Spreading Our Wings: iNaturalist is Now an Independent Nonprofit
We have exciting news! iNaturalist is now an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
This is a big day for iNaturalist. Since launching in 2008, the iNaturalist team and organization has evolved, and we’re thrilled about this next milestone. iNaturalist began as a master’s project at the University of California, Berkeley, became a LLC, then joined the California Academy of Sciences in 2014. In 2017, iNaturalist became a joint initiative with the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society. Today, iNaturalist is now an independent, US-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Over the past 15 years, the incredible contributions from the community have made iNaturalist into one of the world’s most powerful nature platforms.
So far, the iNaturalist community has:
- Created over 145,000,000 verifiable observations (adding about 1 million per week!)
- Grown to 2.7 million contributors
- Observed more than 430,000 species
We thank the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society for incubating iNaturalist as it grew dramatically over the last 9 years. We owe immense gratitude to these partners for their investment, support, and stewardship. We look forward to collaborating with both organizations in the future.
The way you experience iNaturalist won’t change with our new organizational structure. The iNaturalist team and infrastructure have seamlessly migrated to the independent organization with the support of our partners, and we'll continue collaborating with organizations around the world to support the iNaturalist Network.
Support iNaturalist
Very soon we will announce a generous grant that will give independent iNaturalist a solid start. The financial support of the iNaturalist community made our evolution possible and will be vital for long-term sustainability. Your donation now will celebrate this exciting milestone and further secure iNaturalist’s future. Thank you!
Humble Origins, Outsized Impact
Since launching in 2008, iNaturalist has become an indispensable tool in the global effort to preserve biodiversity. The data collected by our dedicated community is vital for conservation decisions and has contributed to over 3,700 scientific papers. By becoming an independent non-profit, we’re securing the future of the platforms so many have come to rely on.
Moving Forward
Independence represents an important, natural, and exciting milestone. iNaturalist’s focus has always been on building community and understanding biodiversity. By directing resources, organization, fundraising, and communications solely towards iNaturalist's mission and vision, we’ll be able to operate even more effectively, paving the way for future improvements and growth. You can read about our new board of directors and explore our Community FAQs to learn more.
Many, Many Thanks to the iNaturalist Community
iNaturalist owes its success to the incredible community. Anyone who has observed, identified, donated, or used our products has contributed to building the wealth of biodiversity knowledge that we’ve curated together. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for being part of this community. We are excited about what lies ahead and cannot wait to embark on this new chapter with you! Stay tuned for more updates.
Back (left to right): Alex Shepard, Sylvain Morin, Patrick Leary, Tony Iwane, Scott Loarie, Yaron Budowski, Abhas Misraraj
Front (left to right): Angie Ta, Amanda Bullington, Carrie Seltzer, Johannes Klein, Ken-ichi Ueda
Comments
Hurray! Please announce when the donation system goes live so I can update my recurring donation (received cancellation notice and was wondering what was going on -- this is exciting!)
congratulations and wish you continued success
Very exciting news! Congratulations!
Thanks @itsmelucy! It should work now—we were still getting the kinks worked out during the rollout!
Incredible news!!! Here's to a shiny new future!
Congratulations! Hope there will be many more good news to come!
Congratulations, iNaturalist!
This website is more than just citizen science. Learning about and using iNat has reignited my love for entomology that I somehow forgot about as a teenager, and stronger than ever. I look forward to watching the site grow as it continues to inspire naturalists worldwide the same way it did for me back in 2019.
Thank you and thank you too for making it easy to reset up my donation. Congratulations -- I know this was no small amount of work (and paperwork) to accomplish!
Congratulations!!!
Thank you for the nice emails @carrieseltzer!
This is money well spent and donated monthly!
Everyone quit being cheap and become a monthly supporter.
I didn't get a link to sign up for the new non-profit yet.
Congratulations! Very exciting
Bravo on the banner image. The cat is out of the bag! The bird has flown.
Awesome to hear! It's great that iNaturalist has grown to the point that it can stand on its own two feet!
♥ congrats!
Wonderful news for an already great concept!
Congratulations to the best and most important social network on the planet!
Great news! Love the banner image on the announcement.
@carolr I did not receive a new email but there is a "Donate Now" button in the post itself which works and anyone who wishes can sign up for a One Time or Recurring Donation using that (and decide on interval of recurrence).
They can make donations in honor of or in memory of someone and if they have Employer Matching ability, they can add that info.
