Funding search · EIN 530242652 · Arlington, VA

The Nature Conservancy

Name: The Nature Conservancy grants, 2020–2024
Creator: PaperOrbit
License: https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/exempt-organization-public-disclosure-and-availability-requirements

A grantmaking public charity (files IRS Form 990, Schedule I). Charities like this often run real grant programs with application cycles.

2,825
grants reported: $306.1M
total given: 2020–2024
filing years: $27,000
median grant

Based on grants this organization reported to the IRS for tax years 2020–2024. This is what they filed, not a complete record of their giving, and recent years may be incomplete because filings lag.

What they fund

conservation

Funder website ↗Full IRS filings ↗How this is built Report an error

Funding pattern

What this funder pays for, at what size, and how to position adjacent work. Read from their filings, with every number checked against the record.

Where the money goes

Land acquisition and easements through local land trusts
Forest health, fire management, and working-lands stewardship
Tribal and Indigenous-led natural resource management
Applied university research on coastal, marine, and freshwater systems
Government partnerships: counties, state DNRs, federal agencies
Bird, wildlife, and habitat programs with national partner NGOs

Typical grant

Median grant is $27,000 and the middle half falls between $13,390 and $70,000, so most of the money moves in small operational chunks. The seven-figure checks go to large national partners and land deals (American Forest Foundation at $2.1M, The Conservation Fund at $1.9M, Polk County at $1.5M), while universities land in the $180,000 to $890,000 band. With 2,825 grants to 1,477 recipients over five years, roughly half of recipients got more than one payment, so repeat funding is common.

Their words

Phrases from their own grant descriptions, worth speaking back to them.

“CONSERVATION ACTIVITIES”
“land trust”
“conservation district”
“natural resources”
“watershed”

Positioning adjacent work

Tie your work to a named place and a specific TNC field program, not to conservation science broadly.
University grants cluster at $200,000 to $500,000; ask inside that band unless you hold land.
Emphasize co-implementation with a tribe, conservation district, or state agency; those partners appear constantly.
Lead with forests, fire, coastal or freshwater habitat, which draw the largest non-land-deal awards.

Worth knowing: This is TNC moving money to field partners on projects it already co-designs, so almost every grant reflects an existing working relationship rather than a cold review. Geography follows TNC chapter strength: California, New York, Oregon, Maine, and Colorado account for a large share of recipients, and Mongolia and other international grants show up only where TNC runs a program.

0 grants matching “marine and ocean science”

No grants to show here.

Top recipients

Repeat recipients are the strongest signal of whether a funder has an open door or quietly re-funds the same organizations.

Blue Investments for Nature3 grants · $60.6M
Spruce Root3 grants · $8.1M
American Forest Foundation5 grants · $6.6M
Feather River Land Trust5 grants · $4.2M
University of Washington5 grants · $4.0M
Great Outdoors Colorado1 grant · $3.7M
The Conservation Fund4 grants · $3.5M
Watershed Research and Training Center4 grants · $3.4M
Usda Forest Service5 grants · $2.8M
The Pew Charitable Trusts3 grants · $2.7M

Giving over time

$29.3M

2020

$95.3M

2021

$59.7M

2022

$54.1M

2023

$67.8M

2024

Grant history

The 100 largest of 2,825 grants.

