Grantmakers › Alaska

Alaska Conservation Foundation

Anchorage, AK · EIN 92-0061466. Reported 178 grants totalling $6,738,231 to 70 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

70organizations funded
$21,000median reported grant
$6,738,231granted, 2021-2024
79%of grantees funded again the next year
12%of dollars to its largest recipient

Does this grantmaker accept applications?

Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.

Three things in the filing do bear on it:

  1. What kind of organization it is. For Alaska Conservation Foundation, the IRS classifies it under environment rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE C300) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 70 distinct organizations, with 12% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
  3. How much its list changes. 79% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is well above the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and above the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $21,000. Half of what it reported fell between $10,197 and $42,500; the smallest was $5,643 and the largest $258,378. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.

Schedule I only reports grants over $5,000. Form 990 requires a charity to list recipients it paid more than that and lets it omit the rest, so every grant-size figure on this page describes the grants it reported, not all of them. Its real median is lower and its real recipient count is higher. This is also why these numbers cannot be compared with the private-foundation figures elsewhere on this site -- Form 990-PF has no reporting floor, so the two are different populations rather than two samples of one.
$5,000 - $10,000
29 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
67 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
46 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
22 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
12 grants
$250,000 Or More
2 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Alaska Pacific UniversityAnchorage, AK$801,935442024
Native ConservancyCordova, AK$466,392332024
Anchorage Community Mental Health Services IncAnchorage, AK$434,077442024
Sitka Conservation SocietySitka, AK$332,205442024
University of Alaska SoutheastJuneau, AK$255,195222024
Eklutna Native VillageChugiak, AK$245,069332024
Aleut Community of St PaulAnchorage, AK$227,490442024
Northern Alaska Environmental CenterFairbanks, AK$223,150742024
Organized Village of KasaanKetchikan, AK$206,669442024
Ahtna Intertribal Resource CommissionGlennallen, AK$199,001442024
Native MovementFairbanks, AK$189,750842024
Traditional Council of TogiakTogiak, AK$171,793332023
University of AlaskaFairbanks, AK$153,200222024
The Alaska Center Education FundAnchorage, AK$152,474442024
Igiugig Village CouncilIgiugig, AK$150,000112023
Native Village of VenetieVenetie, AK$146,841222024
Southeast Alaska Conservation Council Inc-SeaccJuneau, AK$146,500442024
Cook InletkeeperHomer, AK$145,600442024
Alaska Village InitiativesAnchorage, AK$134,786222022
Coalition for Susitna Dam AlternativesTalkeetna, AK$121,904442024
Trustees for AlaskaAnchorage, AK$121,000442024
Center for Alaskan Coastal StudiesHomer, AK$120,776442024
Spruce Root IncJuneau, AK$116,686222024
New Venture FundWashington, DC$99,500542024
Alaska Community Action on ToxicsAnchorage, AK$95,000442024
Renewable Energy Alaska ProjectAnchorage, AK$90,000332024
Alaska Wilderness LeagueWashington, DC$81,215222024
Alaska Longline Fishermens AssociationSitka, AK$80,000442024
Wilderness SocietyWashington, DC$71,542222022
United Tribes of Bristol BayDilingham, AK$68,500442024
Tanana Tribal CouncilTanana, AK$52,855222024
Alaska Marine Conservation CouncilAnchorage, AK$52,000442024
Kodiak Area Native AssociationKodiak, AK$47,373112024
Alaska Wildlife AllianceAnchorage, AK$42,000332024
Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary CommissonSitka, AK$42,000332024
Alaska Discovery Foundation IncJuneau, AK$41,974442024
Bird Treatment and Learning CenterAnchorage, AK$40,600332024
The Alaska CenterAnchorage, AK$36,079222024
Bristol Bay Native Association IncDillingham, AK$28,718112024
Gwichin Steering CommitteeFairbanks, AK$27,450222024
Yukon River Drainage Fisheries AssociationAnchorage, AK$27,375222024
Native Peoples Action Community FundAnchorage, AK$27,097222023
Regents of the University of ColoradoDenver, CO$27,081112024
Kenai Watershed ForumSoldotna, AK$25,000442024
Lynn Canal Conservation IncHaines, AK$25,000222022
National Audubon Society IncNew York, NY$25,000332024
Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed CouncilAnchorage, AK$25,000442024
Hoonah Indian AssociationHoonak, AK$22,000112021
Norton Bay Inter-Tribal Watershed CouncilHomer, AK$20,216222024
Anchorage Park FoundationAnchorage, AK$19,000332024
Spirit of YouthAnchorage, AK$19,000112024
Chilkat Indian VillageHaines, AK$17,250222024
Defenders of WildlifeWashington, DC$16,950222024
Alaska Wilderness League Action IncWashington, DC$15,000112021
Beaver Village CouncilBeaver, AK$15,000112024
Environmental Investigation AgencyWashington, DC$15,000112024
Sierra ClubOakland, CA$15,000112024
Tyonek Tribal Conservation DistrictAnchorage, AK$15,000112024
Committee for Safe CommunitiesFairbanks, AK$12,000112023
Village of SolomonNome, AK$12,000112024
Anchorage Waterways CouncilAnchorage, AK$10,000112021
Defenders and Friends of Admiralty and Tongass Wildland WatchJuneau, AK$10,000112022
EarthjusticeSan Francisco, CA$10,000112024
Sierra Club FoundationOakland, CA$10,000112024
Native Village of UnalakleetUnalakleet, AK$8,701112023
Calypso Farm and Ecology CenterEster, AK$8,195112024
Center for Biological Diversity IncTucson, AZ$8,000112024
Center Council Tlingit HaidaJuneau, AK$7,424112024
Trail Mix IncJuneau, AK$6,000112022
Qawalangin Tribe of UnalaskaUnalaska, AK$5,643112022

47 of 70 (67%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 51 of 70 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.

Environment
31 orgs
Animal Welfare
5 orgs
Education
3 orgs
Community Improvement
3 orgs
Human Services
2 orgs
Arts & Culture
2 orgs
Mental Health
1 org
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202133$973,590$21,000
202242$1,571,761$21,039
202346$2,072,067$25,000
202457$2,120,813$15,449

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.

Where its money goes

94% of its giving went to organizations in Alaska. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.

Alaska
$6.3M
District of Columbia
$299K
California
$35K
Colorado
$27K
New York
$25K
Arizona
$8K

Down to the city

Anchorage, AK
$2.4M
Fairbanks, AK
$606K
Juneau, AK
$584K
Cordova, AK
$466K
Sitka, AK
$454K
Washington, DC
$299K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.

Rasmuson Foundation31 shared recipientsThe Alaska Community Foundation25 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund24 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc21 shared recipientsFirst Nations Development Institute16 shared recipientsNew Venture Fund16 shared recipients

How to approach this grantmaker

  1. Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
  2. Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $21,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
  3. Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Alaska.
  4. Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Alaska Conservation Foundation's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.

On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 57 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.

Address of record on the latest return: 1227 W 9TH Ave Suite 300, Anchorage, AK, 99501.

EIN 92-0061466 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Form 990 is published about a year after the tax year it covers. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this organization has actually funded.

Is something here wrong about your organization? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.