Illinois · Nonprofit
FISH WELFARE INITIATIVE
FISH WELFARE INITIATIVE (Illinois) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,703,648 to it, the largest being ANIMAL CHARITY EVALUATORS ($342,017). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 17
- Grants received
- $1.7M
- Net assets
- $803k
What Fish Welfare Initiative does
Mission
To improve and advance the welfare interests of fish and other aquatic life used by humans.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Our Research & Development Department conducted studies to improve fish welfare in India, including satellite monitoring of water quality, potential welfare improvements for fish at the nursery farming stage, and improved slaughter. We also developed a welfare assessment protocol for Indian major carps to enhance monitoring tools. Results from these studies are available on our blog and research pages at www.fwi.fish/blog and www.fwi.fish/research.
$321,559 spentof which $79,100 as grants51% of program spendingWe collaborated with local partners in China to host an Aquatic Animal Welfare Forum and 2 webinars discussing fish welfare. We also conducted in-country field visits and identified key welfare improvements for farmed fish in China. We continued building relationships with key Chinese stakeholders that will be significant for advancing the field and idea of fish welfare in China in the next years to come.
$149,713 spent24% of program spendingThrough our on-ground staff in India, we supported 179 active farms in adopting higher welfare practices. These practices included lowering stocking densities to sustainable levels and improving water quality management. In 2025, we estimate that this program improved the lives of over 1.9 million fish.
$142,583 spent22% of program spendingDescription: Advancing FWI's mission for aquatic life and animal welfare in India and China. These expenses directly support program delivery in India and China, including supplies for field offices where programmatic work is conducted and meals for staff during field visits.
$21,782 spent3% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $635,637.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 $261k to $805k (+209%).
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.
99% of FISH WELFARE INITIATIVE’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. 2 of the last 6 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
Haven King-Nobles
Executive Director
Board chair
Ameer Virani
Trustee, Board President
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 10 funders, grant income rose $23k → $293k.
10 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 45% 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 FISH WELFARE INITIATIVE’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
FISH WELFARE INITIATIVE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% 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
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 FISH WELFARE INITIATIVE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 53% · 2022 71% · 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
40% of FISH WELFARE INITIATIVE's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 59% 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
FISH WELFARE INITIATIVE draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 4 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $772k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
FISH WELFARE INITIATIVE runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 717 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 717 animals nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like FISH WELFARE INITIATIVE
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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 FISH WELFARE INITIATIVE: 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 FISH WELFARE INITIATIVE?
- FISH WELFARE INITIATIVE (Illinois) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,703,648 to it, the largest being ANIMAL CHARITY EVALUATORS ($342,017). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FISH WELFARE INITIATIVE have?
- IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $1,703,648 in grants to FISH WELFARE INITIATIVE, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FISH WELFARE INITIATIVE?
- ANIMAL CHARITY EVALUATORS is the largest funder on record, with $342,017 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FISH WELFARE INITIATIVE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Fish Welfare Initiative →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 17 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