GrantmakersDistrict of Columbia

Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc

Washington, DC · EIN 80-0030060. Reported 120 grants totalling $1,986,285 to 56 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

56organizations funded
$12,000median reported grant
$1,986,285granted, 2021-2024
60%of grantees funded again the next year
13%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 Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc, the IRS classifies it under environment rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE C36) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 56 distinct organizations, with 13% 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. 60% 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 $12,000. Half of what it reported fell between $9,300 and $16,895; the smallest was $5,000 and the largest $106,398. 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
34 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
74 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
4 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
6 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
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
Ncasi FoundationCary, NC$265,481442024
West Virginia Division of Natural ResourcesElkins, WV$106,617222023
Michigan State UniversityEast Lansing, MI$92,002332024
NatureserveArlington, VA$85,881222023
National Council of the Paper Ind for Air & Stream Improvement IncCary, NC$75,000222024
Pacific Education InstituteOlympia, WA$66,686442024
Alabama Forestry FoundationMontgomery, AL$62,530442024
University of Georgia Research Foundation IncAthens, GA$61,500222022
Maine Timber Research and Environmental Education FoundationAugusta, ME$61,100332023
Kentucky Association for Environmental EducationMagnolia, KY$57,880442024
Maryland Assoc for Environmental & Outdoor Education IncEdgewater, MD$57,760442024
Colorado Alliance for Environmental EducationDenver, CO$53,971442024
Texas Forestry Association Educational Fund IncLufkin, TX$53,040442024
Oregon State UniversityCorvallis, OR$52,106332024
Arkansas Forestry Association Education Foundation IncLittle Rock, AR$50,425442024
Michigan State University Extension Business OfficeEast Lansing, MI$50,000112024
Wyoming Project Learning TreeAlcova, WY$43,288442024
Idaho Forest Products CommissionBoise, ID$42,950442024
Tennessee Forestry AssociationNashville, TN$38,361442024
Wasilla Soil and Water Conservation DistrictWasilla, AK$36,300332024
Environmental Education Association of IllinoisUrbana, IL$35,035442024
Mississippi Forestry Foundation IncJackson, MS$31,035222023
South Carolina Forestry FoundationColumbia, SC$30,865332023
University of FloridaGainesville, FL$27,665332024
Kansas Association for Conservation and Environmental EducationManhattan, KS$25,500222023
North Dakota State UniversityFargo, ND$24,000222024
South Dakota Project Learning Tree IncSpearfish, SD$24,000222023
University of MiamiCoral Gables, FL$23,000222023
Project Learning Tree - OhioMount Vernon, OH$22,500222022
Michigan Alliance for Environmental and Outdoor EducationLansing, MI$21,968222024
Georgia Forestry Foundation IncForsyth, GA$21,207332024
North American Forest PartnershipWashington, DC$20,000222022
Virginia Polytechnic InstituteBlacksburg, VA$20,000112021
New Hampshire Timberland Owners AssocConcord, NH$19,500222022
Regents of the University of CaliforniaLos Angeles, CA$18,825112024
Auburn UniversityAuburn, AL$18,209112024
University of Maine System IncBangor, ME$15,900112021
Clemson UniversityClemson, SC$13,000222022
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University TermTallahassee, FL$13,000112023
American Bird ConservancyMarshall, VA$11,150112021
University of Wisconsin Stevens Point Foundation IncStevens Point, WI$10,840112024
Alaska Association of Conservation DistrictsWasilla, AK$10,000112021
Boy Scouts of AmericaSaint Louis, MO$10,000112023
Cal-Wood Education CenterJamestown, CO$10,000112024
Sustainable Resources Institute IncCrystal Falls, MI$10,000112021
Trinity County Resource Conservation DistrictWeaverville, CA$10,000112021
Washington Forest Protection AssociationOlympia, WA$10,000112021
Pennsylvania Forest Products AssociationHarrisburg, PA$9,100112024
Nc State UniversityRaleigh, NC$7,874112021
Vermont Department of Forests Parks and RecreationMontpelier, VT$7,500112022
Virginia Forestry AssociationRichmond, VA$7,400112023
Forest Exploration Center IncWauwatosa, WI$7,200112022
Dovetail Partners IncMinneapolis, MN$7,000112024
Oklahoma Forestry AssociationIdabel, OK$7,000112023
Utah Society for Environmental EducationSalt Lake Cty, UT$6,824112021
Connecticut Forest and Park Association IncorporatedRockfall, CT$6,310112024

33 of 56 (59%) 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 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 25 of 56 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.

Environment
13 orgs
Education
5 orgs
Animal Welfare
2 orgs
Human Services
2 orgs
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
1 org
Recreation & Sports
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202135$498,981$11,150
202227$538,074$13,000
202330$489,336$12,000
202428$459,894$11,052

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

18% of its giving went to organizations in North Carolina. 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.

North Carolina
$348K
Michigan
$174K
Virginia
$124K
West Virginia
$107K
Georgia
$83K
Alabama
$81K
Maine
$77K
Washington
$77K

Down to the city

Cary, NC
$340K
East Lansing, MI
$142K
Elkins, WV
$107K
Arlington, VA
$86K
Olympia, WA
$77K
Montgomery, AL
$63K

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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.

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation16 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund13 shared recipientsThe Nature Conservancy11 shared recipientsAmerican Chemical Society9 shared recipientsUnited States Endowment for Forestry8 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc8 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 $12,000 -- 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 North Carolina.
  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 North CarolinaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc'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 26 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 2 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: 2121 K Street Nw 750, Washington, DC, 20037.

EIN 80-0030060 · 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.