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World Wildlife Fund Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

World Wildlife Fund Inc

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

$96M
Granted FY2025still arriving
66
Grants FY2025still arriving
21
States reached
$2.2M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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.

Environment$42MAnimals$6.6MEducation$1.4MFood & Nutrition$812kScience & Tech$701kCommunity Improvement$692kCrime & Legal$650kInternational$545kOther$0
02FY2025 · 66 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 66 grants below total $8,157,225, the rows itemized in this filing. The $96,472,420 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $88,315,195 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 $10k6 grants · $39k
  • $10k–50k28 grants · $660k
  • $50k–250k26 grants · $2.9M
  • $250k+6 grants · $4.6M
$47,848
Median grant
21
States reached
$777M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE NATURE CONSERVANCY$2,181,960
STANFORD UNIVERSITY$697,549
WINDWARD FUND$665,654
THUNDER VALLEY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION$425,656
BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES$350,000
WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE$259,999
UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE$209,174
C2ES$207,605
THE UNIVERSITY OF MAINE$185,560
WESTERN SUSTAINABILITY EXCHANGE$181,640
CARE$178,250
ISLAND INSTITUTE$177,172
WOMEN IN RANCHING$154,980
WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION$150,000
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON$142,000
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 (FY22–25, $251k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%RURAL DYNAMICS INC: $11k → 14%WOMEN IN RANCHING: $155k → 15%WOMEN IN RANCHING INC: $50k → 15%INDIAN LAND TENURE FOUNDATION: $35k → 14%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

AK
ME
VT
NH
WA
MT
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
WY
SD
IN
OH
PA
CT
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
VA
MD
AZ
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
LA
AL
GA
TX
FL

Grants abroad, by region: $87M on the FY2025 return

Schedule F, as filed: 7 regions, $86M to organizations and $1.0M to individuals. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

Europe (including Iceland and Greenland)$24M · 27% · 29 grants · 3 people

Stated purpose: CONSERVATION

East Asia and the Pacific$19M · 22% · 21 grants · 10 people

Stated purpose: CONSERVATION

South America$19M · 22% · 105 grants · 29 people

Stated purpose: CONSERVATION

Sub-Saharan Africa$12M · 14% · 54 grants · 31 people

Stated purpose: CONSERVATION

South Asia$9.2M · 10% · 21 grants · 50 people

Stated purpose: CONSERVATION

North America (Canada and Mexico)$2.7M · 3% · 32 grants · 2 people

Stated purpose: CONSERVATION

Central America and the Caribbean$1.3M · 2% · 25 grants · 8 people

Stated purpose: CONSERVATION

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.

79%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$36M · 94 repeat orgs$9.6M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +43% since the first grant, against +25% for those funded once.

94 repeat relationships: 34 still active in FY2025, 60 since wound down; 28 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

94
132

Total granted

$36M
$8.5M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+43%
+25%

Still filing today

76%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 75% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.2M 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
EnvironmentEducationAnimalsFood & NutritionCommunity ImprovementPhilanthropyOther
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

  • WC
    Wildlife Conservation Society
    6× · 2017–2025 · $3.5M · revenue +59%
  • CF
    Center for Heirs' Property Preservation
    3× · 2021–2024 · $3.1M · revenue +103% · 29% of their budget
  • WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE
    7× · 2019–2025 · $1.7M · revenue +34%

Funded once

  • THE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION
    one grant, 2023 · $931k · revenue +1%
  • RO
    REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
    one grant, 2018 · $593k
  • UNITED NATIONS FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2022 · $360k · revenue -28%
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
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
2
National Caucus of Environmental Legislators

The national caucus of environmental legislators empowers a nonpartisan network of legislative champions to protect, conserve, and improve the natural and human environment.

Education
3
Rainforest Foundation Inc

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.

Environment
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
The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.

International
6
World Resources Institute

Wri is committed to creating change that improves people's lives and ensures the natural world can thrive. (see schedule o)wri's bold vision requires a formula for success we call "count it. change it. scale it.": - count it: our work is…

International
7
Resource Renewal Institute

The resource renewal institute facilitates the creation, development and implementation of practical strategies to solve the entire complex environmental problem by addressing it comprehensively.

Environment
8
Cascadia Wildlands

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…

Environment
9
National Forest Foundation

The national forest foundation (nff), chartered by congress, turns america's love of nature into meaningful action for 193-million acre national forest system through on the ground program work and grant making activities, and accepts and…

Recreation & Sports
10
Environmental Investigation Agency

To establish and promote programs to protect the global climate, forests, wildlife and the natural environment, through research, advocacy, and investigation.

International
11
Friends of the Earth

Friends of the earth strives for a more healthy and just world by defendng the environment and human health while advancing social and economic justice by conducting research and education, transforming the economy so it protects the…

Environment
12
Applied Ecological Institute Inc

Aei is a non profit ideation collaborative studio creating globalscale, ecological based solutions for a climate positive future.

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Foundations of Success Inc; the most unlike its peers is Symbioseas. 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

188 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. 188 of the 265 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.

7
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
41
Early backer (in before they grew)
184/188
Grantees still filing
127/188
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $3,180,605 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERVANCYCooperative for Assis & Relief(CARE) Inc: $1,915,242 · OtherCooperative for Assis & Relief(CARE) IncROSEBUD ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $1,324,619 · OtherROSEBUD ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATIONNONPROFIT ENTERPRISE AND SELF- SUSTAINABILITY TEAM INC (NESST): $1,270,425 · OtherNONPROFIT ENTERPRISE AND SELF- SUSTAINABILI…ROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC: $685,000 · Other+97 more: $11,702,364 · Other+97 moreWINDWARD FUND: $1,880,850 · EnvironmentWINDWARD FUNDCONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION: $1,479,206 · EnvironmentCONSERVATION INTERNATIONA…CENTER FOR CLIMATE AND ENERGY SOLUTIONS INC: $1,327,996 · EnvironmentCENTER FOR CLIMATE AND EN…THE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $930,755 · EnvironmentTHE CONSERVATION FUND A N…CLIMATE CONSERVATION DBA CENTER FOR LARGE LANDSCAPE CONSERVATION: $767,393 · EnvironmentCLIMATE CONSERVATION DBA …CONSERVATION STRATEGY FUND: $568,001 · EnvironmentCDP NORTH AMERICA INC: $528,420 · EnvironmentCERES INC: $500,000 · Environment+35 more: $3,966,656 · Environment+35 moreWildlife Conservation Society: $3,531,522 · AnimalsWildlife Conserv…REWILD: $704,747 · AnimalsREWILDAQUARIUM OF THE PACIFIC CORPORATION: $430,533 · AnimalsAQUARIUM OF THE …American Bird Conservancy: $393,013 · AnimalsINTERNATIONAL SNOW LEOPARD TRUST: $381,466 · AnimalsSUSTAINABLE FISHERIES PARTNERSHIP FOUNDATION: $290,000 · Animals+16 more: $1,996,855 · Animals+16 moreTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $1,764,072 · EducationTHE BOARD…Cornell University: $605,154 · EducationCornell U…Island Institute: $321,742 · EducationIsland In…DUKE UNIVERSITY: $293,853 · EducationDUKE UNIV…SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $198,814 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF VERMONT AND STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $180,536 · EducationTEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATIO: $150,000 · Education+17 more: $914,317 · Education+17 moreCenter for Heirs' Property Preservation: $3,076,305 · Crime & LegalWORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE: $1,709,684 · InternationalCOOPERATIVE FOR ASSISTANCE AND RELIEF EVERYWHERE INC: $545,090 · InternationalPACIFIC INSTITUTE FOR STUDIES IN DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT & SECURITY: $438,413 · InternationalUNITED NATIONS FOUNDATION INC: $360,000 · InternationalBigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences: $1,638,626 · Science & TechWOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION: $563,917 · Science & TechGLOBAL COLD CHAIN FOUNDATION: $286,421 · Science & TechSYMBIOSEAS: $99,000 · Science & Tech
Other$20,078,255Environment$11,949,277Animals$7,728,136Education$4,428,488Crime & Legal$3,076,305International$3,053,187Science & Tech$2,587,964

