Friends of the Everglades
“Protect and restore the Everglades ecosystem.”
5 funders on the record, 1 comment to the agencies.
The origin
How they started
Marjory Stoneman Douglas founded Friends of the Everglades in 1969, at age 79, to stop a massive jetport from being built in the Big Cypress stretch of the Everglades. The Miami group still works to preserve, protect, and restore the only Everglades in the world. In 2025 it sued the Department of Homeland Security and the state of Florida, alongside Earthjustice and the Center for Biological Diversity, over the Alligator Alcatraz detention center thrown up in that same wetland.
Where the money went, FY2024
The work, and what it cost
Education and Outreach
$256K, 24% of spendingIncludes Young Friends of the Everglades youth education program, as well as collaboration and outreach to environmental stakeholders across Florida.
Including $12,000 granted onward.
Read it as they filed it
Education and Outreach: Includes Young Friends of the Everglades youth education program, as well as collaboration and outreach to environmental stakeholders across Florida.
IRS Form 990 Part III for fiscal year 2024, signed under penalty of perjury.
Legislative accountability
$201K, 19% of spendingAnd public outreach and education on environmental legislative priorities.
Including $2,000 granted onward.
Read it as they filed it
Legislative accountability and public outreach and education on environmental legislative priorities.
IRS Form 990 Part III for fiscal year 2024, signed under penalty of perjury.
Digital Media
$115K, 11% of spendingFocused efforts to engage and educate a wide audience through our web presence (everglades.org), livestream Clean Water Conversations, and other education and information, including social media.
Read it as they filed it
Digital Media: Focused efforts to engage and educate a wide audience through our web presence (everglades.org), livestream Clean Water Conversations, and other education and information, including social media.
IRS Form 990 Part III for fiscal year 2024, signed under penalty of perjury.
Follow the dollar
59 cents of every dollar goes to the work
One year’s split is a snapshot, not a verdict. Splits swing hard with land deals, grants, and campaign timing.
$640,286 programs, $241,206 management, $199,596 fundraising. Form 990, FY2024.
The backers
Backed, each with its source, by Patagonia Org, Robertson Foundation, Marin Community Foundation, Baird Foundation and Merrill Family Charitable Foundation, latest filing FY25.
The people
Who does the work
Honesty note: leadership comes from each year’s federal filing, so it can run a year behind. If it’s out of date, tell us. Work at Friends of the Everglades? Claim this page.
The filings
14 years of filings
Total revenue by fiscal year as filed. Point at or tap the line for any year.
| Year | Revenue |
|---|---|
| 2012 | $94,735 |
| 2013 | $94,517 |
| 2014 | $87,627 |
| 2015 | $42,443 |
| 2016 | $51,228 |
| 2017 | $37,412 |
| 2017 | $78,743 |
| 2018 | $130,176 |
| 2019 | $387,174 |
| 2020 | $390,054 |
| 2021 | $792,084 |
| 2022 | $999,637 |
| 2023 | $1,064,032 |
| 2024 | $1,798,243 |
From $95K in 2012 to $1.8M in FY24, across 14 public filings. FY24 is the highest year on file.
The returns as e-filed with the IRS, 3 years:
- FY2024Download the return
- FY2023Download the return
- FY2022Download the return
Source: IRS Form 990 e-file data, each return by its IRS object id, served by ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. A year in the chart without a link here is read from a later return’s own history table; its return is on ProPublica’s page for the group.
In court
Fights alongside Center for Biological Diversity (1 shared case) and Earthjustice (1 shared case). Same case, same side, on the federal docket. Their dockets on CourtListener.
The record
On the record with the agencies
1 comment on federal decisions since 2023, each filed under the group’s own name on regulations.gov, none yet on a decision we track. Read them on regulations.gov.
Year by year
In order
- 1969Friends of the Everglades is formed.the directory; the return’s own formation year is 1970
- 2023First appears in the grants of Patagonia Org and Robertson Foundation.the funders’ returns
- 2024First appears in the grants of Baird Foundation and Merrill Family Charitable Foundation.the funders’ returns
- 2025Friends of the Everglades, Inc. v. Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security: plaintiff, closed.the docket
- 1 comment to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, under the group’s own name.regulations.gov
- First appears in Marin Community Foundation’s grants.the funder’s return
Green, a funder’s return. Hollow, a filing. Every row comes from a public record: 1 federal case with the group on the docket, 1 comment filed under its own name, 5 funders whose returns name it. Nothing here is written from memory.
Their ground
The places they defend
See every threatened place on one map, and who stands for each.
The Florida congressional delegation averages 24 of 100 on public lands. See the full scorecard
Ways in
How to help
Straight to their own donation page. Your dollar never passes through us.
Give on their site ↗SpeakComment and callOpen comment windows and call scripts for fights like these, ready to send.
Public Lands Action NetworkFollowWatch the mapEvery threatened place in the country, tracked, with who stands for each.
Threatened Lands MapStand with Friends of the Everglades
The mission is theirs. The backing is yours.