Funding search · Environment
Foundations that fund water resources research
15 private foundations with a record of paying for water resources, taken from their IRS Form 990-PF filings. These are grants already made — evidence of what a funder backs, not an open call.
Walton Family Foundation Inc
40 grants · $16.4M · through 2023
Largest: $57,500 to The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois — to help states in the mississippi river basin meet water quality goals by adding certainty to water quality improvements provided by edge-of-field practices like bioreactors and saturated buffers.
IRS filings for EIN 133441466The McKnight Foundation
27 grants · $4.4M · through 2023
Largest: $150,000 to Natural Resources Defense Council Inc — to build capacity for improving water quality, resiliency, and other benefits in the mississippi river basin by progressing towards transformed agricultural systems and defending federal clean water provisions, and for general operating support
IRS filings for EIN 410754835LAURA AND JOHN ARNOLD FOUNDATION
17 grants · $6.9M · through 2023
Largest: $1.5M to MDRC — to advance evidence-based policy through high-quality research and technical assistance to generate sustainable, measurable change across several grantee divisions.
IRS filings for EIN 263241764CHARLES STEWART MOTT FOUNDATION
13 grants · $5.7M · through 2023
Largest: $550,000 to National Wildlife Federation — to build and lead coalitions, increase public understanding and conduct research on the water quality, water quantity and other challenges facing the great lakes ecosystem.
IRS filings for EIN 381211227THE HEINZ ENDOWMENTS
13 grants · $1.2M · through 2023
Largest: $50,000 to UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH — to study water quality in western pennsylvania region
IRS filings for EIN 251721100RICHARD KING MELLON FOUNDATION
8 grants · $4.1M · through 2023
Largest: $300,000 to FRANKLIN & MARSHALL COLLEGE — to purchase analytical equipment to support water-quality and carbon-cycling research to monitor the effectiveness of the little conestoga blue-green corridor restoration project
IRS filings for EIN 251127705THE OAK HILL FUND
8 grants · $375,000 · through 2023
Largest: $50,000 to RIVANNA CONSERVATION ALLIANCE — to 1) continue long-term water quality monitoring and reporting programs, 2) build community understanding of the importance of water quality, stream health, and stewardship actions, 3) track hard-to-identify sources of e. coli in urban streams, 4) identify and begin implementing solutions to bacteria contamination and other issues degrading urban streams.
IRS filings for EIN 311810011CONRAD N HILTON FOUNDATION
6 grants · $4.1M · through 2023
Largest: $2.0M to AQUAYA INSTITUTE — to support water quality testing in partnership with local laboratories and universities
IRS filings for EIN 943100217Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust
8 grants · $1.3M · through 2023
Largest: $28,000 to Sierra Club Foundation — support to train volunteer citizen scientists to monitor water quality in the verde river and to seek designation for the river as an outstanding arizona waters through the arizona department of environmental quality.
IRS filings for EIN 356644088The Brookby Foundation
7 grants · $259,500 · through 2023
Largest: $50,000 to GRAND TRAVERSE REGIONAL LAND CONSERVANCY — accelerating farmland and water quality protection in northwest lower michigan
IRS filings for EIN 383202330CASWELL FOUNDATION
3 grants · $75,000 · through 2024
Largest: $25,000 to Mystic River Watershed Association — water quality research and improvement
IRS filings for EIN 841568095BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION
10 grants · $7.9M · through 2023
Largest: $435,165 to QUALITY INFORMATION PARTNERS INC — research and learning opportunities
IRS filings for EIN 562618866THE KEITH CAMPBELL FOUNDATION
6 grants · $347,251 · through 2023
Largest: $6,251 to BLUE WATER BALTIMORE INC — water quality monitoring instrumentation
IRS filings for EIN 522136842WK Kellogg Foundation
15 grants · $6.3M · through 2022
Largest: $1.3M to ASPEN INSTITUTE INC — increase family economic security and mobility by developing diverse leaders, broadening policymaker and public knowledge of workplace benefits and job quality, and conducting policy-relevant research
IRS filings for EIN 381359264Sun Hill Renewal Fund
6 grants · $45,000 · through 2024
Largest: $10,000 to Save the Sound — new york city water quality project
IRS filings for EIN 920715890
This page is one keyword. PaperOrbit reads your actual paper — population, methods, outcomes — and searches on all of it, then explains why each funder fits.
Start with one paperSource: IRS Form 990-PF, Part XV, filing years 2019–2023. Foundations rarely accept unsolicited applications; the route in is usually a program officer.