts of conservation and stewardship projects with a focus on climate resilience and inspiring meaningful connections between people and land. Engagement tools establish clear pathways for community members to grow involvement with the organization through digital following, program (events) attendance, volunteering, and donating. In fiscal year 2024-25, Whatcom Land Trust organized the following community engagement activities: (1) Ambassador Program: Tabled at 35 community events; (2) Programming: Hosted 17 programs related to stewardship and environment education. Digital and Print Engagement: (1) Monthly E-Newsletters to 4,000 subscribers including updates on conservation milestones and ongoing restoration work; (2) Management of social media channels (2,800 Instagram followers, 2,900 Facebook followers); (3) Production of consistent printed communication with donors and volunteers supporting giving campaigns; (4) Targeted…
$209,471 spent17% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,222,608.
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 $28M to $30M (+8%).
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 24% · 2018 11% · 2019 2% · 2020 54% · 2021 30% · 2022 51% · 2023 0% · 2024 22% · 2025 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
89% of WHATCOM LAND 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 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $139k → $751k.
10 of 35 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 61% 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 WHATCOM LAND TRUST’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 35 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
WHATCOM LAND TRUST has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 17% 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
65% 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 WHATCOM LAND TRUST.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 18% · 2018 26% · 2019 25% · 2020 35% · 2021 45% · 2022 77% · 2023 45% — growing more concentrated.
“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
45% of WHATCOM LAND TRUST's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
61% of WHATCOM LAND TRUST'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 $1.3M that is directly attributable, 68% of it comes from Washington funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
WHATCOM LAND TRUST runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,074 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like WHATCOM LAND 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 Washington
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
87%
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 WHATCOM LAND 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 WHATCOM LAND TRUST?
- WHATCOM LAND TRUST (Washington) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,222,893 to it, the largest being WHATCOM COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($548,011). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 61% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does WHATCOM LAND TRUST have?
- IRS filings report 35 organizations giving $3,222,893 in grants to WHATCOM LAND TRUST, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WHATCOM LAND TRUST?
- WHATCOM COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $548,011 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WHATCOM LAND TRUST find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington. 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 35 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