Virginia · Nonprofit
NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION
NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION (Virginia) receives grants from 1087 organizations whose IRS filings report $197,213,179 to it, the largest being Walton Family Foundation Inc ($19,696,884). 680 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $156M
- Funders on record
- 1,087
- Grants received
- $197M
- Net assets
- $130M
What National Wildlife Federation does
Mission
Unite all americans to ensure wildlife thrives in a rapidly changing world.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Conservation programsas a leading conservation organization, the National Wildlife Federation is active across a broad array of issues. The breadth of our work reflects the breadth of threats confronting fish and wildlife and it has never felt more important as treasured and unknown species alike face mounting pressures: habitat degradation and fragmentation, the spread of zoonotic diseases and invasive species, and the impact from extreme weather events mean more than one-third of all species in the united states face an increased risk of extinction in the coming decades.recovering wildlife is the thread linking everything the federation does. And when wildlife thrive, it improves the quality of life and economic opportunities for people and helps restore the environment. Our programs develop, promote, and enact science-based solutions to help wildlife and people adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing world. - wildlife recovery and habitat restorationamerican grasslandsnwf hosted the 7th biennial america's grasslands conference in june. The conference theme, grasslands across generations, highlighted the changes in our grassland landscape over time and the future of grasslands…
$52,258,536 spentof which $12,629,101 as grants$50,973 earned by the program49% of program spendingEducation outreach & publicationseco-schools had widespread participation in school-based sustainability efforts, with 452 schools actively engaging across 68% of u.s. States. The program engaged over 36,400 students in nearly 1,400 student-led actions focused on energy and water conservation, waste reduction, habitat creation, and environmental awareness. Schools reported improvements in outdoor learning, green spaces, and community resilience. Actions included creative projects like pollinator gardens and upcycling. Since the program's inception, more than 6,000 schools have participated.nwf's habitat programs focused on accelerating community-based conservation, enhancing climate resilience through nature-based solutions, and strengthening wildlife corridors. Key initiatives included certifying new communities, supporting pollinator habitats, and promoting "leave the leaves" campaigns to support biodiversity. In 2025, 10 communities earned certification by implementing outreach activities and creating habitats where people live, work, and worship. New additions include new hope (pa), lake bluff (il), and lake monticello (va) and more than 15,000 properties were certified…
$31,810,755 spentof which $4,089,012 as grants$7,560,176 earned by the program30% of program spendingMembership & other nature education programsmembership education programs maintain an active, engaged and informed membership providing supporters with the information and inspiration to make a difference in their own backyards, their communities, and across the country. Nwf reaches millions of supporters monthly to communicate the most pressing needs facing the environment today - from people becoming more disconnected from nature to loss of habitat and the impacts of climate change. Through such publications as national wildlife magazine, the nwf website, and other sources of information, nwf is educating our membership base on how nwf is working to protect wildlife and habitat. Every month, through national wildlife magazine millions of people can read informative feature articles about wildlife and wildlife conservation, the latest environmental news and success stories from nwf and around the nation.the rich history of national wildlife week dates all the way back to its first celebration in 1938. As our longest-running education program, national wildlife week engages millions of participants. The broad range of educational activities increases awareness and promotes the…
$23,197,247 spent$3,517,786 earned by the program22% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $107,266,538.
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 $124M to $161M (+29%).
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 1% · 2019 1% · 2020 2% · 2021 8% · 2022 5% · 2023 7% · 2024 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
84% of NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (73% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Collin O' Mara
President & CEO
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 211 funders to 442 funders, grant income rose $11M → $38M.
94 of 1087 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 15% 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 NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 1087 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
NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 10% of grant income, and it takes 9 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 9 funders to its left
34% 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 NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 20% · 2018 26% · 2019 18% · 2020 17% · 2021 13% · 2022 14% · 2023 11% — 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
45% of NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Virginia, across 49 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $29M arriving through sponsors registered in 30 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
NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 14 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 14 animals nonprofits over $100M, FY2024
Government funding NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $21.0M on record — $20.2M federal, $742k state.
- Environmental Protection Agency$8.9M
- Department of Agriculture$5.0M
- Department of the Interior$3.5M
- Department of Homeland Security$1.9M
- Department of Commerce$709k
- Department of Defense$129k
- NJ$403k
- VT$286k
- MD$53k
- FL$30
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 NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION
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 Virginia
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
92%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 38 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Garden for Wildlife Inc · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION: 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 NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION?
- NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION (Virginia) receives grants from 1087 organizations whose IRS filings report $197,213,179 to it, the largest being Walton Family Foundation Inc ($19,696,884). 680 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION have?
- IRS filings report 1087 organizations giving $197,213,179 in grants to NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION, 680 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION?
- Walton Family Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $19,696,884 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 1087 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