GrantmakersDistrict of Columbia

Society for Conservation Biology

Washington, DC · EIN 33-0147824. Reported 42 grants totalling $4,151,903 to 24 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

24organizations funded
$101,867median reported grant
$4,151,903granted, 2021-2024
55%of grantees funded again the next year
9%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 Society for Conservation Biology, the IRS classifies it under environment rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE C053) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 24 distinct organizations, with 9% 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. 55% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is about the 57% median for grantmaking charities -- noticeably lower than the 67% private foundations manage. Organizations like this one rotate more of their list each year, which is where an opening for a newcomer tends to be.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $101,867. Half of what it reported fell between $98,438 and $105,562; the smallest was $6,000 and the largest $199,965. 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
2 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
2 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
11 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
27 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
Duke UniversityDurham, NC$392,618332023
Regents of the University of California at BerkeleyRiverside, CA$387,050332024
University of Kansas Center for Research IncLawrence, KS$226,847222024
Regents of the University of ColoradoDenver, CO$224,417222023
Florida International University Foundation IncMiami, FL$214,954222022
Princeton UniversityPrinceton, NJ$214,540222022
Arizona State UniversityTempe, AZ$207,229222024
The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior UniversityStanford, CA$207,114222023
Research Foundation for the State University of New YorkAlbany, NY$206,302222023
Regents of the University of California Davis Graduate StudiesDavis, CA$202,433222023
Regents Univ of CaliforniaLos Angeles, CA$201,751222024
Shedd Aquarium SocietyChicago, IL$201,471222022
University of Southern CaliforniaLos Angeles, CA$199,983222024
University of Massachusetts Office of Post-Award ManagementHadley, MA$111,467112021
Michigan State UniversityEast Lansing, MI$110,633112024
University of ChicagoChicago, IL$105,562112024
Regents of the University of CaliforniaSanta Cruz, CA$105,234112024
Johns Hopkins UniversityBaltimore, MD$104,743112024
Colorado State University Office of Sponsored ProgramsFort Collins, CO$99,976112021
Northeastern UniversityBoston, MA$98,438112021
University of Washington Grant and Contract AccountingChicago, IL$98,128112021
Carnegie Institution of WashingtonWashington, DC$97,676112023
University of Cincinnati Srs Accounting DivisionCleveland, OH$96,786112021
Society for Conservation Biology North America IncMilwaukee, WI$36,551442024

14 of 24 (58%) 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.

It also reported 13 groups of grants to individuals -- scholarships, emergency assistance and similar. Schedule I reports these by category with a headcount and never by name, so there is nothing here we could publish about the recipients even if we wanted to.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 15 of 24 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.

Education
11 orgs
Science & Technology
3 orgs
Animal Welfare
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202111$1,007,920$98,438
202210$1,034,416$102,228
202311$1,048,814$101,848
202410$1,060,753$105,307

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

31% of its giving went to organizations in California. 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.

California
$1.3M
Illinois
$405K
North Carolina
$393K
Colorado
$324K
Kansas
$227K
Florida
$215K
New Jersey
$215K
Massachusetts
$210K

Down to the city

Chicago, IL
$405K
Los Angeles, CA
$402K
Durham, NC
$393K
Riverside, CA
$387K
Lawrence, KS
$227K
Denver, CO
$224K

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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 the strongest signal available that two funders have overlapping priorities -- and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

The Trustees of Columbia University6 shared recipientsUniversity of Southern California6 shared recipientsJohns Hopkins University6 shared recipientsUniversity of Pittsburgh5 shared recipientsAssociation of Universities for Research5 shared recipientsCornell University5 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 $101,867 -- 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 California.
  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.

Related guides

Foundations funding education in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding animal welfare in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Society for Conservation Biology's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.

On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 10 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: 1133 15TH Street Nw 300, Washington, DC, 20005.

EIN 33-0147824 · 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, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next.

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