California · Nonprofit
CalWild
CalWild (California) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,089,185 to it, the largest being The Pew Charitable Trusts ($652,419). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $897k
- Funders on record
- 28
- Grants received
- $2.1M
- Net assets
- $724k
What CalWild does
Mission
The California Wilderness Coalition protects the natural landscapes that make California unique, providing clean air and water, a home to wildlife, and a place for recreation and spiritual renewal.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
DEFENSE: CalWild organized public pushback against multiple proposed policies and actions which would be damaging to California's federal public lands through action alerts, grassroots organizing and direct advocacy. A highlight was the key role CalWild played in summer of 2024 to convince California Republican member of Congress to oppose inclusion of selling off public lands in the 2024 "Big Beautiful Bill". This opposition meant that proponents did not have the votes to include sell-offs in the bill, and they were stripped out.
$414,624 spent63% of program spendingEEL RIVER PROJECT: This collaborative process drew together stakeholders, Tribes, public officials and agencies, and NGOs to develop a community vision for the future of the Upper Eel River Watershed. The community vision report was completed in autumn of 2025, but the workshops, one-on-one interviews and agency engagement that fed into creation of the vision were mostly completed in FY 2024-25.
$147,703 spent22% of program spendingNATIONAL MONUMENTS: Exciting victories were achieved in this program area in FY 2024-25 with the designation by President Biden of two new national monuments, the Sattitla Highlands and Chuckwalla National Monuments, in January of 2025. CalWild staff were invited to the White House for the signing ceremony and had photos taken with the President in recognition of the key role CalWild played in organizing and advocating for these monuments, which comprise nearly one million acres of newly protected California public lands.
$95,735 spent15% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $658,062.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $574k to $801k (+40%).
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 5% · 2022 2% · 2024 2% · 2025 19%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Board chair
Erin Medlin
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $206k → $297k.
7 of 28 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 13% 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 CalWild’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
CalWild has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 31% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
43% 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 CalWild.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 80% · 2018 62% · 2019 35% · 2020 45% · 2021 28% · 2022 23% · 2023 21% — 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
50% of CalWild's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 68% 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
CalWild draws 68% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 6 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $270k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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.
Organizations like CalWild
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
68%
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 CalWild: 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 CalWild?
- CalWild (California) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,089,185 to it, the largest being The Pew Charitable Trusts ($652,419). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CalWild have?
- IRS filings report 28 organizations giving $2,089,185 in grants to CalWild, 19 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CalWild?
- The Pew Charitable Trusts is the largest funder on record, with $652,419 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CalWild find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 CalWild →
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 28 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