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Big Cat Rescue Corp at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Big Cat Rescue Corp

Big cat rescues mission is to provide funding for care of the cats formerly housed at the sanctuary, end abuse of big cats in captivity and prevent extinction of big cats in the wild.

$576k
Granted FY2025still arriving
8
Grants FY2025still arriving
7
States reached
$124k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Animals$1.1MEnvironment$18kInternational$8k
02FY2025 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 8 grants below total $354,740, the rows itemized in this filing. The $576,299 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $221,559 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $9k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $53k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $294k
$50,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$37M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GEOFFREY CAT WORKING GROUP$123,500
FREELAND USA$70,000
ANIMAL DEFENDERS INTERNATIONAL INC$50,000
FISHING CAT CONSERVATION ALLIANCE$50,000
SHOWING ANIMALS RESECT AND$25,000
ALLEY CAT RESCUE INC$15,000
SMALL WILD CAT CONSERVATION$12,500
FELIDAE CONSERVATION FUND$8,740
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 71% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%TANZANIA LION ILLUMINATION PROJECT: $6k → 14%SMALL WILD CAT CONSERVATION: $40k → 8%FELIDAE CONSERVATION FUND: $9k → 8%SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA: $9k → 10%EARTH ISLAND ALTAI PROJECT: $9k → 10%ANIMALS ASIA FOUNDATION OF AMERICA: $8k → 14%LIFESCAPE INTERNATIONAL: $7k → 7%FISHING CAT CONSERVATION ALLIANCE: $50k → 16%SMALL WILD CAT CONSERVATION: $64k → 10%GLOBAL GIVING FOUNDATION: $8k → 14%GEOFFREY CAT WORKING GROUP: $124k → 15%FREELAND USA: $70k → 11%SHOWING ANIMALS RESPECT AND: $50k → 8%ALLEY CAT RESCUE INC: $15k → 11%SMALL WILD CAT CONSERVATION: $26k → 8%FELIDAE CONSERVATION FUND: $8k → 8%ANIMAL DEFENDERS INTERNATIONAL INC: $50k → 14%LIFESCAPE INTERNATIONAL: $5k → 7%FISHING CAT CONSERVATION ALLIANCE: $6k → 16%SMALL WILD CAT CONSERVATION: $13k → 10%GEOFFREY CAT WORKING GROUP: $8k → 15%SHOWING ANIMALS RESECT AND: $25k → 8%SMALL WILD CAT CONSERVATION: $10k → 8%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

IL
WI
NY
PA
CA
MD
NM
DC
TX
FL

Grants abroad, by region: $221k on the FY2025 return

Schedule F, as filed: 4 regions, $90k to organizations and $131k to individuals. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

Region not stated$90k · 41% · 3 grants

Stated purpose: PAMPAS CATS ECUADOR · TIGER PRES INDIA · PAMPAS CAT ECUADOR

Central America and the Caribbean$80k · 36% · 2 people

Stated purpose: GRANTS - MEXICO

South America$46k · 21% · 3 people

Stated purpose: GRANTS - ECUADOR/PERU · GRANTS - BRAZIL

South Asia$6k · 2% · 2 people

Stated purpose: GRANT - NEPAL

How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving. Grants abroad on Schedule F are filed by region, purpose and amount with no recipient name, so they are shown by region and cannot be placed on the country map or matched to a grantee.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

83%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$933k · 7 repeat orgs$192k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +226% since the first grant, against +51% for those funded once.

7 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
7

Total granted

$933k
$57k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+226%
+51%

Still filing today

71%
86%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 62% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $135k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
AnimalsEnvironmentInternationalOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • CF
    CENTER FOR A HUMANE ECONOMY INC
    3× · 2020–2024 · $490k · revenue +479%
  • SW
    SMALL WILD CAT CONSERVATION FOUNDATION
    5× · 2017–2025 · $152k · revenue ×15
  • FC
    Fishing Cat Conservation Alliance Inc
    2× · 2023–2025 · $56k · revenue +9%

Funded once

  • FW
    Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation Incgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $9k · revenue +252%
  • TD
    THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INCgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $9k · revenue +30%
  • Earth Island Institute Incgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $9k · revenue +171%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Global Animal Partnership
Animals
2
Global Wildlife Foundation

Funding innovative veterinary research and supporting organizations dedicated to preserving and protecting wildlife for future generations.

Animals
3
Animal Rescue Corps Inc

To end animal suffering through direct and compassionate action, and to inspire the highest ethical standards of humanity towards animals. The Organization rescues animals who fall victim to abuse and natural disaster.

