Skip to content
Wander Project at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Wander Project

Empowering individuals to transform outdoor adventures into platforms that raise awareness for charitable causes

$206k
Granted FY2024still arriving
5
Grants FY2024still arriving
5
States reached
$29k
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, FY2020 to 2024.

Environment$270kHealth$115kYouth Development$108kRecreation & Sports$41kArts & Culture$23kPhilanthropy$18kInternational$18kPublic Safety & Disaster$6k
02FY2024 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 5 grants below total $72,088, the rows itemized in this filing. The $205,594 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $133,506 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 · FY2024

  • Under $10k2 grants · $13k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $59k
$12,514
Median grant
5
States reached
$283k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BIGGER THAN THE TRAIL$28,850
CHALLENGED ATHLETES FOUNDATION$17,931
LIVELIHOODS KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE$12,514
NAVAJO YES$7,277
GROWING THE GRASSROOTS$5,516
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:

Its human-services grants (FY23–24, $36k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%CHALLENGED ATHLETES FOUNDATION: $18k → 11%CHALLENGED ATHLETES FOUNDATION: $18k → 11%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

MT
WI
WY
SD
OH
CA
UT
CO
KY
VA
MD
AZ
TN
NC
SC
DC
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

75%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$426k · 9 repeat orgs$144k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +81% since the first grant, against +4% for those funded once.

9 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

9
12

Total granted

$426k
$126k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+81%
+4%

Still filing today

89%
92%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 75% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $18k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24
EnvironmentRecreation & SportsYouth DevelopmentHealthCrime & LegalPhilanthropyOther
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

  • YE
    YOUTH EMPOWERMENT SERVICES FOR DINE BIKEYAH INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $108k · revenue +117%
  • YF
    YOSEMITE FOUNDATION
    3× · 2020–2022 · $72k · revenue +32%
  • GS
    GRAND STAIRCASE - ESCALANTE PARTNERS INC
    3× · 2020–2022 · $57k · revenue +28%

Funded once

  • BB
    Bridging Bionics Foundationgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $34k · revenue +52%
  • ZN
    ZION NATURAL HISTORY ASSOCIATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $15k · revenue +58%
  • MR
    MOUNT RUSHMORE NATIONAL MEMORIAL SOCIETY
    one grant, 2021 · $15k · revenue -15%
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
Runners for Public Lands

We empower runners to protect public lands, engage in climate action, and expand access to nature for all. Runners are motivated to be involved in their local communities to protect cherished landscapes and expand access to nature.…

Environment
2
Grand Canyon Conservancy

As the official philanthropic and collaborative partner of the grand canyon national park, grand canyon conservancy's mission is to inspire generations of park champions to cherish and support the natural and cultural wonder of the grand…

Environment
3
Teton Regional Land Trust Inc

The mission of the teton regional land trust is to conserve working farms and ranches, fish and wildlife habitat, and scenic open spaces in eastern idaho for this and future generations.

Environment
4
The Grand Canyon Trust Inc

The mission of the grand canyon trust is to safeguard the wonders of the grand canyon and the colorado plateau, while supporting the rights of its native peoples.

Environment
5
Western National Parks Association

In partnership with the national park service since 1938, wnpa advances education, interpretation, research, and community engagement to ensure national parks are increasingly valued by all.

Recreation & Sports
6
Climate Conservation Dba Center for Large Landscape Conservation

We bring science, policy, and proven solutions directly to communities working to restore the integrity and natural connectivity of the landscapes in which they live. (see schedule o)

Environment
7
Washington's National Park Fund

Washington's national park fund is the official philanthropic partner of washington state's three largest national parks. our mission is to raise funds to preserve and enhance the natural beauty, cultural heritage, and recreational…

Recreation & Sports
8
World Wildlife Fund Inc

Wwf's mission is to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on earth. (continued on schedule o)

Environment
9
Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation

Jackson hole wildlife foundation advances wildlife conservation driven by science, collaboration, and a community of volunteers.

Animals
10
Pacific Crest Trail Association

The pacific crest trail association's mission is to advocate for the pacific crest trail as an inspirational outdoor experience, to connect people to the pct, and to conserve the trail.

—
11
The Access Fund

The mission of the access fund is to lead and inspire the climbing community toward sustainable access and conservation of the climbing environment.

Unclassified
12
Wyoming Wilderness Association

The wyoming wilderness association works to protect wyoming's public wild lands to ensure a future of wild places for people and wildlife.