Brilliant work iNaturalist! Hopefully scientists will give you lots of donations if they have ever used your data for their research papers.
Congratulations!!
Are donations tax deductible outside the United States?
Congratulations!
Awesome and congrats, so proud to be a small cog in this great community, and thank you to all of the iNat team who continue to make it happen!
Awesome!
Great news! Congratulations!
Congrats!!
(Re: scientists giving donations, they generally don't have much capital to spare either personally or as labs -- but I hope the agencies and foundations that fund these scientists also consider supporting iNat!)
Fantastic news ! More independence and openness is always good and an additional incentive to contribute (particularly outside the US I guess)
Congratulations!
Congrats! Great news. I really appreciate and use this platform for a while now and hope it continues to grow!
And here is one proof that this platform is indeed contributing massively to the documentation, conservation and even (re-)discovery of rare, endangered or even "long-lost" species: https://phytokeys.pensoft.net/article/100082/list/11/
This is really amazing news. iNaturalist has been an integral part of my life for the past 5 years, and this gives me even more hope it will be for the next 5 and beyond.
Congratulations!!
Congratulations !
exciting!
Thank you, for maintaining this amazing platform! I very much appreciate your work - day after day!
A brilliant concept becomes independent.
Congratulations to the iNaturalist team, and to the iNaturalist community.
Thank you.
Looking forward to a bright future for an independent inat!
It's hard for me to imagine my life without iNaturalist -- I use this tool to engage with nature every day. So happy to remain a part of this amazing and uplifting community! Proud to be a donor as well!!!
Congrats to iNaturalist. :)
Congratulations! I can't wait to see what happens next.
C o n g r a t u l a t i o n s !
🌿🐞🐬🐦🦋🐟🐝
I would express my self better in spanish.
Muchas FELICIDADES por este nuevo inicio!! Les deseo lo mejor!!
Todos estos años ha sido un honor trabajar para Naturalista, conocerlos y compartir alguna que otra reunión.
De forma personal y como parte del equipo de México, les mando un abrazo y la mejor de las suertes.
Seguimos trabajando y en contacto.
Roberto Arreola Alemón
🌿🐞🐬🐦🦋🐟🐝
Nice pic by the way!
As others have said, the educational value of this site is immeasurable.
The biggest congratulations!!!!
Awesome! Congratulations!
This is a great step! I love iNat, and I sincerely hope it continues to grow as a source of scientifically valid records of wild things. I will be much more inclined to donate generously when iNat adds these elements to greatly increase the scientific utility of iNat's records: (1) ability to sort by taxonomic order, and (2) raise the standard for records labeled "research grade" to something that makes records actually research-worthy, or create another category for records that are verified by expert users. Thanks for all iNat has accomplished so far!
Very wonderfu!!
You guys and gals are my personal “rock stars!” A well-deserved congratulations is needed for all that you do, not only for science and scientists, but the wild flora and fauna, and ever-diminishing wildlands that you are helping experts to better document, activists to better protect, and common people (especially our young people) to better appreciate. Without a doubt, the world is a far better place, with a more hopeful outlook for the future, thanks to your largely hidden, but hugely heroic efforts. Keep up the amazing work!👏👏👏
Cool
Woohoo! Great job everyone!
Congratulations!
All your hard work is well worth the effort. Bravo!
Congratulations!
This is great news!
Congrats! Looking forward to the growth and support this will mean for you all (and as ever, keeping my eye on open positions, just in case this dream team expands!)
Congratulations!
Yay congrats!!
Congratulations to the iNat team!
Very cool, great work! Your effort is very important for so many reasons! 👏👏👏
Great work! Looking foreward to seeing what you do going foreward!
Rock on, and congratulations! I can't really remember a time without iNaturalist!
iNaturalist is not only a great scientific tool but also a pure joy to all people that love the biodiversity of the planet earth.
Congrats to the team! The platform has transformed citizen science and "science" to the point where I'm not always sure which is which.
Congratulations to a beyond remarkable team and vision!!! iNaturalist sparked and then fueled my passion for lichens. The journey has been a complete JOY , and I keep learning MORE!!! The “new” iNat will be on my monthly donation list.
Congrats and thanks to all!!
Terrific news -- congratulations on spreading your wings. :)
Congratulations! I was attending our monthly virtual iNaturalist ID night and proudly wearing my iNaturalist t-shirt when I heard this excellent news tonight. Shout out to pal Carrie and the iNaturalist team for making this a reality!
Congratulations!
Congratulations to the iNat team and community!
Felicitaciones!!!! this makes me so happy!!!
You doing well!! keep moving!
Fantastic and Thank you so much for every one in iNat team.
iNat observation is now my daily sport!
Congratulations on taking this step! And I add my voice to those who call on all iNat users who can to give regularly.
Congratulations on the fantastic news!!!
Congratulations iNat!
Congrats to the team!!!
Congratulations 🎉
Many felicitations for the day!
Edit to add: for those curious about monthly donations - the FAQ provides information on recurring donations. Depending on payment processor you may need to set up donations again while others will not - this is why some folks have received emails about recurring donations while others have not.
Congratulations!! Really love iNaturalist!!
Thanks for the hard work in developing this incredible platform. Onwards and upwards. Best wishes!
The future seems bright for iNaturalist. I am proud of all of you (both staff and this wonderful community of naturalists) :)
Congratulations, this is very exciting news! I've really enjoyed watching this project grow over the years, and am proud of it for reaching this amazing milestone. Thanks to all members of this community for your work in so many ways; I love being a part of it.
Congratulations on the next evolution of the platform and community!
Hearty congratulations !
What a milestone! Congratulations.
Congratulations!! It’s been so exciting to witness your growth and impact over the years.
Huzzah! Many thanks and congratulations to all involved!!
Congrats on the great milestone!
Fantastic! This is big news!
Congrats on the great milestone
Congrats!! ... fantastic to know iNaturalist has a bright future ahead!!! Looking forward to keep on contributing and see fellow naturalist sharing their love for nature
Cool! Congratulations!
Woohoo! What an exciting next step! I can’t wait to see what the future holds for iNat
And the evolution continues. Congratulations.
Congrats! The site is such a great citizen science tool that also gives so much value to its users . For me, I have learned way more than I would have been able to on my own, been able to help others learn, and managed to make new friends along the way! I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that discovering iNat has been a life-changing experience!
Congratulations 🎉🎉🎉
Congratiations and thanks!
I am definitely in the minority about feeling sad at the separation from two organizations that I’ve held in some reverence for since childhood. I am not clear on the advantages; but I am hopeful they are bountiful.
I find this outpouring of positive expressions to be reassuring.
Congratulations on this exciting new beginning!
FANTASTIC!
Great news. Congratulations, everyone!
FANTASTIC - this is so great!
Congrats y’all
How exciting, congratulations!
Congratulations!!!! I'm so glad I was here from (almost) the beginning!
Congratulations to the Inat team, for their great achievement of sustainable independence, which fills me with joy and enthusiasm to participate. Also, this milestone of independence, represents recognition, support and credibility, to the collaborative effort of our entire community, in the attempt to preserve biodiversity, through knowledge and recognition of species, in addition to their ecology.
Felicitaciones al equipo Inat, por su gran logro de independencia sostenible, lo cual, me rebosa de alegría y de entusiasmo de participar ella. También, este hito de independencia, representa un reconocimiento, apoyo y credibilidad, al esfuerzo colaborativo de toda nuestra comunidad, en el intento de preservar la biodiversidad, a través, del conocimiento y reconocimiento de especies, además de su ecologia.
Well done folks! I am having so much fun being a part of this community.
Wow and congrats! I will change iNat's "Life Stage" status to "Fledged!"
Terrific news! I've loved being a member here since 2016. Looking forward to many more years!
Congratulations !!! Good Luck to all the contributors on this site !
Congratulations!!
This is a wonderful and natural move for this thriving and exciting community. You've done an amazing job; I love iNaturalist and am very grateful for all of the hard work and perseverance that has kept it growing into the citizen science resource it has become. Thanks to all of the partners and supporters - I learn from it every day!
Woohoo! Congratulations!!! Continue to spread you wings and fly high iNaturalist! You are doing great!
Congratulations!
Wicked!! Hearty congratulations.
That's cool.
Awesome. Well done, everyone. : )
Terrific! Just made a donation. So grateful to have iNaturalist in my life :)
Thanks iNat team, this is excellent and heartwarming news.
nice team, nice work.. My team and I are from Ecuador, here we are suporting inat with students and farmers...this is a good job!
Excellent, this is great news. I've been and plan to continue being a supporter, but now I'm wondering -- will it be possible to become a member?
Great news! Who is on the Board?
