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Iowa · Nonprofit

FRIENDS OF NEAL SMITH NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

FRIENDS OF NEAL SMITH NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE (Iowa) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $148,463 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ($87,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$201k
Funders on record
8
Grants received
$148k
Net assets
$2.7M
5/8 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 26%
01What it does

What Friends of Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge does

Mission

Cooperate with the usfws by increasing public awareness, appreciation and support of the neal smith national wildlife refuge. This includes operation of the nature (book) store, natural resource related scholarships and facilitating expansion of the refuge in cooperation with the usfws and the iowa natural heritage foundation (inhf.)

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. The friends support college student interns who contribute services as volunteers at the prairie. These services are related to their degree objectives and involve environmental research projects, coordinating public events, and assisting with refuge operations.

    $80,877 spentof which $80,877 as grants
    71% of program spending
  2. Refuge support for volunteers, operations, and events.

    $33,542 spent
    29% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $114,419.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 = 20182018 Revenue 100 ($172k) Expenses 100 ($176k) Net assets 100 ($2.5M)2019 Revenue 85 ($146k) Expenses 91 ($159k) Net assets 99 ($2.5M)2020 Revenue 100 ($171k) Expenses 47 ($83k) Net assets 106 ($2.6M)2021 Revenue 84 ($145k) Expenses 51 ($90k) Net assets 110 ($2.8M)2022 Revenue 41 ($70k) Expenses 77 ($135k) Net assets 99 ($2.5M)2023 Revenue 95 ($163k) Expenses 96 ($169k) Net assets 101 ($2.5M)2024 Revenue 117 ($201k) Expenses 83 ($146k) Net assets 107 ($2.7M)
2018201920202021202220232024
Revenue (117)Expenses (83)Net assets (107)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 2021 to 2022, from $2.8M to $2.5M (−10%).

$2.5M
$2.5M
$2.6M
$2.8M
$2.5M
$2.5M
$2.7M
2018201920202021202220232024
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.

2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

52% of FRIENDS OF NEAL SMITH NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (86% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 7,042 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

−$4k
’18
−$13k
’19
$88k
’20
$55k
’21
−$66k
’22
−$7k
’23
$55k
’24
6.7
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.

2018201920202021202220232024
Listed141410101476
Joined·+0+0+1+4+2+0
No longer listed·041091
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 4 funders to 3 funders, grant income fell $62k → $10k.

3 of 8 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 NEAL SMITH NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE’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

FRIENDS OF NEAL SMITH NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 59% of grant income and the top three 91%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

98% 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 NEAL SMITH NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE.

59%
largest funder
91%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 68% · 2018 100% · 2019 99% · 2020 89% · 2021 49% · 2022 59% · 2023 98% — growing more concentrated.

“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

29% of FRIENDS OF NEAL SMITH NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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 NEAL SMITH NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE draws 68% of its grant income from funders outside Iowa, across 2 states in all.

IA
DC

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $20k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

FRIENDS OF NEAL SMITH NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 6,435 animals nonprofits its size.

Operating margin27% · top quartile
Months of reserve6.7mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)3% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,435 animals nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Organizations like FRIENDS OF NEAL SMITH NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

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 Iowa

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

78% of spending goes to programs.

Program 78%Management 22%Fundraising 0%

Governance

6
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

64%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

IA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FRIENDS OF NEAL SMITH NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE: 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 NEAL SMITH NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE?
FRIENDS OF NEAL SMITH NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE (Iowa) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $148,463 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ($87,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does FRIENDS OF NEAL SMITH NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE have?
IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $148,463 in grants to FRIENDS OF NEAL SMITH NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF NEAL SMITH NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE?
NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $87,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like FRIENDS OF NEAL SMITH NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Iowa. 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 Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 8 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