Our Mission
Friends of the River protects and restores California rivers by influencing public policy and inspiring citizen action.
Our Values
FOR believes that healthy rivers are critical to a climate resilient water future in California. The solutions must be:
Equitable: Healthy rivers are free-flowing and the heart of biodiverse ecosystems essential to human livelihood, a sustainable economy and a climate resilient water future for all.
Timely: The climate crisis is here, which requires urgent action to defend and advocate for California’s rivers as the lifeblood of the state.
Practical: People can save rivers, and to save rivers we must defend rivers from threats and protect them by offering resilient water solutions that are designed for climate change.
Nature-Based: Resilient water solutions for rivers are sustainable, equitable and collaborative, which means prioritizing natural working systems, water reuse, and large-scale water conservation.
About Us
Friends of the River (FOR) is dedicated to preserving and restoring California's rivers, streams, and their watersheds as well as advocating for sustainable water management.
Friends of the River was founded in 1973 during the struggle to save the Stanislaus River from New Melones Dam. Following that campaign, we grew to become California's statewide river conservation organization.
Friends of the River is nationally recognized as an authority on the adverse impacts of dams on rivers and ecosystems and is the most effective grassroots organization working on behalf of rivers. We have led successful campaigns for the permanent protection of many outstanding California rivers and streams - including the Kings, Kern, Merced, Tuolumne, upper Klamath, West Walker, East Carson, Sisquoc, and Big Sur Rivers, as well as Sespe Creek and Cache Creek. Friends of the River has 3,500 members, 7 staff, and a 10 member Board of Directors.
Friends of the River has helped create many watershed-based citizens' groups, among them Friends of the Trinity River, Friends of the Kern River, the South Yuba River Citizens League, the Tuolumne River Preservation Trust and the Stanislaus River Council. We also coordinate or participate in several major statewide and national campaigns and coalitions, including The American River Coalition, Restore the Delta, The California Hydropower Reform Coalition, Beyond Searsville Dam, and The Environmental Water Caucus.
Our Policies
Friends of the River (FOR) strives to follow best practices for operating a non-profit organization, and to that end, we have adopted the following policies. If you have any questions regarding any of the policies below please feel free to contact us at: info@friendsoftheriver.org.
Organizational Tax Returns & Audit
Friends of the River makes its most recent tax fillings available for the public to review in our offices during normal business hours and electronically below.
2024 990 Tax Return
2024 Audit
2023 990 Tax Return
2023 Audit
2022 990 Tax Return
2022 Audit
2021 990 Tax Return
2020 990 Tax Return
2020 Audit
Donor Privacy Policy
Friends of the River Foundation (FOR) values and respects its donors’ right to privacy. It affirms that its fund-raising practices protect against unauthorized use of its contributor lists.
FOR utilizes donors’ personal information such as names, mailing addresses and email addresses for purposes of donor acknowledgement and when an individual voluntarily provides this information and opts to join our mailing list. We do not share your email/mail address with anyone outside of FOR. We do not sell or rent your personal information to anyone. FOR never shares email addresses with any third party or group. If you wish you may confirm that FOR is not to share your mailing address (or to determine your sharing status) send an email to membership@friendsoftheriver.org.
FOR strives to ensure that all donors receive appropriate acknowledgment in an orderly, timely and effective manner.
Visitors to the FOR Web site can remain anonymous. FOR does not require visitors to register or provide personal information to view the site. There are instances when site visitors are asked for additional information in order to provide requested services. For example, information will be requested when making an online donation to FOR so that the gift may be properly processed and receipted. FOR’s online donors choose the personal information that FOR receives and can opt to remain anonymous. All credit card transactions are conducted over a secure server.
We use a number of web analytics products to optimize our website, including Google Analytics. These tools do not require our site visitors to identify themselves, and they do not provide us any personally identifiable information about our visitors that is not supplied voluntarily. Our goal in using analytics is to understand what parts of our website you like and which parts need work. We encourage you to accept cookies when surfing our website so we can do our job of providing you useful information as effectively as possible.
FOR welcomes comments and questions about this policy. We are committed to protecting your personal information, and will make every reasonable effort to keep that information secure.
Whistleblower Policy
No director, officer, or employee who in good faith reports a violation by the Organization shall suffer harassment, retaliation, or adverse employment consequence. An employee who retaliates against someone who has reported a violation in good faith is subject to discipline up to and including termination of employment. This Whistleblower Policy is intended to encourage and enable employees and others to raise serious concerns within Friends of the River prior to seeking resolution outside the organization.
Conflict of Interest Policy
It is Friends of the River policy that employees and others acting on Friends of the River’s behalf must be free from conflicts of interest that could adversely influence their judgment, objectivity or loyalty to the company in conducting Friends of the River business activities and assignments. The company recognizes that employees may take part in legitimate financial, business, charitable and other activities outside their Friends of the River jobs, but any potential conflict of interest raised by those activities must be disclosed promptly to management. In addition, as called for in Section 9.01 of our Bylaws, no director or officer of the company may be involved in any self-dealing transactions with Friends of the River.
Document Retention & Destruction Policy
In accordance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which makes it a crime to alter, cover up, falsify, or destroy any document with the intent of impeding or obstructing any official proceeding, Friends of the River provides for the systematic review, retention, and destruction of documents received or created by the Organization in connection with the transaction of organization business.
Friends of the River follows document retention and destruction procedures that are in accordance with federal and state laws and regulations. Destruction of financial and personnel-related documents will be accomplished by shredding.
Document destruction will be suspended immediately, upon any indication of an official investigation or when a lawsuit is filed or appears imminent. Destruction will be reinstated upon conclusion of the investigation.