Maryland · Nonprofit
Born Free USA united with API
Born Free USA united with API (Maryland) receives grants from 66 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,161,818 to it, the largest being The Wildcat Foundation ($1,562,381). 37 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $8.3M
- Funders on record
- 66
- Grants received
- $4.2M
- Net assets
- $7.3M
What Born Free USA united with API does
Mission
Our vision is a co-existent future where humans no longer exploit wild animals. We work to ensure that all wild animals, whether living in captivity or in the wild, are treated with compassion and respect and are able to live their lives according to their needs.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Born Free USA raised awareness on the public health and safety, animal welfare, conservation, and biodiversity issues associated with keeping wild animals in captivity and worked to increase legislative support to further restrict the private keeping of exotic wildlife to reduce instances of human injury and death, zoonotic disease transfer, invasive species, and the loss of threatened wildlife. The organization released research on the exploitation of animals as classroom pets and the harm caused by holding great apes captive in zoos. Born Free USA also embarked on a long-term project of in-depth research into United States zoos, with a focus on animal welfare provision, conservation contribution, and educational value of captive animal facilities. The project will be rolled out over two years and will combine research and undercover investigation. The organization used social media, mainstream media, and educational outreach materials to advance its charitable purposes, with resources including scientific reports, infographics, and webinars. It maintains an interactive database of deadly and dangerous captive wild animal incidents to shed light on the magnitude of the issue of…
$1,209,244 spent54% of program spendingBorn Free USA delivered a 5-day training program for 23 wildlife law enforcement officials in Benin, including judges, prosecutors, customs officers, wildlife authorities, police, INTERPOL, and fisheries authorities. In addition, a collaborative investigation workshop was held in Nigeria for 8 wildlife law enforcement officers from Nigeria, Ghana, Benin and Ivory Coast. Born Free USA provided specialized wildlife law enforcement mentoring to Wildlife Law Enforcement Task Force officers across West Africa remotely, and in person in Nigeria, Benin and Ivory Coast. Born Free USA supported countries with the development of National Wildlife Crime Strategies and Wildlife Law Enforcement Task Forces, which are a requirement under the WASCWC. Born Free USA conducted educational outreach activities that promoted efforts to combat wildlife crime in Benin, Ghana, Nigeria and Ivory Coast. Born Free USA provided logistical support and technical expertise for law enforcement operations undertaken in Nigeria, Benin, Ghana and Ivory Coast. Born Free USA participated in the 20th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES and provided technical support to thirteen West African country…
$1,037,449 spent46% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,246,693.
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 $2.3M to $7.7M (+241%).
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 13% · 2018 20% · 2019 1% · 2020 8% · 2021 10% · 2022 6% · 2024 18% · 2025 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of Born Free USA united with API’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. 5 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
Angela Grimes
CEO
Board chair
Sean Cassidy
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 14 funders to 19 funders, grant income fell $1.6M → $400k.
14 of 66 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% 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 Born Free USA united with API’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 66 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
Born Free USA united with API leans on a few funders — its largest provides 38% of grant income and the top three 63%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 96% · 2018 30% · 2019 37% · 2020 30% · 2021 32% · 2022 44% · 2023 50% — 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
27% of Born Free USA united with API's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
Born Free USA united with API draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Maryland, across 24 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $669k arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
Born Free USA united with API runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 813 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 813 animals nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding Born Free USA united with API receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.9M on record.
- Department of State$1.8M
- Department of Commerce$100k
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 Born Free USA united with API
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 Maryland
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
66%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Born Free USA united with API: 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 Born Free USA united with API?
- Born Free USA united with API (Maryland) receives grants from 66 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,161,818 to it, the largest being The Wildcat Foundation ($1,562,381). 37 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Born Free USA united with API have?
- IRS filings report 66 organizations giving $4,161,818 in grants to Born Free USA united with API, 37 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Born Free USA united with API?
- The Wildcat Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $1,562,381 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Born Free USA united with API find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. 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 66 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing