Minnesota · Nonprofit
INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER
INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER (Minnesota) receives grants from 63 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,695,353 to it, the largest being DOROTHY D AND JOSEPH A MOLLER FOUNDATION ($471,300). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.3M
- Funders on record
- 63
- Grants received
- $1.7M
- Net assets
- $7.1M
What International Wolf Center does
Mission
The International Wolf Center uses science-based education to teach and inspire the world about wolves, their ecology, and the wolf-human relationship.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Public programs/exhibits:the International Wolf Center welcomed nearly 39,000 visitors to its interpretive center in ely, mn in 2025. Admittance to the visitor center allows visitors to experience daily programs led by education staff, the discover wolves! Exhibit, along with exhibits about wolves in the arctic and moose and wolves and a special exhibit designed for young learners.
$1,747,863 spent$471,197 earned by the program99% of program spendingEducation programming:1,907 participants learned about wolves during their customized group visit to the visitor center. 104 participants joined a learning adventure and explored the world of wolves through hands-on activities, presentations, and games as well as off-site hikes and howling adventures in the superior national forest. Iwc education staff also presented wolf education outreach to non-school and off-site groups for 2,944 adults, children and families.
$8,356 spent$80,452 earned by the program0% of program spendingOnline programming:the International Wolf Center reaches audiences beyond our interpretive center through online programs including 16 webinars with 3,527 attendees. Webinars teach about wolf behavior, pack dynamics and wolf research around the world. 4,825 students participated in a wolflink virtual learning field trip. Wolflink programs are offered to school classrooms and provide the opportunity to learn about and observe our ambassador wolves live via webcams.
$2,600 spent$24,974 earned by the program0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,758,819.
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 2020 to 2021, from $4.3M to $5.5M (+30%).
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: 2017 5% · 2018 2% · 2021 11% · 2024 13%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
73% of INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (74% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 8 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
Grant Spickelmier
Executive director
Board chair
Judith Hunter
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 22 funders, grant income rose $85k → $235k.
15 of 63 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% 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 INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 63 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
INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 28% 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
59% 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 INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 60% · 2018 49% · 2019 33% · 2020 36% · 2021 30% · 2022 26% · 2023 23% — 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
49% of INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 51% 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
INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER draws 97% of its grant income from funders outside Minnesota, across 18 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $615k arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,559 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,559 animals nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER
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 Minnesota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
84%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 3 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER: 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 INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER?
- INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER (Minnesota) receives grants from 63 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,695,353 to it, the largest being DOROTHY D AND JOSEPH A MOLLER FOUNDATION ($471,300). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 63 organizations giving $1,695,353 in grants to INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER, 32 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER?
- DOROTHY D AND JOSEPH A MOLLER FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $471,300 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. 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 International Wolf Center →
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 63 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing