Arizona · Nonprofit
WILLOW BEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER
WILLOW BEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER (Arizona) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $322,264 to it, the largest being ARIZONA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($180,064). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 56% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $220k
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $322k
- Net assets
- $206k
What Willow Bend Environmental Education Center does
Mission
Willow Bend Environmental Education Centers mission is to provide educational outreach services that build environmental awareness and an ethic of responsible stewardship of our natural and cultural resources.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Willow bend served over 10,000 individuals (students, teachers, families, residents and visitors) through the programs, field trips and community events offered during the fiscal year 2024-2025. We presented over 250 classroom programs & field trips at various coconino county schools. We hosted over 80 activites that included adult workshops, community events, and family science events.
$163,924 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $163,924.
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 2018 to 2019, from $54k to $145k (+167%).
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: 2019 43% · 2020 28% · 2021 12% · 2022 15% · 2023 13% · 2024 24% · 2025 31%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
52% of WILLOW BEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Melissa Eckstrom
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income rose $1k → $47k.
1 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 56% 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 WILLOW BEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER’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
WILLOW BEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 56% of grant income and the top three 94%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
95% 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 WILLOW BEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 85% · 2019 52% · 2020 59% · 2021 56% · 2022 52% · 2023 80% — 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
56% of WILLOW BEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER'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 $142k that is directly attributable, 85% of it comes from Arizona funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $180k 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
WILLOW BEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER is better cushioned than half of the 2,433 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,433 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding WILLOW BEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $21k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$21k
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 WILLOW BEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER
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 Arizona
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
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 WILLOW BEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER: 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 WILLOW BEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER?
- WILLOW BEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER (Arizona) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $322,264 to it, the largest being ARIZONA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($180,064). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 56% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does WILLOW BEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $322,264 in grants to WILLOW BEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WILLOW BEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER?
- ARIZONA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $180,064 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WILLOW BEND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Arizona. 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 Willow Bend Environmental Education Center →
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 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