· Public charity
Wildlife Conservation Society
The Wildlife Conservation Society (wcs) saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
How this is measured
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k2 grants · $12k
- $10k–50k12 grants · $380k
- $50k–250k19 grants · $1.8M
- $250k+6 grants · $4.8M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Partners for Development (PfD) | $1,266,855 |
| Environmental Defense Fund Inc | $973,690 |
| Internews Network | $928,428 |
| Catholic Relief Services USCCB | $803,979 |
| Woods Hole Oceanographic | $528,210 |
| University of Alaska | $268,888 |
| Rare Inc | $219,565 |
| ADM Capital Foundation Inc | $206,000 |
| Nature Conservancy | $147,189 |
| EpiEcos | $120,240 |
| North Slope Borough | $104,158 |
| Tucson Audubon Society Inc | $100,000 |
| Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin Inc | $100,000 |
| Methow Salmon Recovery Foundation | $99,576 |
| STONE BARNS RESTORATION Corp | $90,199 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 69% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
Grants abroad, by region: $17M on the FY2025 return
Schedule F, as filed: 8 regions, $16M to organizations and $941k to individuals. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.
Stated purpose: Conservation · Conservation-EU
Stated purpose: Conservation · Scholarship-EA · Conservation-EA
Stated purpose: Conservation · Conservation-CA
Stated purpose: Conservation · Conservation-Sub · Scholarship-Sub
Stated purpose: Conservation · Conservation-So Am · Scholarship-So Am
Stated purpose: CONSERVATION · Conservation-So As · Scholarship-So As
Stated purpose: Conservation · Conservation-NA
Stated purpose: Conservation · CONSERVATION-RU
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +52% since the first grant, against +21% for those funded once.
103 repeat relationships: 31 still active in FY2025, 72 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $603k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
WORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC9× · 2017–2025 · $15M · revenue +62%- AWAFRICAN WILDLIFE FOUNDATION INC9× · 2017–2025 · $2.0M · revenue +54%
- JGJANE GOODALL INSTITUTE FOR WILDLIFE RESEARCH EDUCATION AND CONSERVATION6× · 2017–2022 · $1.7M · revenue +50%
Funded once
- AWAlaska Wildlife Allianceone grant, 2024 · $155k · revenue 0% · 30% of their budget
- TWTREES WATER AND PEOPLEone grant, 2024 · $150k · revenue +21%
BAT CONSERVATION INTERNATIONALone grant, 2024 · $149k · revenue -5%
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.
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.
Rainforest trust saves endangered wildlife and protects our planet by creating rainforest reserves through partnerships, community engagement, and donor support.
Cascadia wildlands defends and restores cacasia's wild ecosystems in the forests,in the courts, and in the streets. we envision vast old-growth forests, rivers full of wild salmon, wolves howling in the backcountry, a stable climate, and…
The amazon conservation team (act) partners with indigenous and other local communities to protect tropical forests and strengthen traditional culture.
The resource renewal institute facilitates the creation, development and implementation of practical strategies to solve the entire complex environmental problem by addressing it comprehensively.
The purpose of rainforest foundation us is to support indigenous peoples and forest communities in their efforts to secure their lands, protect their environment, and uphold their rights.
Western rivers conservancy's mission is to protect outstanding river ecosystems in the western united states. continued on schedule o.we acquire land to conserve critical habitat, provide public access for compatible use and enjoyment, and…
Nature and culture international conserves biologically diverse landscapes in latin america, in concert with local cultures, for the well-being of the planet.
The mission of the center for natural lands management is (a) to conserve native species, their habitat and functioning ecosystems in perpetuity, (b) to own and/or manage lands in an ecologically beneficial manner consistent with local,…
Sustainable Conservation advances the collaborative stewardship of Californias land, air, and water for the benefit of nature and people. For over three decades, Sustainable Conservation has built coalitions of people with different…
Deliver ecological stability and long-term protection of large-scale wilderness by supporting and empowering local communities.
Dedicated to protecting the world's natural environment on behalf of the public by serving as a public interest law firm. refer to schedule o, part iii, line 4a, for list of litigated cases or advocacy work.
The Natura Bolivia Foundation is dedicated to implementing, and evaluating the impact of conservation and development programs, with a focus on watershed conservation, protected areas, and incentive based conservation in Bolivia. We work…
How this is measured
127 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. 127 of the 145 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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.
- Who funds WORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC ↗
- Who funds THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ↗
- Who funds INTERNEWS NETWORK ↗
- Who funds PARTNERS FOR DEVELOPMENT ↗
- Who funds AFRICAN WILDLIFE FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds JANE GOODALL INSTITUTE FOR WILDLIFE RESEARCH EDUCATION AND CONSERVATION ↗
- Who funds WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION ↗
- Who funds Woodwell Climate Research Center Inc ↗
- Who funds CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED ↗
- Who funds REWILD ↗
- Who funds NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY INC ↗
- Who funds FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE ↗
- Who funds TEXAS TECH FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds The Ocean Foundation ↗
- Who funds THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN RIVERS INC ↗
- Who funds American Bar Association Fund for Justice and Education ↗
- Who funds NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION ACTION FUND ↗
- Who funds RARE ↗
- Who funds INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR ANIMAL WELFARE INC ↗
- Who funds NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION ↗
- Who funds MOTE MARINE LABORATORY INC ↗
- Who funds Montana State University Foundation Inc ↗
- Who funds ADM CAPITAL FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds CLIMATE CONSERVATION DBA CENTER FOR LARGE LANDSCAPE CONSERVATION ↗
- Who funds FOREST TRENDS ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds Piikani Lodge Health Institute ↗
- Who funds TROUT UNLIMITED INC ↗
- Who funds MISSISSIPPI PARK CONNECTION ↗
- Who funds METHOW SALMON RECOVERY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds PACIFIC RIM CONSERVATION ↗
- Who funds Tucson Audubon Society ↗
- Who funds NATURAL RESOURCES FOUNDATION OF ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN FOREST FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds SKY ISLAND ALLIANCE ↗
- Who funds GARDEN ISLAND RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT INC ↗
- Who funds Stone Barns Restoration Corp DBA Stone Barns Center for Food & Agri ↗
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.
Open a dossier: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation · The Nature Conservancy · Patagoniaorg · National Forest Foundation · Resources Legacy Fund · Wilburforce Foundation · Walton Family Foundation Inc · Gordon E and Betty I Moore Foundation · The Pew Charitable Trusts · Weeden Foundation · The David and Lucile Packard Foundation · Weyerhaeuser Family Foundationinc
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Wildlife Conservation Society funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Wildlife Conservation Society. Bigger dots raise more.
- Lomakatsi Restoration Project: 100% of income from government
- New Haven - Urban Resources Initiative Inc: 100% of income from government
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: 63% of income from government
- African Aquatic Conservation Fund Inc: 55% of income from government
- Xerces Society Inc: 22% of income from government
- Manomet Inc: 12% of income from government
- Woodwell Climate Research Center Inc: 11% of income from government
- Oregon Natural Desert Association: 9% of income from government
- President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
- Mote Marine Laboratory Inc: 4% of income from government
- Clearwater Marine Aquarium Inc: 1% of income from government
- University of Maryland Alumni Association: 1% of income from government
- Tualatin Riverkeepers Inc: 1% of income from government
How this is measured
Play a game based on Wildlife Conservation Society’s filings →