$52.5M
Blue Investments for Nature · Arlington, VA · 2021
Conservation activities
$8.0M
Blue Investments for Nature · Arlington, VA · 2022
Conservation activities
$8.0M
Spruce Root · Juneau, AK · 2022
Conservation activities
$3.7M
Great Outdoors Colorado · Denver, CO · 2022
Conservation activities
$2.5M
State of California Dept of Fish and Wildlife · San Diego, CA · 2023
Conservation activities
$2.1M
American Forest Foundation · Washington, DC · 2024
Conservation activities
$2.0M
Yampa Valley Community Foundation · Steamboat Springs, CO · 2020
Conservation activities
$1.9M
The Conservation Fund · Caspar, CA · 2024
Conservation activities
$1.8M
Rainforest Trust · Warrenton, VA · 2022
Conservation activities
$1.6M
Feather River Land Trust · Quincy, CA · 2021
Conservation activities
$1.5M
American Forest Foundation · Washington, DC · 2023
Conservation activities
$1.5M
Mongolian Natures Legacy Foundation · 2024
Conservation activities
$1.5M
Commodity Credit Corporation · Washington, DC · 2024
Conservation activities
$1.5M
No On 2117 Committee · Seattle, WA · 2024
Conservation activities
$1.5M
Polk County · Bartow, FL · 2024
Conservation activities
$1.4M
Placer County Executive Office · Auburn, CA · 2021
Conservation activities
$1.4M
American Forest Foundation · Washington, DC · 2022
Conservation activities
$1.4M
Feather River Land Trust · Quincy, CA · 2023
Conservation activities
$1.3M
American Forest Foundation · Washington, DC · 2021
Conservation activities
$1.3M
The Pew Charitable Trusts · Philadelphia, PA · 2024
Conservation activities
$1.3M
Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians · Arlington, WA · 2023
Conservation activities
$1.3M
National Audubon Society · Fargo, ND · 2024
Conservation activities
$1.3M
United States Fish and Wildlife Service · Buffalo, WY · 2020
Conservation activities
$1.3M
Windward Fund · Washington, DC · 2024
Conservation activities
$1.1M
University of Washington · Seattle, WA · 2022
Conservation activities
$1.1M
Southern Oregon Land Conservancy · Ashland, OR · 2023
Conservation activities
$1.1M
Forest Society of Maine · Bangor, ME · 2023
Conservation activities
$1.1M
Maine Coast Heritage Trust · Topsham, ME · 2024
Conservation activities
$1.1M
The Conservation Fund · Caspar, CA · 2022
Conservation activities
$1.1M
Conservation Farms and Ranches · Walnut Grove, CA · 2021
Conservation activities
$1.0M
Watershed Research and Training Center · Hayfork, CA · 2022
Conservation activities
$990,077
Audubon New York · New York, NY · 2024
Conservation activities
$967,564
University of Washington · Seattle, WA · 2021
Conservation activities
$948,355
Panthera Corporation · New York, NY · 2024
Conservation activities
$945,673
Watershed Research and Training Center · Hayfork, CA · 2021
Conservation activities
$900,000
State of Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation · Nashville, TN · 2023
Conservation activities
$885,391
University of California Santa Barbara · Santa Barbara, CA · 2024
Conservation activities
$862,966
The Watershed Research and Training Center · Hayfork, CA · 2024
Conservation activities
$847,869
University of Washington · Seattle, WA · 2024
Conservation activities
$837,757
Passamaquoddy Tribe · Perry, ME · 2023
Conservation activities
$832,960
Watershed Research and Training Center · Hayfork, CA · 2023
Conservation activities
$821,480
Community Initiatives · Oakland, CA · 2021
Conservation activities
$800,000
Earthwatch Institute · Newton, MA · 2023
Conservation activities
$789,070
Tule Basin Land and Water Conservation Trust · Visalia, CA · 2024
Conservation activities
$786,086
Usda Forest Service · Los Angeles, CA · 2023
Conservation activities
$785,194
National Forest Foundation · Missoula, MT · 2023
Conservation activities
$768,932
The Pew Charitable Trusts · Philadelphia, PA · 2023
Conservation activities
$767,616
Technoserve · Arlington, VA · 2023
Conservation activities
$755,352
Ducks Unlimited · Hanahan, SC · 2023
Conservation activities
$753,000
City of Wilmington · Philadelphia, PA · 2021
Conservation activities
$750,000
Feather River Land Trust · Quincy, CA · 2022
Conservation activities
$747,483
Wildlife Conservation Society · Bronx, NY · 2021
Conservation activities
$746,434
Ducks Unlimited · Hanahan, SC · 2021
Conservation activities
$699,334
