Funny part is these groups float their own boat just fine.
Henry wasn't overstating it when he described the Nature Conservancy as "an environmental organization that has more assets and income than many third-world countries". The have over 3 billion in reported assets, not including their sub-congolmerates like the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.
As immoral as fed funding of these groups is, it's a drop in the bucket compared to what they get from private trusts and corporate interests. Of course that money comes with strings attached, "do as we wish or we put our money somewhere else". Those strings could be anything from land grabbing to targeting competitive business interests.