Grantmakers › California

The Watershed Research & Training

Hayfork, CA · EIN 94-3116339. Reported 98 grants totalling $3,289,968 to 54 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

54organizations funded
$26,395median reported grant
$3,289,968granted, 2021-2024
64%of grantees funded again the next year
8%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 The Watershed Research & Training, the IRS classifies it under education rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE B99Z) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 54 distinct organizations, with 8% 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. 64% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is about the 56% median for grantmaking charities -- lower than 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 $26,395. Half of what it reported fell between $12,500 and $48,469; the smallest was $5,006 and the largest $117,947. 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
11 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
36 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
30 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
19 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
Conservation Corps North Bay IncNovato, CA$274,394432024
Plumas County Fire Safe Council IncQuincy, CA$158,388332024
Hawaii Wildfire Management OrganizationKamuela, HI$156,219332024
The Forest Stewards GuildSanta Fe, NM$145,345442024
Shasta Valley RcdYreka, CA$141,522332024
Dovetail Partners IncMinneapolis, MN$140,796442024
Butte County Resource Conservation DistrictOroville, CA$126,569222023
University of Ca DavisLos Angeles, CA$116,675222024
Tuolumne County RcdSonora, CA$112,696332024
Washington Resource Conservation and Development CouncilYakima, WA$110,000222024
Southern California Mountains FoundationSn Bernrdno, CA$107,696222024
Ventura County RcdSomis, CA$99,338332024
Round Valley Indian TribesCovelo, CA$95,353112023
CivicorpsOakland, CA$91,919112024
Wildfire Adapted PartnershipDurango, CO$88,671332024
Occidental Arts and Ecology CenterOccidental, CA$79,798332024
Golden Gate National Parks ConservancySan Francisco, CA$76,382112024
Regents of the University of IdahoMoscow, ID$69,205222024
City of AshlandAshland, OR$66,202332024
Los Angeles Conservation CorpsLos Angeles, CA$65,923222024
North Carolina State UniversityRaleigh, NC$57,356112024
California Indian Basketweavers AssociationWoodland, CA$55,144222023
North Carolina State UniversityRaleigh, NC$53,897112023
Tribal Eco Restoration AllianceUpper Lake, CA$53,829222024
American Indian Council of Mariposa CountyMariposa, CA$52,455222023
Plumas CorporationQuincy, CA$48,859112024
La Jolla Band of Luiseno IndiansPauma Valley, CA$46,495112022
Anderson Valley Community Services DistrictBoonville, CA$46,269332024
Western Center IncLos Molinos, CA$44,990112024
Conservation Corps of Long BeachLong Beach, CA$37,625112024
Montana Dept of Natural Resources and ConsMissoula, MT$34,820332023
Boulder CountyBoulder, CO$33,953112024
Honey Lake Valley RcdSusanville, CA$29,119222024
Karuk TribeHappy Camp, CA$28,832112023
Seigler Springs Community Redevelopment AssociationMiddletown, CA$28,424222022
Salmon River Restoration CouncilSawyers Bar, CA$27,704112024
Scott River Watershed CouncilEtna, CA$26,827112024
Tahoe Resource Conservation DistSouth Lake Tahoe, CA$26,288222022
Usda Forest ServiceWashington, DC$24,859112024
Cope Northern Sonoma CountyHealdsburg, CA$22,902112023
California Open LandsChico, CA$20,800112024
City of FlagstaffFlagstaff, AZ$20,790332024
Pulaski CountyPulaski, VA$20,000112023
Chestatee-Chattahoochee Resource Conservation and Development AreaDemorest, GA$17,419222022
Chico State EnterprisesChico, CA$15,663112024
Cultural Fire Management CouncilHoopa, CA$14,349112023
Placer County RcdAuburn, CA$13,284112024
City of Rapid CityRapid City, SD$12,500112022
Mid Klamath Watershed CouncilOrleans, CA$11,571112024
Deschutes County TreasurerBend, OR$10,462112021
Island Park Sustainable Fire CommunityIsland Park, ID$8,992112021
Eagle County GovernmentEagle, CO$7,600112022
Chestateechattahoochee Rc&d CouncilDemorest, GA$7,500112024
Nj Fire Safety CouncilFreehold, NJ$5,300112021

27 of 54 (50%) 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 29 of 54 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
14 orgs
Youth Development
4 orgs
Public Safety & Disaster Relief
4 orgs
Employment
2 orgs
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
1 org
Arts & Culture
1 org
Education
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202114$278,676$12,840
202220$431,567$12,500
202329$1,190,147$30,104
202435$1,389,578$33,357

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

67% 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
$2.2M
Hawaii
$156K
New Mexico
$145K
Minnesota
$141K
Colorado
$130K
North Carolina
$111K
Washington
$110K
Idaho
$78K

Down to the city

Novato, CA
$274K
Quincy, CA
$207K
Los Angeles, CA
$183K
Kamuela, HI
$156K
Santa Fe, NM
$145K
Yreka, CA
$142K

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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.

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation13 shared recipientsCoalitions & Collaboratives Inc10 shared recipientsThe Nature Conservancy10 shared recipientsResources Legacy Fund10 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund8 shared recipientsNational Forest Foundation8 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 $26,395 -- 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 environment in CaliforniaEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding youth development in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from The Watershed Research & Training's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). 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 0 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 37 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: Po Box 356, Hayfork, CA, 96041.

EIN 94-3116339 · 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.