California · Nonprofit
CRITTER ENCOUNTERS
CRITTER ENCOUNTERS (California) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $54 to it, the largest being AMAZONSMILE FOUNDATION ($54). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $230k
- Funders on record
- 1
- Grants received
- $54
- Net assets
- $12k
What Critter Encounters does
Mission
Critter Encounters is a wildlife rescue and sanctuary, maintaining and caring for native and exotic species. Critter Encounters uses these animals as animal ambassadors in educational programs throughout the community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Critter Encounters is a wildlife sanctuary caring for rescued native and exotic species and providing live animal educational programs to the communities within Southern California. In the last year, Critter Encounters Animal Ambassadors did hundreds of events, bringing joy and education to Retirement Facilities, Schools, Girl Scouts, as well as Community & Private events. These programs generated over $148,000 in program services revenue. In addition, Critter Encounters also raised over $82,000 in private individual and corporate donations. In 2024, we moved the sanctuary to a larger property with more housing for rescued animals in need. With all of our growth, we were able to offer many additional programs to the community.
$188,804 spent$148,191 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $188,804.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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 $7k to $26k (+276%).
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.
36% of CRITTER ENCOUNTERS’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (86% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 4 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
Andrea Burgan
President & CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2022 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $19 → $35.
1 of 1 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 100% 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 CRITTER ENCOUNTERS’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.
Where its funders are
100% of CRITTER ENCOUNTERS'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. Too little is directly attributable to place on a map.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $54 arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
CRITTER ENCOUNTERS has grown faster than three-quarters of the 3,693 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,693 animals nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like CRITTER ENCOUNTERS
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
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
0%
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 CRITTER ENCOUNTERS: 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 CRITTER ENCOUNTERS?
- CRITTER ENCOUNTERS (California) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $54 to it, the largest being AMAZONSMILE FOUNDATION ($54). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does CRITTER ENCOUNTERS have?
- IRS filings report 1 organization giving $54 in grants to CRITTER ENCOUNTERS, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CRITTER ENCOUNTERS?
- AMAZONSMILE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $54 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CRITTER ENCOUNTERS 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 Critter Encounters →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2022–2025), and the filings of 1 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