Florida · Nonprofit
BIG CAT RESCUE CORP
BIG CAT RESCUE CORP (Florida) receives grants from 107 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,765,227 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF TAMPA BAY INC ($505,893). 71 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.0M
- Funders on record
- 107
- Grants received
- $3.8M
- Net assets
- $37M
What Big Cat Rescue Corp does
Mission
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.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Animal care - the organization provided financial support for food and medical care at an accredited sanctuary for 30 big cats, many of whom have been abused, abandoned, orphaned or retired from performing acts.
$154,704 spent14% of program spendingAdvocacy - the organization educates the public about big cat issues in captivity and in the wild and advocates for legislation through its website that received an estimated 657,000 views during the year and through emails sent no less than monthly that go to over 6,000 recipients. Our youtube channel bigcattv.com has over 1.3 million subscribers and our videos there have received over 660 million cumulative views. We had over 4.2 million facebook followers at year end, over 275,000 followers on x, and over 165,000 on instagram. Our most significant advocacy accomplishment was the passage of the federal big cat public safety act into law on december 20, 2022 after over a decade of our leading the effort to get it passed. The bill ends the abusive cub petting and phases out private ownership of big cats by those who are not usda licensed exhibitors. We believe this will end 90% of the abuse of big cats held in captivity in this country. Since then we have worked actively with us fish & wildlife service on enforcement of the law. In 2024 we worked on a ballot initiative in colorado to end the more abusive kinds of hunting of cougars, bobcats, and lynx. Unfortunately, it did not…
$96,387 spentof which $25,364 as grants9% of program spendingSupport for in-situ conservation programs - grants ranging in size from 2,500 to 60,000 were made to 16 in situ wild cat conservation projects across asia, africa, and central and south america.
$828,328 spentof which $550,935 as grants77% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,079,419.
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 2023 to 2024, from $16M to $32M (+103%).
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.
25% of BIG CAT RESCUE CORP’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 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
Carole Baskin
CEO / founde
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 32 funders to 33 funders, grant income fell $438k → $345k.
11 of 107 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 48% 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 BIG CAT RESCUE CORP’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 107 funders by total. 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
BIG CAT RESCUE CORP has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 13% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
68% 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 BIG CAT RESCUE CORP.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 28% · 2018 21% · 2019 24% · 2020 16% · 2021 21% · 2022 19% · 2023 17% — 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 BIG CAT RESCUE CORP's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 66% 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
52% of BIG CAT RESCUE CORP's grant income comes from Florida funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
BIG CAT RESCUE CORP runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 6,891 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,891 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding BIG CAT RESCUE CORP receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1k on record.
- REFUNDS - GENERAL $1k
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 BIG CAT RESCUE CORP
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 Florida
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
68% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
63%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BIG CAT RESCUE CORP: 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 BIG CAT RESCUE CORP?
- BIG CAT RESCUE CORP (Florida) receives grants from 107 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,765,227 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF TAMPA BAY INC ($505,893). 71 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BIG CAT RESCUE CORP have?
- IRS filings report 107 organizations giving $3,765,227 in grants to BIG CAT RESCUE CORP, 71 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BIG CAT RESCUE CORP?
- COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF TAMPA BAY INC is the largest funder on record, with $505,893 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BIG CAT RESCUE CORP find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Florida. 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 107 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