@chlorophilia there's a link in the blog post to this page: https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/team#board-of-directors
This is really good news, and it addresses some of the concerns I had had about being associated with the California Academy of the Sciences, as not only their director, but a large number of top executives were paid amounts I felt uncomfortable with and thought were inappropriate for a non-profit, and I was not thrilled with the idea that an organization like this was taking a substantial cut of donations. In 2022 the director made over $524k and there were a total of 5 people making over $300k, and 12 making over $200k.
Having iNaturalist be fully independent makes me feel better about donating to support iNaturalist too, which I plan on continuing to do. I am also hopeful and optimistic that the organization can now be run in ways that are more compatible with my values, avoiding offensively/unreasonably high compensation of top executives, and using funds more efficiently and in a way that does not contribute to social ills such as the growing gap between rich and poor.
I hope that this principle is maintained moving forward, although I do want you to know that I will be keeping an eye on you guys and I will not let it slide if you all start following these same abhorrent practices. To me, salaries around the $100k mark are acceptable in some cases, but if your salaries start creeping up to the zone of what we saw under California Academy of the Sciences, I will start fussing and I may cancel my donation and advocate others to do the same.
Just some food for thought! Like I said, I am optimistic! If all goes well I will likely increase my donation.
A Great METAMORPHOSIS!!! Thank you iNaturalist!
Congratulations to the whole iNat team and to all of the incredible volunteers who work to help make it a functioning community! I am so grateful for the technology, the iNat team, and the whole rest of the community that has helped me fall even deeper in love with the natural world!
Congrats!
This is the best site I have ever found and I love the big community that can be found on one site. We are all brought together by one thing and that is the love of nature. Congrats iNat and everyone who were and are apart of this great accomplishment
So wonderful to see how iNaturalist is evolving. Even more grateful to be a part of this community. Congratulations!
congratulations! that is so rad! woohoo!!
Congratulations! Here's hoping that the iNat Southern African community will come onboard this year :-)
iNaturalist is a significant reason I'm gonna a become a scientist when I'm older. God bless you guys!
Great news. Right moment to become independent to gain more traction in recording and preserving the biodiversity.
Thanks @tiwane —I overlooked that link
Very exciting news!
This site has greatly strengthened my dream of becoming a zoologist
Congratulations! Please post instructions on how to redirect my donations!
Fantastic. I hope this milestone leads to whatever the team needs and users continue to experience the same free platform. Regarding the comment above about salaries, I would just share that in SF Bay Area, California, a $100k salary is below median and in some counties (Sf, Marin, SCL) considered low income. I used to work at a non-profit and am now a State Environmental Scientist so I could earn enough to support a family. I hope the iNaturalist team can pay themselves enough to be above low income and hope Scott & Ken-Ichi can pay themselves even more. I personally wish they could become millionaires from this amazing tool and community they’ve created.
Very cool! Congrats!!!
Yay
No need to become millionaires. Keep it real. We're doing this for nature. Great news.
Congratulations
Exciting news! This site is important to me. I love the outdoors ,photography and nature of all sorts. Being able to combine these passions AND help contribute to science and knowledge of biodiversity is tremendous. It is especially exciting when we travel and encounter unknown to me plant and animal life.
I have shared this site with grandkids as well— they are hooked on learning about the natural life around them now too.
Thanks for all of your efforts!
Jenny. Cincinnati OH
This is excellent news! Congratulations!
I've learned so much here and I am so excited for the next chapter!
May our future paths be laid with the feathered, the scaled, the furry, and all things that are slimy! Adventure is out there!
Best wishes and congratulations to the whole team!
I believe iNaturalist is an extraordinary adventure that must continue to look ahead in a world where the fate of biodiversity is increasingly crucial. However, the prestige provided by the National Academy of Sciences of California and the National Geographic Society has been important in combining the interest and commitment of citizens with people who are professionally engaged in the study of biodiversity.
I sincerely hope that this partnership can continue to be strong in the future.
All the best, Valerio.
Congratulations to everyone for making Inaturalist what it is.
Change is constant on mother Earth as is true with its endless biodiversity (for better or worse). So too apparently is the case with iNaturalist as it keeps shapeshifting (evolving) into the future to survive and thrive. Stay strong, stay inclusive, stay progressive. Adelante!
profoundly exciting!! congratulations! it's a wonderful work of love that brings enrichment to so many. I will make sure to donate when I can! thank you.
This is really 👍.
Congratulations! I've been using iNat for almost 10 years now, before there was a phone app! It helped me learn East Coast plants after I first moved there, and I've been keeping up with it ever since! Love that I've grown with you.
Congratuations!!
congratulations...
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️inaturalist❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️!
Congratulations!
Congratulations!!!
Awesome job guys!
Congratulations, you've brought something truly amazing to this world. Wonderful work!💚
Heartiest congratulations iNaturalist team! You're contributing enormously and putting together citizens and professionals locally and globally. This can only bring about good things for the environment.
This is so awesome. I am very grateful for this platform, "indispensable" is an understatement. Wishing all of the success to the organization!
Awesome! Congratulations!
Can’t wait to explore His creation even further!!! Here’s to iNaturasist!
Grat
Congratulations friends! The larva transformed into a butterfly.
Congrats team.
iNaturalist has been an invaluable tool for me. Thanks for all you've helped me learn already!
That's exciting, congratulations! CalAcademy of Sciences is such a cool place and I'm really happy they fostered this project for so long. What would we do without iNat!
I have been using iNaturalist since 2015, which was the gateway to my passion for nature and citizen science to the point where I'm using it for even my own research. I'm just thrilled to see how much it has grown since then. Congratulations to the iNaturalist team, and I hope this tool will continue to increase for years to come!
Help us know what we have to lose! Congratulations!
Congratulations!
Awesome! Congratulations. I love iNaturalist and even teach some classes with it!
Amazing.. congratulations
What wonderful news! Congratulations!
My favorite app and I am very proud of iNaturalist and it’s accomplishment. I use it often and have learned so much. I can see how this can become an important Avenue for research into the world of nature. Congratulations!
Congratulations and thank you! I hope new funding streams will support the saving of multiple photos of the same species in Seek. Since changing that to choosing just one, Seek doesn't work as well on a lot of plants that aren't in flower (we love our flowers!). Sadly, I've had to use Picture this to ID a lot of specimens in the last couple of years. I do love that we can now download photos from our computers, though. I'm able to collect so much more data! Keep it up; the world needs this information. And again, thanks!
Excellent news from an excellent organization. Congrats to all!
The IRS lists "THE NATURE CONNECTION THROUGH TECHNOLOGY NONPROFIT" as the 501(c)(3) organization associated with the EIN: 92-1296468. Please confirm that this is the correct "IRS name" for iNaturalist. Thanks
Do you have a users manual for app-illiterate folks like myself?
@pachips, correct. Please see the last question in our spinoff FAQ for more info
@kleinknecht you can find video tutorials and other getting started info here. Since, iNat is pretty light on documentation relative to the size and complexity of the platform, the forum can also be a great resource. Our simpler companion app, Seek by iNaturalist, has a user guide you can find here.
Congratulation Very exicting.
Great work and congratulations.
Congratulations, I as an afghan citizen using the inaturalist since 2020 and I love what you’re doing. Wish you the best good team.
congratulations on this amazing milestone!
I definitely want to keep contributing my photos but I'm a little Leary about my rights on those based on you changing to a nonprofit organisation. I love to support and glad to hear that you are becoming successful! Congratulations
This app has been super helpful for me to get out of my own head, so thank you, iNaturalist!
Congratulations, this app has been a huge asset to me sons and I. Keep up the great Work!
I’m even more inspired to help contribute!
Congratulations! You are doing a great job and a great product!
Congratulations! I really appreciate what you do. I will continue to utilize this application and contribute my photos to help the organization
Late Congratulations! (but no less excited for you!) Cheers to the iNaturalist community!
What does this mean for the long-term viability of the data? I've been a monthly donor for several years now, and it gave me comfort that iNaturalist had large institutional backing. I hope someone can ease my discomfort with genuine, knowledge based answers.
@spyingnaturalist -- here's the excellent FAQ's page that addresses some of those concerns:
https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/spinoff_faq
This is an awesome group of people! Thank you for all you do! I love adding photos/observations to inaturalist. Please, let me know how to verify new observations. I would love to help. I have been a naturalist my whole life! I moved to Florida to learn about tropical species after I moved from Alaska. I graduated from University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in Biology and worked as a rare plant specialist for the National Forest Service.
Thank you again for all you do.
Sincerely,
Joanna McKasy
Das freut mich sehr ich werde an meinem Naturschontag der Montag ist die App mehr mit nutzen um die Schönheit der Natur noch mehr zeigen zu können für die Weltgemeinschaft Natur Danke
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