Minnesota · Nonprofit
NORTH AMERICAN BEAR CENTER
NORTH AMERICAN BEAR CENTER (Minnesota) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,204,721 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($856,240). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 72% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.9M
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $1.2M
- Net assets
- $5.9M
What North American Bear Center does
Mission
To advance the long-term survival of bears worldwide by replacing misconceptions with scientific facts about bears, their role in ecosystems, and their relations with humans THROUGH AN EDUCATIONAL FACILITY IN ELY, MN, WWW.BEAR.ORG WEBSITE, AND OTHER EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Provided information to the general public about bear behavior and its habitat through the use of indoor and outdoor educational programs and exhibits, a captive bear enclosure, the operation of both an onsite and online gift shop which provide educational materials, and provides educational opportunities through webcams, chats, and website information.
$678,633 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $678,633.
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 2024 to 2025, from $4.7M to $6.0M (+27%).
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 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
72% of NORTH AMERICAN BEAR CENTER’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Board chair
Dr Lynn Rogers
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income fell $226k → $51k.
2 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 72% 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 NORTH AMERICAN BEAR CENTER’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
NORTH AMERICAN BEAR CENTER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 71% of grant income and the top three 96%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
94% 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 NORTH AMERICAN BEAR CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 98% · 2018 98% · 2019 71% · 2020 70% · 2021 64% · 2022 85% · 2023 84% — 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
50% of NORTH AMERICAN BEAR CENTER'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
72% of NORTH AMERICAN BEAR CENTER'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. Of the $338k that is directly attributable, 99% of it comes from funders outside Minnesota, across 6 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $867k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
NORTH AMERICAN BEAR CENTER runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like NORTH AMERICAN BEAR 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
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
85%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Wildlife Research Institute · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NORTH AMERICAN BEAR 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 NORTH AMERICAN BEAR CENTER?
- NORTH AMERICAN BEAR CENTER (Minnesota) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,204,721 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($856,240). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 72% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does NORTH AMERICAN BEAR CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $1,204,721 in grants to NORTH AMERICAN BEAR CENTER, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NORTH AMERICAN BEAR CENTER?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $856,240 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NORTH AMERICAN BEAR 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 North American Bear Center →
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 10 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