Animals
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Wilderness Society; the most unlike its peers is Youth Empowerment Services for Dine Bikeyah 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

21 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. 21 of the 24 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)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
21/21
Grantees still filing
14/21
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

YOSEMITE FOUNDATION: $72,333 · Recreation & SportsYOSEMITE FOUNDATIONPUBLIC LANDS ALLIANCE: $45,890 · Recreation & SportsPUBLIC LANDS ALLIANCEGLACIER NATIONAL PARK CONSERVANCY: $20,087 · Recreation & SportsGLACIER NATIONAL PARK CONSER…FRIENDS OF GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK: $11,594 · Recreation & SportsFRIENDS OF GREAT SMOKY MOUNT…BIGGER THAN INC: $56,524 · OtherBIGGER THAN INCTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $29,046 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERVANCYMOUNT RUSHMORE NATIONAL MEMORIAL SOCIETY: $14,540 · OtherMOUNT RUSHMORE NATIONAL MEMOR…GREAT BASIN K-9 SAR INC: $6,033 · OtherGROWING THE GRASSROOTS INC: $5,516 · OtherTHIS TIME TOMORROW INC: $8,141 · OtherMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF SC INC: $7,830 · OtherLIVELIHOODS KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE NETWORK INC: $12,514 · OtherLIVELIHOODS KNOWLEDGE EXCHANG…themarshalleffect: $8,429 · OtherthemarshalleffectNATIVE LEGACY FOUNDATION INC: $8,029 · OtherYOUTH EMPOWERMENT SERVICES FOR DINE BIKEYAH INC: $108,129 · Crime & LegalYOUTH EMPOWERMENT SE…GRAND STAIRCASE - ESCALANTE PARTNERS INC: $57,169 · EnvironmentGRAND STAIRCASE -…ZION NATURAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION: $15,000 · EnvironmentZION NATURAL HIST…Friends of Saguaro National Park: $7,000 · EnvironmentFriends of Saguar…THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY: $6,190 · EnvironmentTHE WILDERNESS SO…POUDRE WILDERNESS VOLUNTEERS: $5,514 · EnvironmentPOUDRE WILDERNESS…Bridging Bionics Foundation: $34,382 · Youth DevelopmentUNIFORM FUNDING FOUNDATION: $5,208 · Youth DevelopmentCHALLENGED ATHLETES INC: $35,938 · Human ServicesGRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION: $18,218 · Philanthropy
Recreation & Sports$149,904Other$156,602Crime & Legal$108,129Environment$90,873Youth Development$39,590Human Services$35,938Philanthropy$18,218

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetYOUTH EMPOWERMENT SERVICES FOR DINE BIKEYAH INC: $108,129 over 5y, 11% of budgetYOSEMITE FOUNDATION: $72,333 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetGRAND STAIRCASE - ESCALANTE PARTNERS INC: $57,169 over 3y, 3.9% of budgetPUBLIC LANDS ALLIANCE: $45,890 over 3y, 2.6% of budgetCHALLENGED ATHLETES INC: $35,938 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBridging Bionics Foundation: $34,382 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $29,046 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGLACIER NATIONAL PARK CONSERVANCY: $20,087 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetGRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION: $18,218 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetZION NATURAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMOUNT RUSHMORE NATIONAL MEMORIAL SOCIETY: $14,540 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetLIVELIHOODS KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE NETWORK INC: $12,514 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetFRIENDS OF GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK: $11,594 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHIS TIME TOMORROW INC: $8,141 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF SC INC: $7,830 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFriends of Saguaro National Park: $7,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTHE WILDERNESS SOCIETY: $6,190 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPOUDRE WILDERNESS VOLUNTEERS: $5,514 over 1y, 15% of budgetUNIFORM FUNDING FOUNDATION: $5,208 over 1y, 4.7% 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.

National Park Foundat…Texas Instruments Fou…PatagoniaorgNetwork for GoodAmerican Endowment Fo…Paypal Charitable Giv…Vanguard Charitable E…National Philanthropi…Natl Christian Charit…American Online Givin…The Bank of America C…Donor Advised Charita…
National Park FoundationDC17.5× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: National Park Foundation · Texas Instruments Foundation · Patagoniaorg · Network for Good · American Endowment Foundation · Paypal Charitable Giving Fund · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc

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 Wander Project funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Wander Project. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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 Wander Project?

    Find your warmest path to Wander Project 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 24 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Wander Project’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home