Friends of the Everglades
“Protect and restore the Everglades ecosystem.”
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.
Every year they sign one sentence and file it with the federal government: “To preserve, protect, and restore the only Everglades in the world.”
Where the money went, FY2024
The work, and what it cost
Bringing people into the fight
$256KEducation and Outreach: Includes 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, fiscal year 2024, signed under penalty of perjury.
Bringing people into the fight
$201KLegislative accountability and 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, fiscal year 2024, signed under penalty of perjury.
Guarding the water
$115KDigital 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.
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, 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. The trend line below says more than any single year.
Backed on the record by Robertson Foundation, latest filing FY24.
$640,286 programs, $241,206 management, $199,596 fundraising. Form 990, FY2024.
The people
Who does the work
Honesty note: leadership comes from each year’s federal filing, so it can run a year behind. Orgs that claim their page can update it same-day. Work at Friends of the Everglades? Claim this page.
The filings
14 years of filings
14 years of filings
Total revenue by fiscal year, as filed. Point at 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. The 2024 peak of $1.8M reads like one-time gifts, so trust the line, not the peak.
Fights alongside Center for Biological Diversity (1 shared case), Earthjustice (1 shared case) and Sierra Club (1 shared case). Same case, same side, on the federal docket.
Their ground
The places they defend
See every threatened place on one map, and who stands for each.
The Florida congressional delegation averages 29 of 100 on public lands. See the full scorecard
Ways in
How to help
59 cents of your dollar goes straight to the work above.
Give on their site ↗Show upVolunteer with themFind their volunteer door on their own site.
Find it 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
57 years on the ground, 59 cents of every dollar on the line. That is who is holding it. There is room for one more.