The Virginia State Capitol

Form 990-PFTax year 2024EIN 23-1352035

JRS Biodiversity Foundation

A private foundation in Arlington, VA. Its return for tax year 2024 lists 38 grants and $2.2 million paid in grants.

Tax year 2024 (period ending Dec 31, 2024), read from the IRS e-file on Nov 11, 2026. Returns reach the IRS 5 to 18 months after the year they describe.

How to apply

Accepts applications

The return gives an application contact and rules, as below.

Contact
Matthew V Cassetta Executive Direct
PO Box 4541
Arlington, VA 22204
(571) 347-0545
Form and materials
All applications must be submitted in writing. The format of the grant request forms vary somewhat from year to year.
Deadlines
Application deadlines vary from year to year
Restrictions
Priority is given to those applicants who submit proposals that most closely match the foundation mission of promoting the understanding of biological diversity for the benefit and sustainability of life on earth, and the foundation's scope of interdisciplinary activities primarily carried out via collaborations in developing countries and economies in transition

Assets and giving by year

7 returns on file
Grants paid by tax year. The latest year is in blue.
  • Tax year 2024

    $2,195,626

    Grants listed
    38
    Assets, end of year
    $49,898,793
  • Tax year 2023

    $2,461,552

    Grants listed
    44
    Assets, end of year
    $47,569,660
  • Tax year 2022

    $1,756,983

    Grants listed
    21
    Assets, end of year
    $44,388,946
  • Tax year 2021

    $1,849,440

    Grants listed
    17
    Assets, end of year
    $55,350,781
  • Tax year 2020

    $2,567,501

    Grants listed
    27
    Assets, end of year
    $51,039,906
  • Tax year 2019

    $2,194,640

    Grants listed
    35
    Assets, end of year
    $48,007,785
  • Tax year 2018

    $1,689,810

    Grants listed
    28
    Assets, end of year
    $42,611,067

Grants paid in 2024

38 grants, largest first

As listed on the return.

  1. Sanparks Scientific ServicesSedgefield, South Africa

    For the project "overcoming pandemic threats to bioinformatics in south africa's national parks."

    $175,000
  2. University of FloridaGainesville, FL

    For the project "freshwater biodiversity data of rivers of the lake victoria basin."

    $150,000
  3. Lake Tanganyika Floating Health ClinicChicago, IL

    Critical biodiversity surveys in the lake tanganyika and ruzizi river basins

    $114,000
  4. Wildfowl Wetlands TrustSlimbridge, United Kingdom

    For the project "madagascar wetlands knowledge base."

    $105,000
  5. Water Journalists Africa - InfonileMbarara, Uganda

    For the project "nilewell: promoting trust of biodiversity information between scientists and communicators in the nile river basin."

    $103,000
  6. Wildlife Conservation SocietyBangui, Central African Republic

    For the project "freshwater biodiversity data collection system (FBDC) for conservation and sustainable development of the northeast protected area complex (npac) in the central african republic."

    $98,000
  7. Nature UgandaKampala, Uganda

    For the project "training a cohort of herpetologists to increase data knowledge in uganda and build capacity for baseline herpetology surveys in key ecosystems of east africa."

    $95,000
  8. Gaea SeychellesMahe, Seychelles

    For the project "developing a freshwater biodiversity information system for conservation and management in the seychelles."

    $87,000
  9. Conservation Action Research NetworkFairfax, CA

    Aspire grant projects support for scholars in congo basin and albertine rift

    $85,000
  10. Royal Botanic Gardens KewRichmond, United Kingdom

    For the project "enhancing data access to transform guinea's capacity to identify and protect its threatened plants."

    $76,145
  11. International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe)Nairobi, Kenya

    For the project "increase knowledge, awareness and data accessibility for bee and dipteran pollinators, their forage plant species to support conservation of plant-pollinator interactions in cameroon."

    $76,000
  12. Freshwater Research CentreKommetjie, South Africa

    In support of its work to expand research capacity and data access for the freshwater biodiversity information system (the "project or "fbis-2").

