California · Nonprofit
HIDDEN WONDERS
HIDDEN WONDERS (California) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $140,100 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($57,500). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $9k
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $140k
- Net assets
- $34k
What Hidden Wonders does
Mission
Our Mission: To discover, describe and protect key insect species and other hidden wonders of nature and inspire the next generation to care for these crucial components of a healthy planet for the betterment of all. Our Purpose: Hidden Wonders aims to contribute to our understanding of the crucial role that insects play within a variety of ecosystems by discovering and explaining the behavior and interactions of insect species before they become extinct. By sharing the discoveries of new insect species and explaining their role in maintaining a healthy planet, we aim to inspire the protection of those species and their ecosystems into the future. Through collaborations with local communities, schools, and media outlets, Hidden Wonders share stories and interactive experiences in nature to build the next stewards of our planet.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Program
Programs (80% of budget): (30%) Insect lab & photo studio, (30%) Fieldwork & Collecting, (20%) Outreach. Overhead (20% of budget) divided evenly between Fundraising & Office Administration. We have documented through photography and illustration dozens of insect species for the contribution to scientific literature, books and magazines that reach general populations, and educational materials that reach children and youth. In the Insect Lab & Photo Studio there are discoveries made under the microscope. Over 100 species new to science have been found and are being described by the lead scientist/entomologist of Hidden Wonders. Insects have been collected and studied from various parts of the world. These findings have resulted in broadening the understanding of insect biodiversity and after studying and observing the behaviors, revealed the importance that insects play in their environments. Video calls with over a dozen classrooms of students from around the world have taken place from the lab and also from collecting sites in nature via satellite phone. Additionally, classroom visits and field trips with students have taken place in-person in multiple locations. Hidden Wonders…
$9,055 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $9,055.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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 $72k to $34k (−53%).
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.
90% of HIDDEN WONDERS’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (100% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 4 reported years ran a deficit.
Leadership and staff
Chief executive
Isai Madriz
Executive Director, Lead Entomologist
Board chair
Susan Lindsay
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2022 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $8k → $68k.
4 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 100% 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 HIDDEN WONDERS’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
HIDDEN WONDERS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 95%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
100% 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 HIDDEN WONDERS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2022 100% · 2023 74% — 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.
Where its funders are
100% of HIDDEN WONDERS'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. Too little is directly attributable to place on a map.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $140k 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
HIDDEN WONDERS's revenue fell 89% between 2022 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,315 animals nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Organizations like HIDDEN WONDERS
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.
Public support
100%
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 HIDDEN WONDERS: 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 HIDDEN WONDERS?
- HIDDEN WONDERS (California) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $140,100 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($57,500). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does HIDDEN WONDERS have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $140,100 in grants to HIDDEN WONDERS, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HIDDEN WONDERS?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $57,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HIDDEN WONDERS 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 Hidden Wonders →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2022–2025), and the filings of 4 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