California · Nonprofit
LINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM
LINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM (California) receives grants from 66 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,362,956 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($697,398). 40 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.5M
- Funders on record
- 66
- Grants received
- $3.4M
- Net assets
- $11M
What Lindsay Wildlife Museum does
Mission
Founded in 1955, lindsay's mission is to connect people with wildlife to inspire responsibility and respect for the world we share. Lindsay is a unique natural history, environmental education center and wildlife rehabilitation center.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Wildlife rehabilitation-as one of the first formally established wildlife rehabilitation hospitals in the nation, lindsay has served as a model for wildlife care centers around the world. Since 1991, lindsay has treated more than 199,000 native california wild animals comprising over 5,000 species, with about 50% returned into their natural habitats. Since 2004, the hospital has treated an average of around 500 wild animals every year with the highest daily intakes occurring between april and august, when birds and mammals are raising offspring and human-wildlife conflict is at its highest. More than 200 volunteers currently support the hospital, working on-site or providing home care for injured, abandoned, and/or sick wildlife. The hospital is staffed by a full-time state-licensed veterinarian, one part-time veterinarian, several on-call veterinarians, registered veterinary technicians, wildlife rehabilitation technicians, and veterinary students.the wildlife hospital is permitted by the u.s. Fish and wildlife service and the california department of fish and wildlife.lindsay's reputation for staff expertise in treating and surgically repairing the delicate flight mechanisms of…
$843,108 spent30% of program spendingEducation-lindsay's education department creates wildlife and environmental programs that are inquiry-based, hands-on, multi-sensory, and uniquely intimate. Opportunities exist for guests of all ages, educational levels, and abilities. By focusing on the diversity of guests' interests, lindsay promotes biological sciences, critical thinking, and conservation for thousands of lifelong learners. Descriptions of select educational programs and features are provided below:exhibit hall and daily programs-the major features enjoyed by nearly 60,000 museum guests annually include: twelve indoor exhibit spaces, two outdoor program areas, nine daily educational programs, and more than 40 animal ambassadors on public display. The programs are dynamic, engaging, guest-centered, and mission-driven while the animal ambassadors are out and connecting with guests.lindsay in the classroom-lindsay programs delivered at schools, known as "lindsay in the classroom", are designed for 30 students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, last one hour, and always include the presence of two animal ambassadors. The five classroom programs are: pond protectors, wild homes, learning from wildlife, have to…
$706,702 spent25% of program spendingAnimal encounters-lindsay's collection of animal ambassadors comprises more than 40 species, including individuals that have been too seriously injured to be released back into natural habitats with those that have become too habituated to humans that their ability to survive in the wild has been compromised. The medical care and husbandry of lindsay's animal ambassadors is regulated by the u.s. Department of agriculture, u.s. Fish and wildlife service, and the california department of fish and wildlife. Lindsay is committed to providing medical care, housing, and behavioral enrichment for these animals for the rest of their lives. Lindsay is especially well known for its collection of raptors as well as various california native species and provides up close and personal educational experiences with animal ambassadors. The animal ambassadors live in specially constructed artificial habitats, as well as in aviaries, terraria, and aquaria. Some of them are on display in the exhibit hall, while all of them participate in educational activities delivered to the public by staff and trained volunteers. Educational programs with animal ambassadors take place every day indoors and…
$512,698 spent18% of program spendingMuseum operations-lindsay is home to a natural history collection of over 7,000 specimens consisting of vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, fossils, geology, fungi, art, and artifacts. These collections serve our over 60,000 visitors each year through engaging exhibitions, daily programs, and exhibit floor interpretation. Additionally, these specimens are utilized in all our education programs, including onsite field trip programs, offsite classroom outreaches, offsite community outreaches, scout programs, homeschool programs, preschool programs, camps, and special events. Roughly 50 researchers and local educators utilize the collection each year through the museum's discovery kit specimen rental program. In addition, lindsay partners with local organizations to run pop-up exhibits at their location for short term community experiences.guest services-guest services, or "guest experience," manages the admissions process for visitors to lindsay's exhibits and programs, as well as the gift shop, memberships, and visitor experiences. They coordinate with all departments for the smooth running of on-site programs, events, and activities, manage store inventories and purchases, and…
$761,482 spent$534,384 earned by the program27% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,823,990.
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 2021 to 2022, from $6.0M to $12M (+92%).
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 3% · 2018 4% · 2019 3% · 2020 11% · 2021 35% · 2022 4% · 2023 3% · 2024 4% · 2025 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
62% of LINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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.
Chief executive
Karen Deshayes
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 19 funders to 26 funders, grant income rose $74k → $536k.
11 of 66 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 LINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 66 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
LINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
51% 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 LINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 30% · 2018 38% · 2019 29% · 2020 23% · 2021 18% · 2022 15% · 2023 19% — 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 LINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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
56% of LINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
LINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM's funding base is broadening — from 19 funders to 26 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding LINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $50k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$50k
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 LINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM
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.
Where the money goes
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
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 LINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM: 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 LINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM?
- LINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM (California) receives grants from 66 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,362,956 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($697,398). 40 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM have?
- IRS filings report 66 organizations giving $3,362,956 in grants to LINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM, 40 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $697,398 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM 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 Lindsay Wildlife Museum →
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 66 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