    $75,886
  13. National Herbarium of BeninCotonou, Benin

    For the project "mobilizing data for identification, taxonomy, socioeconomic importance and conservation assessment of bryophytes in benin."

    $70,000
  14. Conserve GlobalPretoria, South Africa

    The project will undertake ground sampling and surveys with remote sensing data to produce accurate vegetation and land cover maps, assess threats and document traditional knowledge and usage of plant species in the tondwa gma in northern zambia. It will also build monitoring capacity among four community members and four early career zambian botanists and greater sensitization and support among zambian government and the nsama community resources board.

    $65,000
  15. Hawassa UniversityHawassa, Ethiopia

    To generate information on insect pollinators diversity, share data openly and create awareness through platforms on food security and ecosystem health values of insect pollinators under different land uses in and around kafa biosphere reserve and bale mountains national park. Expertise on insect pollinators' diversity and conservation in ethiopia will be enhanced, data will be openly shared, and trainings and communications will take place. Policy briefs will be prepared and disseminated.

    $65,000
  16. Wildtracktswalu FoundationJohannesburg, South Africa

    The overarching goal is to develop a new technique that will provide a cost-effective and community-generated metric as an index to monitor biodiversity in africa. The benefits for partners will be equitable engagement by providing greater capacity for local students and indigenous groups, and assistance in transformative actions to be implemented as identified in the africa 30x30 draft. Assessing impacts on biodiversity is key to this; there are currently no reliable and cost-effective metrics to do this.

    $55,000
  17. Namibian Chamber of EnvironmentWindhoek, Namibia

    This project's primary aim is to bring together the widely scattered information and data on namibian near-endemic plants for the benefit of those entrusted with the conservation of the country's flora.

    $53,000
  18. Re WildAustin, TX

    For project lost species african symposia for ugandan, tanzanian, and DRC researchers

    $52,933
  19. East African Wildlife SocietyNairobi, Kenya

    For the project "unlocking biodiversity data to facilitate designation of lake of bolossat as the 7th ramsar site in kenya."

    $50,000
  20. International Crane FoundationLusaka, Zambia

    For the project "designing and implementing an ecological monitoring plan and a wetland information system for the adaptive management of the kafue flats, zambia"

    $45,000
  21. University of Parakou BeninParakou, Benin

    For data mobilization and long-term conservation of wild edible fungi in benin.

    $45,000
  22. National Museums of KenyaNairobi, Kenya

    Implement a comprehensive inventory of bats in two caves in kenya, representing two types of caves. This will contribute to the use of scientific data to gain formal protection of caves through existing policy and legal instruments.

    $45,000
  23. Kabale University UgandaKabale, Uganda

    For the project "site selection to protect papyrus endemic biodiversity in uganda."

    $44,000
  24. Tanzania Wildlife Research InstituteArusha, Tanzania

    In support of its work "assessing landscape level impacts of climate change on montane forest pollinators in tanzania."

    $43,443
  25. University of NamibiaWindhoek, Namibia

    For the project "establishing capacity for sustained production of national spacial biodiversity data products: guiding progress towards the post-2020 global biodiversity framework goals."

    $40,000
  26. National Museums of KenyaNairobi, Kenya

    Illuminating understudied caves to highlight plant pollination and seed dispersal services by bats

    $38,500
  27. Makerere UniversityKampala, Uganda

    3rd international conference on geographical science for resilient communities, ecosystems and livelihoods under global environmental change

    $36,380
  28. Tanzania Forest Conservation GroupDar Es Salaam, Tanzania

    For the project "biodiversity data collection and training conservationists in east and west usambaras".

    $31,500
  29. Bamenda UniversityBamenda, Cameroon

    Conference on biodiversity and conservation for early career scientists

    $30,000
  30. Endangered Wildlife TrustWierda Park, South Africa

    For the project "developing a 30-by-30 landscape planning tool for south africa that balances the need for conservation, agriculture, and renewable energy.

