Ohio · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF OTTAWA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
FRIENDS OF OTTAWA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE (Ohio) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $815,168 to it, the largest being TOLEDO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($222,400). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 73% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $517k
- Funders on record
- 17
- Grants received
- $815k
- Net assets
- $1.3M
What Friends of Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge does
Mission
Friends of Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge supports the conservation mission of ohio's only national wildlife refuge complex by acquiring land, engaging the community, and enhancing public access.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Public use projects: fonwr creates a visible impact on ottawa national wildlife refuge by creating, improving, and maintaining public use areas for the refuge's 400,000+ annual visitors. Funds this year supported essential operational costs to keep the visitor center staffed and welcoming to visitors. Fonwr also provided funding for trails and grounds maintenance, and mowing contracts on some satellite properties. Additionally, fonwr maintained three wildlife cameras - one focused on the shoreline at cedar point national wildlife refuge, and two in a barn owl nest box to virtually connect audiences to this remote refuge.
$23,493 spent5% of program spendingYouth programs: it is a priority of fonwr to connect youth with environmental education and career development opportunities on the refuge. -- internships: fonwr offers internships for college students or recent graduates pursuing degrees in conservation fields. Interns assist with visitor services, biology, law enforcement, and maintenance programs. This year fonwr provided 10 internships for a total of 4,018 hours of work and funded training opportunities for interns. --career pathways: together with the united states fish and wildlife service, fonwr continued a cooperative agreement for the career pathways program to allow interns opportunity for advancement and selected two technician positions. These technicians contributed 3,120 hours of work for community engagement, intern recruitment, and invasive species projects. --environmental education: fonwr sponsored field trip transportation grants to local schools, bringing 40 students to the refuge for environmental education programs. Fonwr sponsored the turkey hunting workshop and youth waterfowl hunting workshop which reached over 50 youth conservationists. Additionally, fonwr awarded two 2,500 scholarships to high school…
$123,432 spent$34,180 earned by the program25% of program spendingHabitat restoration and management: restoration and maintenance work is completed by fonwr as resources allow to sustain the globally important stopover habitats at ottawa national wildlife refuge. Together with the partners for fish and wildlife program, fonwr continued a cooperative agreement to restore wetland habitat on private lands. In 2025, funds were used to restore over 300 acres of habitat across 10 private-lands projects in ottawa, sandusky, and erie counties. Additionally, fonwr funded support for the kontz wetland delineation and sheet pile installation, providing permanent infrastructure needed to protect restored wetlands.
$137,553 spent$136,053 earned by the program28% of program spendingFonwr supports the mission of the ottawa national wildlife refuge by helping to protect 11,245 acres for wildlife and fostering its use by 400,000 visitors annually. Fonwr extends the visitor experience by operating a nature store within the refuge visitor center. Through marketing and outreach, fonwr shares information online about the refuge and friends group through email updates, social media, and the www.friendsofottawanwr.org website which also features the rookery nature store online. Printed quarterly newsletters and annual reports share news about refuge projects, accomplishments, and program updates to keep visitors connected. Activities such as art classes and workshops, and events such as lorax day, chili cook-off, migration-a-thon, howloween, and the holiday open house bring new user groups to the refuge grounds to diversify visitation and deepen community involvement.
$201,652 spent41% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $486,130.
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 2022 to 2023, from $741k to $1.2M (+59%).
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: 2024 28% · 2025 43%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
74% of FRIENDS OF OTTAWA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (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 2 funders to 5 funders, grant income fell $100k → $38k.
6 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 73% 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 OTTAWA 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 OTTAWA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 27% of grant income and the top three 71%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
86% 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 OTTAWA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 50% · 2018 45% · 2019 40% · 2020 65% · 2021 23% · 2022 74% · 2023 63% — 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
38% of FRIENDS OF OTTAWA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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
73% of FRIENDS OF OTTAWA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE'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. Of the $220k that is directly attributable, 83% of it comes from Ohio funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $595k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
FRIENDS OF OTTAWA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE is better cushioned than half of the 3,693 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,693 animals nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding FRIENDS OF OTTAWA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $851k on record.
- Department of the Interior$851k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like FRIENDS OF OTTAWA 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 Ohio
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
100% 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 FRIENDS OF OTTAWA 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.
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 OTTAWA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE?
- FRIENDS OF OTTAWA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE (Ohio) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $815,168 to it, the largest being TOLEDO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($222,400). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 73% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF OTTAWA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE have?
- IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $815,168 in grants to FRIENDS OF OTTAWA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF OTTAWA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE?
- TOLEDO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $222,400 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF OTTAWA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. 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 Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge →
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 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