Michigan · Nonprofit
GEORGE WRIGHT SOCIETY
GEORGE WRIGHT SOCIETY (Michigan) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $77,972 to it, the largest being THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION ($15,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $166k
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $78k
- Net assets
- $520k
What George Wright Society does
Mission
The GWS advances the natural and cultural heritage values of parks, protected/conserved areas, cultural sites, and other forms of place-based conservation. The GWS promotes professional research and resource stewardship across natural and and cultural disciplines, provides avenues of communication, and encourages public policies that embrace these values.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
GWS recurring publications: Parks Stewardship Forum is a thrice-yearly professional journal on all aspects of park research, management and policy (launched 01/2020). The GWS website explains our work, contains most of our publications in PDF format, and publishes our daily news summary, Parkwire. GWS News+Notes is an occasional members' newsletter. This activity also includes licensing fees from discontinued ("legacy") GWS publications. (Activity accounts for 40% of salaries/benefits and other expenses attributable to Program Services.)
$30,112 spent$3,729 earned by the program14% of program spendingWorkshops and Exchange Programs. With the US National Park Service and other partners, continued planning the International Capacity Development Workshop (formerly International Visitation Workshop; scheduled for May 2024); began planning the West by Northwest Natural Resource Stewardship Training Workshop (scheduled for April 2024). Binational Exchange Program with Argentina National Parks to Enhance Visitor Services. Co-learning exchange between the Argentine Rep. (Argentina) and the United States of America (USA) to develop mutually beneficial ways to deliver high-quality visitor experiences in Argentina's national parks. (Activity accounts for 45% of salaries/benefits and other expenses attributable to Program Services.)
$144,026 spent$9,140 earned by the program68% of program spendingWorld Heritage support activities. Support for professional consultations on, preparation of, and evaluations of World Heritage nominations and other activities. (Activity accounts for 10% of salaries/benefits and other expenses attributable to Program Services.)
$32,290 spent15% of program spendingIndigenous Involvement Working Group. Monthly discussions and occasional webinars led by Indigenous people focused on their involvement with parks, protected/conserved areas, cultural sites, and other forms of place-based conservation. (Activity accounts for 5% of salaries/benefits and other expenses attributable to Program Services.)
$5,159 spent2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $211,587.
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 2021 to 2022, from $760k to $592k (−22%).
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: 2020 43% · 2021 71% · 2022 196% · 2023 50% · 2024 17%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
43% of GEORGE WRIGHT SOCIETY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (18% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 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
David Harmon
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $11k → $28.
4 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 47% 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 GEORGE WRIGHT SOCIETY’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
GEORGE WRIGHT SOCIETY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% 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
65% 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 GEORGE WRIGHT SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 36% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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
14% of GEORGE WRIGHT SOCIETY's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 11% 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
GEORGE WRIGHT SOCIETY draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Michigan, across 3 states in all.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $36k 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
GEORGE WRIGHT SOCIETY's revenue fell 73% between 2020 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 15,520 recreation & sports nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding GEORGE WRIGHT SOCIETY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $641k on record — $640k federal, $450 state.
- Department of the Interior$526k
- Department of State$114k
- FEES-GENERAL-FOR SERVICE $450
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 GEORGE WRIGHT SOCIETY
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 Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
91%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for GEORGE WRIGHT SOCIETY: 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 GEORGE WRIGHT SOCIETY?
- GEORGE WRIGHT SOCIETY (Michigan) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $77,972 to it, the largest being THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION ($15,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does GEORGE WRIGHT SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $77,972 in grants to GEORGE WRIGHT SOCIETY, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GEORGE WRIGHT SOCIETY?
- THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $15,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GEORGE WRIGHT SOCIETY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. 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 George Wright Society →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 9 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