Animals
4
Rainforest Trust

Rainforest trust saves endangered wildlife and protects our planet by creating rainforest reserves through partnerships, community engagement, and donor support.

International
5
Wild Welfare Us

To end the suffering of captive wild animals around the world, by uniting the world's leading animal welfare organizations and captive wildlife facilities in providing expert, practical, and sustainable solutions to improve animal welfare.

Animals
6
Wildlife Protection Solutions

To protect endangered species.

Animals
7
Fauna & Flora International Usa Inc

Our mission is to act to conserve threatened species and ecosystems worldwide, choosing solutions that are sustainable, based on sound science and take into account human needs.

Philanthropy
8
International Fund for Animal Welfare Inc

IFAWs strategy focuses on improving the welfare of individual animals and the conservation status of wildlife populations in priority habitats through on-the-ground efforts community engagement and global advocacy. Our dual emphasis on…

Animals
9
Animal Freedom Inc

The organization works to create a world where all animals have their freedom respected by society and protected in law.

Animals
10
Amazon Watch Inc

To protect the rainforest and advance the rights of Indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin. We partner with Indigenous communities in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability, and the preservation of the Amazon Basin's…

Environment
11
Wild Earth Allies Inc

Our mission is to protect vital areas of our planet for wildlife and people through local conservation action. Our vision is a world where wildlife and people flourish in healthy ecosystems that sustain us all.

Environment
12
City Wildlife Inc

The goals of City Wildlife are to rescue sick, orphaned, and injured wild animals and return them to the wild; to promote the enjoyment of and harmonious co-existence with native wildlife; and to protect the District of Columbias wild…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Usa Inc; the most unlike its peers is Center for a Humane Economy Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

14 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 14 of the 17 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
14/14
Grantees still filing
11/14
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CENTER FOR A HUMANE ECONOMY INC: $490,000 · AnimalsCENTER FOR A HUMANE ECONOMY INCSMALL WILD CAT CONSERVATION FOUNDATION: $152,468 · AnimalsSMALL WILD CAT CONSERVATION FOUNDATIONSHOWING ANIMALS RESPECT AND KINDNESS INC: $75,000 · AnimalsSHOWING ANIMALS RESPECT AND KINDNESS INCFRIENDS OF FREELAND FOUNDATION: $70,000 · AnimalsFRIENDS OF FREELAND FOUNDATIONFishing Cat Conservation Alliance Inc: $56,000 · AnimalsFishing Cat Conservation Alliance IncANIMAL DEFENDERS INTERNATIONAL INC US: $50,000 · Animals+5 more: $57,040 · Animals+5 moreGEOFFREY CAT WORKING GROUP: $131,000 · OtherGEOFFREY CAT W…LIFESCAPE INTERNATIONAL INC: $11,541 · OtherLIFESCAPE INTE…TANZANIA LION ILLUMINATION PROJECT: $6,000 · OtherFlorida Wildlife Corridor Foundation Inc: $9,000 · EnvironmentEarth Island Institute Inc: $8,500 · EnvironmentGLOBALGIVING FOUNDATION INC: $7,900 · International
Animals$950,508Other$148,541Environment$17,500International$7,900

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCENTER FOR A HUMANE ECONOMY INC: $490,000 over 3y, 9.7% of budgetSMALL WILD CAT CONSERVATION FOUNDATION: $152,468 over 5y, 6.8% of budgetSHOWING ANIMALS RESPECT AND KINDNESS INC: $75,000 over 2y, 2.3% of budgetFishing Cat Conservation Alliance Inc: $56,000 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetFELIDAE CONSERVATION FUND: $16,740 over 2y, 4.0% of budgetAlley Cat Rescue Inc: $15,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetFlorida Wildlife Corridor Foundation Inc: $9,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetTHE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC: $8,600 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEarth Island Institute Inc: $8,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAsia Wild: $8,400 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetPaso Pacifico: $8,300 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetGLOBALGIVING FOUNDATION INC: $7,900 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Jpmorgan Chase Founda…Paypal Charitable Giv…American Endowment Fo…Network for GoodThe Bank of America C…Vanguard Charitable E…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Jpmorgan Chase FoundationNY9.4× affinity4 shared granteesties to 9 of 9Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Paypal Charitable Giving Fund · American Endowment Foundation · Network for Good · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Big Cat Rescue Corp funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Big Cat Rescue Corp. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%8%15%22%30%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    3get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–30%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Big Cat Rescue Corp?

    Find your warmest path to Big Cat Rescue Corp through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

    Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 17 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Big Cat Rescue’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

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    The regranting layer
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    The endowment market
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