    $28,000
  31. International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe)Nairobi, Kenya

    2024 support for a session on bioinformatics at the bioeconomy summit

    $25,000
  32. Threatened Species AllianceKumasi, Ghana

    Reinforcing the capacity for conservation science and planning for young west african conservationists.

    $22,500
  33. Tusk TrustGillingham, United Kingdom

    Support to conservation symposium entitled: evolution and leadership in african conservation

    $20,000
  34. Conservation Society of Sierra LeoneFreetown, Sierra Leone

    Developing national key biodiversity area (kba) assessment protocol and evaluating the status of a pilot legacy

    $17,500
  35. Northwest University South AfricaPotchesfstroom, South Africa

    To support training and guides to build bee taxonomic capacity among citizen scientists in south africa.

    $11,000
  36. Freshwater Research CentreKommetjie, South Africa

    Payment amendment for: demand-driven, high impact expansion of the freshwater biodiversity information system, south africa

    $9,873
  37. Iucn West and Central Africa ProgramDakar, Senegal

    For the project "support for the sustainable management of databases for aquatic ecosystems in the chari-logone sub-basin"

    $8,966
  38. Sos Sahel USA IncWilmington, DE

    Niokolo-training and biodiversity surveys in koba national park buffer zone

    $3,000

Approved for future payment

7 grants

Approved in 2024 and not yet paid.

  1. Freshwater Research CentreScarborough, South Africa

    For the project fbis-africa: a freshwater biodiversity system for africa.

    $499,320
  2. Association for Water and Rural DevelopmentHoedspruit, South Africa

    For the project biodiversity systems management and analytics for the restoration of transboundary rivers of south africa, mozambique, and eswantini

    $353,860
  3. Sos Sahel USA IncWilmington, DE

    For the project "biodiversity mapping in transfrontier buffer zones.

    $250,000
  4. Tusk TrustGillingham, United Kingdom

    For the project jrs-tusk partnership to support biodiversity monitoring capacity for african protected areas and conservation leaders.

    $200,000
  5. Freshwater Research CentreKommetjie, South Africa

    For the project policy implementation for water resources and biodiversity protection through capacity building of water managers.

    $168,561
  6. Dambari Trust ZimbabweBulawayo, Zimbabwe

    For the project somabhula grassland biodiversity surveys and capacity-building for mozambique and zimbabwe

    $155,667
  7. National Herbarium of BeninCotonou, Benin

    For the project "mobilizing data for identification, taxonomy, socioeconomic importance and conservation assessment of bryophytes in benin."

    $19,967

Where the money goes

By cause: grants to organizations we matched to the IRS list of exempt organizations, by their category.

  1. Health1 grant $114,00057% of the total
  2. Environment1 grant $85,00043% of the total

By State

Grants to organizations with a US address, latest year.

  1. Florida1 grant $150,000
  2. Illinois1 grant $114,000
  3. California1 grant $85,000
  4. Texas1 grant $52,933
  5. Delaware1 grant $3,000

Officers, directors and trustees

11 people as filed

As filed on the return, with average hours per week and pay from the foundation.

  • Matthew CassettaEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Hours 40Pay $190,000
  • Michael NkonuTRUSTEE Hours 1.5Pay $7,000
  • Julius EcuruSECRETARY Hours 1.5Pay $7,000
  • Alasdair PhilipTRUSTEE Hours 1.5Pay $7,000
  • Baldwyn TortoVICE PRESIDENT Hours 1.5Pay $7,000
  • Michelle JL MartinTRUSTEE Hours 1.5Pay $7,000
  • Guy MidgleyPRESIDENT Hours 1.5Pay $7,000
  • Mohammed BakarrTRUSTEE Hours 1.5Pay $0
  • Grace MwauraTRUSTEE Hours 1.5Pay $0
  • Alecia ChenTRUSTEE Hours 1.5Pay $0
  • Benjamin RaderTRUSTEE Hours 1.5Pay $0

The return

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