United States Endowment Forforestry and Communities Inc
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
THE ENDOWMENT WORKS COLLABORATIVELY WITH PARTNERS IN THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS TO ADVANCE SYSTEMIC, TRANSFORMATIVE, AND SUSTAINABLE CHANGE FOR THE HEALTH AND VITALITY OF THE NATION'S WORKING FORESTS AND FOREST RELIANT COMMUNITIES.
- Income
- $10.2 million
- Spending
- $29.6 million
- Spent on programs
- 94%
- Reserves
- 2.8 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- government grants, 100%
- Employees
- 15
- Volunteers
- 15
- Highest pay
- $521,557, ceo secretary
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Weak: 45 out of 100. Higher than 6% of charities in its peer group (environment, $10m to $100m).
Reserves
10 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 2.8 months of spending.
Debt
20 of 20It owes 3% of what it owns.
Living within its means
0 of 15Spending exceeded income by 191% of income.
Income trend
0 of 15Income fell 48% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 1594% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 0 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Strong: 100 out of 100. Higher than 35% of charities in its peer group (environment, $10m to $100m).
Independent board
25 of 2514 of 15 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
8 of 8Has a written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
7 of 7Has a written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Pay set independently
5 of 5Sets its chief executive's pay through independent review and comparison.
Independent check of accounts
15 of 15Its accounts were audited by an independent accountant.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (1)
- $27.8 million spent. The Endowment advances its mission using a "theory of change" that focuses on three areas: retaining and restoring healthy working forests; promoting and capturing multiple value streams using market-based tools; and enhancing community capacity, collaboration, and leadership. The Endowment deploys its work through five primary initiatives, each of which supports several programs or projects. I. Ecosystem Markets: Monetizing non-traditional forest products. The Endowment continues a focus on water as an ecosystem market. The Endowment is partially funding coordinators across the country who work with local partners to seek State Revolving Fund loans for forested watershed protection and management, which will help keep drinking water supplies clean and affordable. The Endowment is also exploring opportunities for biodiversity credits for landowners as another source of revenue that will contribute to conservation goals. II. Forest Retention and Health: Retaining/expanding and ensuring health of forests. This is a wide-ranging initiative that includes serving as cross-border convener for more strategic collaboration between Canada and the U.S. Other work includes corporate partnerships to protect bottomland hardwood forests, the Department of Defense's base buffering program and innovative financing approaches for forest management and retention. Each is designed to aid in retention and restoration of healthy working forests. A corporate partnership provides funding for conservation of high-value bottomland hardwood forests in North Carolina and Virginia; this program is a model for public-private partnerships. The Endowment works with local conservation partners to take advantage of USDA funds through the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Their Regional Conservation Partnership Program awards finance conservation easements that protect forests that are important for the environment and that sustain local jobs and economies. III. Traditional Markets: After successful work that led to the creation of two commodity check-offs - Softwood Lumber Board and Paper & Paper-based Packaging Board -- more recent work has included supporting initiatives to advance public understanding of the benefits of working forests and the role they play in climate solutions. We are also continuing to develop blockchain solutions through a program called ForesTrust, which seeks to track the supply chain of timber and forest products from forests to end-product, which helps alleviate issues involving illegal logging. IV. Future Markets: The Endowment is partnering with the USDA Forest Service and emerging producers to advance commercialization of cellulosic nanomaterials. This multi-year initiative engages partners to fill knowledge gaps facilitating new products and applications while placing a primary interest on ensuring human and environmental health and safety. Work continues to advance mass timber applications to support tall wooden buildings, including advancing the carbon story of forest products. The Endowment is investigating potential benefits and concerns associated with forest carbon. In response to an increase in public and private investment in carbon management and climate smart forestry on private forest lands, the Endowment is funding programs and workshops to better understand and quantify landowner capacity and willingness to adopt carbon management practices and the implications for other forest land uses (e.g., wood products). Through the US Biochar Initiative project, we work with partners to increase applications, market, and production of biochar with the ultimate goal of carbon being buried in the ground, allowing carbon credits to be realized. The Forest & Wood Carbon Data Platform launch in 2023 created a single U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-sponsored platform with multiple user-friendly tools providing transparent, high-integrity forest and wood product carbon data throughout the value chain. The platform will include six measurement, monitoring, reporting, and verification (MMRV) tools that align with a U.S. Forest Service (USFS) objective to serve as the primary source of information on carbon and carbon flows across U.S. Forest lands, harvested wood products, and end-use life cycle assessment. V. Asset Creation: We continue to support forest landowners in partnership with the USDA Forest Service and other partners, across nine states, to move their lands into the forest management pipeline. We continue to work in New England in partnership with the Northern Forest Center to assist in finding local economic solutions to help offset the impact of the closure of much of the region's pulp and paper production.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2024.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since February 2007.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 21, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.