University of California Santa Barbara · Oakland, CA · 2020
Conservation activities
$691,853
Conservation International · Arlington, VA · 2021
Conservation activities
$686,139
Technoserve · Arlington, VA · 2024
Conservation activities
$677,903
Commonwealth of Virginia · Richmond, VA · 2022
Conservation activities
$670,200
Yavapai-Apache Nation · Camp Verde, AZ · 2024
Conservation activities
$660,109
Regents of the University of California Santa Barbara · Santa Barbara, CA · 2021
Conservation activities
$660,000
Michigan Department of Natural Resources · Detroit, MI · 2024
Conservation activities
$654,920
World Wildlife Fund US · Washington, DC · 2023
Conservation activities
$650,266
University of California Santa Barbara · Santa Barbara, CA · 2023
Conservation activities
$642,207
United States Fish and Wildlife Service · Wells, ME · 2022
Conservation activities
$641,866
National Audubon Society · Fargo, ND · 2023
Conservation activities
$641,000
Hudson Taconic Lands · Averill Park, NY · 2024
Conservation activities
$638,707
Usda Forest Service · Los Angeles, CA · 2024
Conservation activities
$635,226
Forest Society of Maine · Bangor, ME · 2021
Conservation activities
$609,400
The Pew Charitable Trusts · Philadelphia, PA · 2022
Conservation activities
$606,747
Watershed Research and Training Center · Hayfork, CA · 2020
Conservation activities
$600,000
Town of Mendon · Mendon, MA · 2024
Conservation activities
$600,000
Va Outdoors Foundation · Warrenton, VA · 2023
Conservation activities
$600,000
The Usmma Sailing Foundation · Spring Hill, TN · 2022
Conservation activities
$596,783
The Holden Arboretum · Kirtland, OH · 2024
Conservation activities
$592,500
Atlantic Salmon Federation · Brunswick, ME · 2021
Conservation activities
$589,840
Compassion & Choices · Littleton, CO · 2023
Conservation activities
$580,560
US Department of Agriculture · Amherst, MA · 2023
Conservation activities
$579,538
University of Washington · Seattle, WA · 2023
Conservation activities
$571,109
Usda Forest Service · Los Angeles, CA · 2020
Conservation activities
$564,525
Ducks Unlimited · Hanahan, SC · 2024
Conservation activities
$561,480
Technoserve · Arlington, VA · 2022
Conservation activities
$556,370
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation · Washington, DC · 2022
Conservation activities
$550,540
Lake George Land Conservancy · Bolton Landing, NY · 2024
Conservation activities
$550,000
State of Georgia Department of Natural Resources · Atlanta, GA · 2024
Conservation activities
$542,618
Indiana Department of Natural Resources · Indianapolis, IN · 2021
Conservation activities
$534,775
Bird Alliance of Oregon · Portland, OR · 2024
Conservation activities
$533,454
Windward Fund · Washington, DC · 2023
Conservation activities
$528,000
The Trust for Public Land · San Francisco, CA · 2023
Conservation activities
$524,310
Friends of Verde River Greenway · Cottonwood, AZ · 2022
Conservation activities
$524,000
Eden People Planet · Murrieta, CA · 2024
Conservation activities
$515,209
Point Reyes Bird Observatory · Petaluma, CA · 2024
Conservation activities
$504,522
Placer County Air Pollution Control District · Auburn, CA · 2020
Conservation activities
$503,500
Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians · Littleton, ME · 2024
Conservation activities
$500,000
Passamaquoddy Tribe - Motahmikuk · Perry, ME · 2024
Conservation activities
$500,000
No On 2117 Committee · Seattle, WA · 2023
Conservation activities
$500,000
New York Fund for Conservation · East Hampton, NY · 2022
Conservation activities
$500,000
New York Fund for Conservation · East Hampton, NY · 2021
Conservation activities
$500,000
US Army Corps of Engineers · Wilmington, DE · 2021
Conservation activities
$498,495
University of Florida · Gainesville, FL · 2023
Conservation activities
$479,619
Colorado State University · Fort Collins, CO · 2022
Conservation activities
$479,608
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University · Blacksburg, VA · 2024
Conservation activities

View all 2,825 grants →

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Source: IRS Form 990, Schedule I, as filed by this organization. These are grants already paid. Grants paid directly to individuals are reported to the IRS only as totals, so they do not appear as named lines here.