Arizona · Nonprofit
Arizona Elk Society
Arizona Elk Society (Arizona) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $615,245 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FOREST FOUNDATION ($270,800). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.5M
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $615k
- Net assets
- $2.6M
What Arizona Elk Society does
Mission
Wildlife conservation organization benefiting elk and other wildlife for habitat conservation and restoration and to preserve our hunting heritage. Activities include promoting sound wildlife management and habitat youth conservation programs hunting and outdoor activities hunting programs for veterans and educating the public.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Volunteers and contractors work with the US Forest Serv., Az Game and Fish, State of AZ, SRP and more on collaborative projects to restore, maintain and enhance wildlife habitat. Programs also incorporate Boy Scout Projects. AES volunteers hauled over 400,000 gal. of water for wildlife, restored and maintained over 45 water catchments. Volunteers work on riparian restoration, creek channel rebuilding, fence removal, cleared jack pines and junipers for grassland restoration, hauled and placed tons of rock to build riparian stream structures to restore meadow and watershed, maintained riparian cattle enclosure fencing, built log fences to protect critical wildlife habitat and water sources, restored water catchments and troughs, and thinned brush around water catchments and in important wildlife migration corridors. AES had over 250 volunteers providing thousands of hours working on wildlife restoration projects. AES contractors masticate and clear thousands of acres of invasive junipers to restore historic grassland for wldlife and to increase watershed and help stop forest fires.
$1,692,776 spentof which $168,450 as grants83% of program spendingYouth and adult conservation education. Provides education programs to increase the public understanding of wildlife habitat, the public impact on it, and to teach conservation ethics. These include outdoor adventure day camps, wildlife, outdoor skills camps for youth. AES also provides numerous mentored hunting camps for youth and new hunters. Once a year the AES holds an all day Elk Clinic to teach hunters the ins and outs of hunting elk in Arizona.
$119,274 spent6% of program spendingHeroes Rising Outdoors AES volunteers provided more than 100 guided hunts for AZ wounded veterans, both men and women. Healing through the Outdoors is the motto for the program and the veterans expressed the connection to nature and outdoors helps them heal inside. With help from outfitters, guides, veteran organizations, and volunteers AES has taken Az Disabled Veterans on hunts to fulfill their dreams and help them heal. In addition to the hunt experiences AES provides we also have added experiences, including equine therapy, fly fishing, bass fishing, hiking and camping. Membership services Services provided to approximately 1,250 members through the Tracker magazine and other member resources. AES represents members and other stakeholders on issues related to hunting, wildlife habitat, forest health, access issues, threats to elk and wildlife, elk management and more. AES partners with the Az Game Fish, AZ Cattle Growers, AZ counties, ranchers, and state representatives to educate the public and enlist others to protect and support Arizona wildlife and heritage.
$219,507 spentof which $10,449 as grants$25,077 earned by the program11% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,031,557.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $1.7M to $2.9M (+70%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 31% · 2018 28% · 2021 12% · 2022 7% · 2023 14% · 2024 21% · 2025 30%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
91% of Arizona Elk Society’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (74% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Steve Clark
Executive Director/Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 4 funders, grant income fell $76k → $41k.
2 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 19% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of Arizona Elk Society’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
Arizona Elk Society leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 91%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
98% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund Arizona Elk Society.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 66% · 2018 79% · 2019 100% · 2020 76% · 2021 97% · 2022 100% · 2023 61% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
38% of Arizona Elk Society's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
Arizona Elk Society draws 62% of its grant income from funders outside Arizona, across 6 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $117k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
Arizona Elk Society runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 717 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 717 animals nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding Arizona Elk Society receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $895k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$690k
- Department of the Interior$205k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like Arizona Elk Society
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Arizona
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
73%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Arizona Elk Society: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds Arizona Elk Society?
- Arizona Elk Society (Arizona) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $615,245 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FOREST FOUNDATION ($270,800). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Arizona Elk Society have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $615,245 in grants to Arizona Elk Society, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Arizona Elk Society?
- NATIONAL FOREST FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $270,800 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Arizona Elk Society find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Arizona. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 11 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing