California · Nonprofit
WHY FORESTS MATTER
WHY FORESTS MATTER (California) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $132,500 to it, the largest being MICHAEL J CONNELL FOUNDATION MICHAEL J CONNELL CHARITIES LTE ($100,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2021
- $40k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $133k
- Net assets
- $-238649
What Why Forests Matter does
Mission
Why Forests Matter seeks to ensure our california forests are restored to the standards of the california forest practice act, to produce a continuous and sustainable supply of high quality forest products, while providing maximum protection for california's water supply, fisheries, recreation opportunities, carbon sequestration ability, and other important economic and environmental habitats.
As stated on its FY2021 Form 990-EZ.
Program
Why Forests Matter educates people to require that the forest practice act be properly administered to achieve its principle mandate that california's forests provide a sustainable supply of high quality forest products. The organization strives to help ensure qualified, passionate foresters are conserving our forested lands by developing forester standards along with establishing updated training and certification requirements identified by the california department of forestry.
The first program described on its most recent Form 990-EZ.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
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 $10k to $124k (+1109%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 4 reported years ran a deficit.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2021: the base narrowed from 3 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $80k → $25k.
From the IRS filings of WHY FORESTS MATTER’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
WHY FORESTS MATTER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 75% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 63% · 2020 91% · 2021 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
81% of WHY FORESTS MATTER's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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.
Organizations like WHY FORESTS MATTER
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.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for WHY FORESTS MATTER: 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 WHY FORESTS MATTER?
- WHY FORESTS MATTER (California) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $132,500 to it, the largest being MICHAEL J CONNELL FOUNDATION MICHAEL J CONNELL CHARITIES LTE ($100,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WHY FORESTS MATTER have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $132,500 in grants to WHY FORESTS MATTER, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WHY FORESTS MATTER?
- MICHAEL J CONNELL FOUNDATION MICHAEL J CONNELL CHARITIES LTE is the largest funder on record, with $100,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WHY FORESTS MATTER 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.
Play a game about who funds Why Forests Matter →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2021 (financials across 2018–2021), and the filings of 3 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