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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 budgetWildlife Conservation Society: $3,531,522 over 6y, 1.1% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $3,180,605 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetCenter for Heirs' Property Preservation: $3,076,305 over 3y, 29% of budgetWINDWARD FUND: $1,880,850 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $1,764,072 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE: $1,709,684 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetBigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences: $1,638,626 over 5y, 4.7% of budgetCONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION: $1,479,206 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetCENTER FOR CLIMATE AND ENERGY SOLUTIONS INC: $1,327,996 over 4y, 4.5% of budgetNONPROFIT ENTERPRISE AND SELF- SUSTAINABILITY TEAM INC (NESST): $1,270,425 over 5y, 10% of budgetTHE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $930,755 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCLIMATE CONSERVATION DBA CENTER FOR LARGE LANDSCAPE CONSERVATION: $767,393 over 4y, 8.4% of budgetREWILD: $704,747 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC: $685,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCornell University: $605,154 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCONSERVATION STRATEGY FUND: $568,001 over 3y, 14% of budgetWOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION: $563,917 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHUNDER VALLEY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COR: $545,656 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetCOOPERATIVE FOR ASSISTANCE AND RELIEF EVERYWHERE INC: $545,090 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCDP NORTH AMERICA INC: $528,420 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetCERES INC: $500,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetWINNETT ACES INC: $485,394 over 4y, 29% of budgetPACIFIC INSTITUTE FOR STUDIES IN DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT & SECURITY: $438,413 over 4y, 2.8% of budgetAQUARIUM OF THE PACIFIC CORPORATION: $430,533 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetAmerican Bird Conservancy: $393,013 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetINTERNATIONAL SNOW LEOPARD TRUST: $381,466 over 3y, 11% of budgetUNITED NATIONS FOUNDATION INC: $360,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetMAINE AQUACULTURE INNOVATION CENTER: $354,673 over 5y, 15% of budgetRanchers Stewardship Alliance: $350,215 over 5y, 21% of budgetIsland Institute: $321,742 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetPHEASANTS FOREVER INC: $303,223 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetDUKE UNIVERSITY: $293,853 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSUSTAINABLE FISHERIES PARTNERSHIP FOUNDATION: $290,000 over 2y, 2.9% of budgetGLOBAL COLD CHAIN FOUNDATION: $286,421 over 2y, 10% of budgetNEW VENTURE FUND: $270,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetGLOBAL WATER CHALLENGE: $264,276 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetBUFFALO NATIONS GRASSLANDS ALLIANCE: $252,206 over 2y, 21% of budgetWOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR SCHOLARS: $245,725 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetDefenders of Wildlife: $242,474 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetWESTERN SUSTAINABILITY EXCHANGE: $217,640 over 2y, 4.5% of budgetNEBRASKA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $217,565 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $212,778 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMULTIPLIER: $205,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetWOMEN IN RANCHING INC: $204,731 over 2y, 11% of budgetSOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $198,814 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetRIO GRANDE RETURN: $197,055 over 1y, 9.7% of budgetRARE: $192,856 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetAANIIIH NAKODA COLLEGE (FORT BELKNAP COLLEGE): $191,019 over 4y, 0.4% 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 Fish and Wil…The Nature ConservancyClimateworks Foundati…New Venture FundGordon E and Betty I …World Resources Insti…The Rockefeller Found…PatagoniaorgResources Legacy FundEnvironmental Defense…First Nations Develop…Wal-Mart Foundation
National Fish and Wildlife FoundationDC48.3× affinity40 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation · The Nature Conservancy · Climateworks Foundation · New Venture Fund · Gordon E and Betty I Moore Foundation · World Resources Institute · The Rockefeller Foundation · Patagoniaorg · Resources Legacy Fund · Environmental Defense Fund Incorporated · First Nations Development Institute · Wal-Mart 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 World Wildlife Fund Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from World Wildlife Fund Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 110%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 35%
  • Inter-Tribal Council Inc: 100% of income from government
  • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: 63% of income from government
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% of income from government
  • Johns Hopkins University: 12% of income from government
  • Ceres Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
11get no government money at all
31report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
2rely 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.

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 265 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 World Wildlife’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