Missouri · Nonprofit
JOHNNY MORRIS' WONDERS OF WILDLIFE FOUNDATION
JOHNNY MORRIS' WONDERS OF WILDLIFE FOUNDATION (Missouri) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,057,926 to it, the largest being TYSON FAMILY FOUNDATION INC ($10,000,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $26M
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $100M
What Johnny Morris' Wonders of Wildlife Foundation does
Mission
The organization's mission is to inspire fish and wildlife conservation by celebrating the stewardship of hunters and anglers and encourage people of all ages to connect with nature through fishing, hunting and outdoor recreation.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The foundation manages and operates johnny morris' wonders of wildlife national museum and aquarium (wow) located in springfield, mo. The museum and aquarium offer visitors a unique experience to learn about conservation through tours, live animal collections, taxidermied wildlife galleries and other exhibits. The experience celebrates those who hunt, fish and act as stewards of the land and water. The education team connects people to nature through interpretive programs, outreach and field programs. The wonders of wildlife houses the exhibit, nature's best photography. This exhibit is home to the windland smith rice international awards and its annual nature's best photography exhibition, previously only displayed at the smithsonian museum of natural history in washington, d.c. Established to recognize and display the creative talents and documentary achievement of nature photographers worldwide, the exhibition features a rotating gallery of jaw-dropping wildlife photography and videos from around the world as a celebration of both people and nature.
$18,966,891 spentof which $500 as grants$19,750,568 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $18,966,891.
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 2017 to 2018, from $11M to $52M (+359%).
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: 2021 22%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
23% of JOHNNY MORRIS' WONDERS OF WILDLIFE FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $10k → $119k.
3 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 1% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $1.5M from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest American National Fish & Wildlife Museum). These are real filings, and they are not money JOHNNY MORRIS' WONDERS OF WILDLIFE FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of JOHNNY MORRIS' WONDERS OF WILDLIFE FOUNDATION’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
JOHNNY MORRIS' WONDERS OF WILDLIFE FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 90% of grant income and the top three 98%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 99% · 2020 90% · 2021 92% · 2022 92% · 2023 83% — 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
60% of JOHNNY MORRIS' WONDERS OF WILDLIFE FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
JOHNNY MORRIS' WONDERS OF WILDLIFE FOUNDATION draws 99% of its grant income from funders outside Missouri, across 7 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $90k 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.
Against its field
JOHNNY MORRIS' WONDERS OF WILDLIFE FOUNDATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 570 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 570 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like JOHNNY MORRIS' WONDERS OF WILDLIFE FOUNDATION
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 Missouri
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
84% 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
Part of a family of 7 related entities
- Amrcn Nat'L Fish and Wildlife Museum Dis · exempt
- Bass Pro Shops & Cabelas' Outdoor Fund · exempt
- Dogwood Canyon Foundation · exempt
- Johnny Morris Foundation · exempt
- Johnny Morris' Ozarks Heritage Preserve · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for JOHNNY MORRIS' WONDERS OF WILDLIFE FOUNDATION: 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 JOHNNY MORRIS' WONDERS OF WILDLIFE FOUNDATION?
- JOHNNY MORRIS' WONDERS OF WILDLIFE FOUNDATION (Missouri) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,057,926 to it, the largest being TYSON FAMILY FOUNDATION INC ($10,000,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does JOHNNY MORRIS' WONDERS OF WILDLIFE FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $11,057,926 in grants to JOHNNY MORRIS' WONDERS OF WILDLIFE FOUNDATION, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of JOHNNY MORRIS' WONDERS OF WILDLIFE FOUNDATION?
- TYSON FAMILY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $10,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like JOHNNY MORRIS' WONDERS OF WILDLIFE FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Missouri. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
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 12 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