California · Nonprofit
FREE FLIGHT
FREE FLIGHT (California) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $66,472 to it, the largest being THE CONRAD PREBYS FOUNDATION ($25,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $429k
- Funders on record
- 14
- Grants received
- $66k
- Net assets
- $493k
What Free Flight does
Mission
Free Flight strives to unite the needs of birds and people through programs offered through our learning center and the services we provide. Our parrots help by inspiring visitors to learn more, and to participate in one of our multiple educational programs. We teach adults and children the proper methods of avian care to advocate for the well being of companion parrots in society as a whole. We bring the community together through events to celebrate the human animal bond and foster the connection between parrots and people.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
BIRD ADOPTION: As a measure to prevent inadvertent avian abuse or neglect within our community, Free Flight receives parrots relinquished from private parties who are no longer able to care for them due to changing life conditions and/or health and behavioral challenges with the bird. We provide a nurturing home, working to re-socialize each bird while addressing their individual mental, physical, and emotional needs - for the remainder of their life or until such time that they can be adopted out into an appropriate new home.
$100,584 spent$14,800 earned by the program35% of program spendingSPECIALIZED BOARDING FOR PARROT SOCIALIZATION AND OWNER-PARROT RELATIONSHIP LONGEVITY SUPPORT: Free Flight meets a truly unique, niche need within our community. Our one-of-a-kind sanctuary environment, equipped with staff trained in avian husbandry & enrichment, maintains strict veterinary clearance requirements. Our team is committed to providing a safe haven (including housing, basic training/behavior modification and ambient social learning opportunities) for parrots. We are here for people to turn to in the event their parrot requires temporary placement, and for providing educational resources that help owners better understand, care for, and maintain lasting positive relationships with them.During a parrot's stay, they have access to outdoor fresh air time daily, nutritious food, grooming services as needed, and are permitted to (safely) socialize through interactions with other parrots and the public.Free Flight gives companion parrot owners options to maintain their capacity to provide permanent home/care for their birds amidst all the challenges and obligations of daily life as their circumstances and need change over time.
$99,233 spent34% of program spendingCOMMUNITY OUTREACH & EDUCATION: Free Flight provides a truly unique opportunity for the public to safely engage with and learn about the complex personalities and need of parrots. Throughout the year we host a wide array of on and off-site educational outreach events such as field trips, guided tours, scout troop badge workshops, classroom/assembly visits, summer youth programs, and more. Our primary goal at each event is to walk away knowing we've increased awareness of the parrots and the ways in which they need our help to advocate (be their voice) for avian welfare and conservation efforts around the world. As part of these programs, Free Flight hosts adult volunteers, Junior (high school) docents, Senior docents, and occasional collegiate interns throughout the year as well.
$52,390 spent18% of program spendingOther programs include bird sponsorship which provides individuals with the opportunity to financially sponsor a bird without the full burden of ownership but with dedicated interaction.
$35,479 spent12% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $287,686.
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 $404k to $496k (+23%).
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: 2021 21%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
49% of FREE FLIGHT’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. 1 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 7 funders, grant income rose $1k → $8k.
3 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 21% 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 FREE FLIGHT’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
FREE FLIGHT has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 38% 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2020 61% · 2021 45% · 2022 88% · 2023 26% — 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
67% of FREE FLIGHT's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 43% 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
75% of FREE FLIGHT's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $14k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
FREE FLIGHT runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 3,954 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,954 animals nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like FREE FLIGHT
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
89%
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 FREE FLIGHT: 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 FREE FLIGHT?
- FREE FLIGHT (California) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $66,472 to it, the largest being THE CONRAD PREBYS FOUNDATION ($25,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FREE FLIGHT have?
- IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $66,472 in grants to FREE FLIGHT, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FREE FLIGHT?
- THE CONRAD PREBYS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $25,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FREE FLIGHT 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 Free Flight →
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 14 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