How do I find funders for a large animals nonprofit?

Start with the funders most focused on large animals organizations, currently Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Inc, Ahimsa Foundation, Friends of the Zoo of Kansas City. Donor-advised funds and mega-funds are excluded, so these are funders that genuinely back organizations your size, not pass-through accounts.

What counts as a large organization here?

Size is the organization's median total revenue across its filings: large ($10M and up). Cause is its NTEE classification in the IRS Business Master File.

How much grant money goes to large animals organizations?

$2.1B reached 214 large animals organizations from 6,845 funders. Money parked in the regranting layer is netted out.

How recent is this data?

It is read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file filings across recent fiscal years. US charity filings lag 12 to 24 months.

Causes · Animals · large

Who funds large animals organizations

The funders that back large animals organizations are specialists, not generalists: Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Inc gives them 134.1× the national rate, with 100% of its grants going here. Large animals institutions draw a deep funder base, 32 on average, so the competition for their attention is intense.

$2.1B

granted

214

organizations

6,845

funders

The short version

6,845 funders gave $2.1B to 214 large animals organizations (large ($10M and up)) across recent IRS filings.
The most focused funder is Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Inc, giving 134.1× the national rate to large animals organizations.
The largest non-DAF funder is Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Inc, at $49M.
The large animals organization drawing the most is Wildlife Conservation Society, at $168M.

Funders most focused on large animals organizations

Not the biggest checks, the most committed: each gives this size and cause an outsized share of its budget against the national rate, shrunk toward that rate so a small specialist needs real volume to rank.

Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Inc134.1×$49M · 100% of its giving Ahimsa Foundation133×$47M · 99% of its giving Friends of the Zoo of Kansas City127.5×$26M · 100% of its giving Omaha Zoo Foundation126.2×$23M · 100% of its giving International Game Fish Association Inc120.4×$16M · 100% of its giving Interlaken Foundation Inc115.8×$13M · 100% of its giving The Toledo Zoological Society Foundation108.4×$10M · 100% of its giving Omaha Zoological Society102.8×$8M · 100% of its giving

Largest funders by dollars

Real grantmakers giving the most to large animals organizations (donor-advised and mega-funds excluded).

1Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Inc$49M 2Ahimsa Foundation$47M 3Humane World for Animals Inc$41M 4National Fish and Wildlife Foundation$35M 5Margaret a Cargill Foundation$32M 6Gordon E and Betty I Moore Foundation$29M 7Friends of the Zoo of Kansas City$26M 8Omaha Zoo Foundation$23M

Large animals organizations that draw the most

Sized by grant dollars received. Pick one to see exactly who funds it.

204 other large animals organizations$1.5B

Wildlife Conservation Society$168M National Wildlife Federation$82M

Questions and answers

How do I find funders for a large animals nonprofit?: Start with the funders most focused on large animals organizations, currently Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Inc, Ahimsa Foundation, Friends of the Zoo of Kansas City. Donor-advised funds and mega-funds are excluded, so these are funders that genuinely back organizations your size, not pass-through accounts.
What counts as a large organization here?: Size is the organization's median total revenue across its filings: large ($10M and up). Cause is its NTEE classification in the IRS Business Master File.
How much grant money goes to large animals organizations?: $2.1B reached 214 large animals organizations from 6,845 funders. Money parked in the regranting layer is netted out.
How recent is this data?: It is read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file filings across recent fiscal years. US charity filings lag 12 to 24 months.

More from the funding graph

The regranting layer

51% of grant dollars pass through an intermediary

The DAF merry-go-round

$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds

Strange bedfellows

the named clusters of US funding

The camps

funders cluster by geography, not ideology

By state

where grant money is based, and what stays home

State money flows

the interactive map of money crossing state lines

Size is median total revenue; cause is the recipient's NTEE classification in the IRS Business Master File. Read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file XML across recent fiscal years, among (c)(3) funders and recipients resolved by EIN, with the regranting layer netted out. Source: IRS Form 990 downloads.