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North Carolina · Nonprofit

FRIENDS OF BONOBOS

FRIENDS OF BONOBOS (North Carolina) receives grants from 38 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,568,134 to it, the largest being ARCUS FOUNDATION ($755,031). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$1.5M
Funders on record
38
Grants received
$2.6M
Net assets
$355k
25/38 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 34%
01What it does

What Friends of Bonobos does

Mission

We're on a mission to save and protect bonobos and their rainforest home through rescue, sanctuary, and rewilding; by partnering with local communities to tackle root causes and save rainforests; and by raising the profile of bonobos locally and globally.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. Support to les amis des bonobos du congo (abc) non-profit for conservation programs: rescue, rehabilitation, and care for orphaned bonobos at the only bonobo sanctuary in the world; rewilding of bonobos in a 120,000 acre protected reserve; country-wide education and awareness-building about bonobos and conservation; and community development around protected habitat. Regular payments were made to abc, including grants, direct payment of consultant fees and other program costs on behalf of abc. Raise global awareness and educate the public about the work of abc and the plight of bonobos, reaching over 50 million people annually through online communications including videos, social media posts and website and regular collaboration with international media production teams to produce film, tv and radio shows.

    $1,416,554 spentof which $946,366 as grants$40,000 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,416,554.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($582k) Expenses 100 ($704k) Net assets 100 ($122k)2018 Revenue 87 ($505k) Expenses 71 ($501k) Net assets 104 ($126k)2019 Revenue 171 ($993k) Expenses 127 ($896k) Net assets 239 ($292k)2020 Revenue 179 ($1.0M) Expenses 130 ($915k) Net assets 266 ($324k)2021 Revenue 222 ($1.3M) Expenses 179 ($1.3M) Net assets 294 ($358k)2022 Revenue 193 ($1.1M) Expenses 189 ($1.3M) Net assets 126 ($153k)2023 Revenue 315 ($1.8M) Expenses 219 ($1.5M) Net assets 445 ($542k)2024 Revenue 266 ($1.5M) Expenses 247 ($1.7M) Net assets 291 ($355k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (266)Expenses (247)Net assets (291)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $193k to $594k (+209%).

$122k
$126k
$310k
$332k
$382k
$193k
$594k
$449k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

97% of FRIENDS OF BONOBOS’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (74% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 1,657 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$121k
’17
$5k
’18
$97k
’19
$128k
’20
$34k
’21
−$205k
’22
$294k
’23
−$188k
’24
1.3
months of
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

Ariel Rogers

Executive director

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed1111121012131313
Joined·+0+2+1+5+1+0+0
No longer listed·0133000
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 21 funders, grant income rose $147k → $576k.

11 of 38 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% 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 FRIENDS OF BONOBOS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 38 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

FRIENDS OF BONOBOS has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 29% 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

27% 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 FRIENDS OF BONOBOS.

29%
largest funder
56%
top three
~7
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 68% · 2018 83% · 2019 44% · 2020 48% · 2021 33% · 2022 36% · 2023 34% — 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 FRIENDS OF BONOBOS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 66% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

FRIENDS OF BONOBOS draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside North Carolina, across 18 states in all.

NH
WA
MN
NY
MA
NV
OH
PA
CT
CA
CO
DE
TN
NC
DC
GA
TX
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
North Carolina out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $365k arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

FRIENDS OF BONOBOS has grown faster than half of the 1,559 animals nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−12% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve1.3mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)15% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,559 animals nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Organizations like FRIENDS OF BONOBOS

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 North Carolina

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

82% of spending goes to programs.

Program 82%Management 13%Fundraising 5%

Governance

11
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

78%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 3 states

NY
CA
NC

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FRIENDS OF BONOBOS: 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.

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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 FRIENDS OF BONOBOS?
FRIENDS OF BONOBOS (North Carolina) receives grants from 38 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,568,134 to it, the largest being ARCUS FOUNDATION ($755,031). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does FRIENDS OF BONOBOS have?
IRS filings report 38 organizations giving $2,568,134 in grants to FRIENDS OF BONOBOS, 25 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF BONOBOS?
ARCUS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $755,031 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like FRIENDS OF BONOBOS find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in North Carolina. 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 Friends of Bonobos →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 38 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