Washington · Nonprofit
BIG LIFE FOUNDATION USA
BIG LIFE FOUNDATION USA (Washington) receives grants from 113 organizations whose IRS filings report $19,670,666 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($11,210,693). 59 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 74% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.9M
- Funders on record
- 113
- Grants received
- $20M
- Net assets
- $3.8M
What Big Life Foundation USA does
Mission
Partnering with local communities to protect iconic species and conserve habitat in the greater amboseli ecosystem.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Wildlife security and habitat:Big Life Foundation USA funds programs that seek to prevent the poaching of all wildlife within our area of operation across kenya and tanzania. Among other things, we fund one of the largest employers of local maasai in the amboseli-tsavo-kilimanjaro ecosystem, whose rangers are expertly trained and well-equipped to tackle a variety of wildlife crimes spanning approximately two million acres of wilderness. When necessary, the rangers track and apprehend poachers and collaborate with local prosecutors to ensure that they are punished to the fullest extent of the law. (continued on schedule o - supplemental information)in 2025, we funded 33 permanent outposts and 13 mobile units in kenya, and we supported the salaries, training, and equipment of 593 total field staff in kenya, including 391 trained rangers. Rangers in kenya patrolled 546,923 km by vehicle, 234,863 km on foot, and 28,817 km by plane. 209 suspects were arrested in 113 incidents in kenya. Hundreds of poaching tools and related items were confiscated, along with 254 kg of ivory. We also supported the legal monitoring of court cases throughout the year.
$6,744,114 spentof which $6,612,919 as grants74% of program spendingCommunity and outreach:fighting wildlife crime helps the ecosystem today, but winning the hearts and minds of the community and providing a mutual benefit through conservation is the only way to protect wildlife and wild lands far into the future. Big Life Foundation USA invests in the future of participating communities by funding teachers' salaries and providing educational scholarship funds for hundreds of local maasai students in kenya. These salaries and scholarships are distributed to big life kenya who also selects the recipients. When the entire community benefits from conservation efforts and recognizes the value of protecting the ecosystem, enforcement becomes self-policing. (continued on schedule o - supplemental information) in 2025, Big Life Foundation USA provided financial assistance for 462 students at varying levels of education and paid the salaries of 8 teachers. Multiple conservation-oriented student and community meetings and field trips were also held in 2025.
$2,145,862 spentof which $2,022,206 as grants24% of program spendingHuman-wildlife conflict:Big Life Foundation USA funds collaborative programs to help mitigate the negative impact of human-wildlife interaction, such as mitigating crop-raiding by hungry elephants, both for the people and the animals through the construction of wildlife exclusion fences to keep elephants out of crops. In 2025, 55 crop raids were prevented. We also fund a predator compensation fund via grants to big life limited (big life kenya), a related organization. For maasai herders, their cattle are their livelihood. When livestock falls prey to predators, the herders are financially disadvantaged and justifiably frustrated. (continued on schedule o - supplemental information)to prevent losses that lead to herders retaliating with spears or poisoned carcasses, Big Life Foundation USA funds programs to encourage improved fencing and husbandry practices. In the event that an animal is lost to a predator, the herder is compensated for a percentage of the market value of the animal, using funds from the predator compensation fund. This small consolation is significant to the maasai, and as a result, retaliatory killings have been reduced significantly. In 2025, we funded the…
$184,560 spentof which $180,946 as grants2% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $9,074,536.
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 $6.1M to $3.9M (−37%).
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: 2020 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of BIG LIFE FOUNDATION USA’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (74% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Kim Schwalb
Executive director
Board chair
Greg Gubitz
Director & chairperson
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2020 and FY2021 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 22 funders to 48 funders, grant income rose $902k → $2.3M.
23 of 113 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 74% 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 LIFE FOUNDATION USA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 113 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 LIFE FOUNDATION USA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 57% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
76% 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 LIFE FOUNDATION USA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 44% · 2018 37% · 2019 34% · 2020 26% · 2021 47% · 2022 57% · 2023 60% — growing more concentrated.
“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
49% of BIG LIFE FOUNDATION USA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% 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
74% of BIG LIFE FOUNDATION USA's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $5.2M that is directly attributable, 99% of it comes from funders outside Washington, across 27 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $15M arriving through sponsors registered in 14 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 LIFE FOUNDATION USA has grown faster than half of the 717 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 717 animals nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like BIG LIFE FOUNDATION USA
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 Washington
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
89% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
91%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 21 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BIG LIFE FOUNDATION USA: 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 LIFE FOUNDATION USA?
- BIG LIFE FOUNDATION USA (Washington) receives grants from 113 organizations whose IRS filings report $19,670,666 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($11,210,693). 59 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 74% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BIG LIFE FOUNDATION USA have?
- IRS filings report 113 organizations giving $19,670,666 in grants to BIG LIFE FOUNDATION USA, 59 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BIG LIFE FOUNDATION USA?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $11,210,693 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BIG LIFE FOUNDATION USA find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Big Life Foundation USA →
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 113 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