Minnesota · Nonprofit
PHEASANTS FOREVER INC
PHEASANTS FOREVER INC (Minnesota) receives grants from 97 organizations whose IRS filings report $40,612,801 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA ($18,155,651). 52 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $119M
- Funders on record
- 97
- Grants received
- $41M
- Net assets
- $64M
What Pheasants Forever Inc does
Mission
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever's mission is to conserve pheasants, quail, and other wildlife through habitat improvements, public access, education, and conservation advocacy.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Wildlife Habitat Initiatives: During the 2025 fiscal year, Pheasants Forever, Inc. completed over 2,500 habitat projects impacting 88,600 acres. Since its inception in 1982, Pheasants Forever has spent $1.34 billion and completed 589,000 habitat projects. These projects include land acquisitions, shelterbelts, wetlands, food plots, nesting cover, tree planting, maintenance and include the purchase of habitat equipment. Following are current year highlights of the various projects completed by Pheasants Forever: Land Acquisitions-Land acquired by, or with the help of, Pheasants Forever is generally donated to state and federal wildlife agencies for public wildlife management areas. During the year, Pheasants Forever spent $16.9 million to help purchase 941 acres of land, including conservation easements Since inception, Pheasants Forever has helped purchase, and put into public domain, more than 205,000 acres of land at a cost of $341 million. Shelterbelts- A well designed shelterbelt can effectively protect wildlife from exposure to harsh weather conditions. Shelterbelts also provide loafing, feeding, roosting and escape cover for pheasants and other upland wildlife throughout the…
$87,975,572 spent$3,185,418 earned by the program88% of program spendingPublic Awareness, Education and Outreach: The education and outreach component of Pheasants Forever provides year-round youth programs that offer a pathway of activities that cultivate and grow land stewards and hunting conservationists of all ages. The focus is on hunter recruitment, retention, and reactivation. This initiative is carried on in part through the No Child Left Indoors(R) Initiative and other outreach activities. The organization's publications, The Pheasants Forever Journal of Upland Conservation (published four times a year) and The Quail Forever Journal of Quail Conservation (published four times a year) and the joint Upland Hunting SUPER issue (published once for both PF and QF audiences) are distributed to members along with a variety of printed and electronic communications disseminated to educators, chapter leaders, and other stakeholders. These periodicals contain information pertaining to the need for wildlife habitat development and restoration, the benefits of water and soil conservation, current issues and policies affecting conservation and the tradition of hunting, chapter activities and other special features. During the 2025 fiscal year, Pheasants…
$8,188,505 spent8% of program spendingChapter, Volunteer and Member Services: Pheasants Forever's regional field representatives provide support, information, hands-on education to the public, and work on implementation of wildlife habitat development and restoration. PF's representatives also assist members and chapter volunteers to improve wildlife habitat in the most efficient and effective way. In addition, Pheasants Forever provides support for and informs and updates, the more than 165,000 members and nearly 750 chapters, as to the need for ongoing work in wildlife conservation and provides assistance to accomplish that goal.
$3,233,433 spent$1,590,354 earned by the program3% of program spendingPheasants Forever's governmental affairs function provides policy advice on and advocates for issues impacting wildlife habitat throughout the United States.
$954,408 spent1% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $100,351,918.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $71M to $81M (+14%).
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 53% · 2018 56% · 2019 53% · 2020 62% · 2021 64% · 2022 56% · 2023 60% · 2024 64% · 2025 65%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Marilyn Vetter
President and CEO
Board chair
Jerrod Burke
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 17 funders to 42 funders, grant income rose $2.0M → $7.6M.
35 of 97 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 9% 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 PHEASANTS FOREVER INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 97 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
PHEASANTS FOREVER INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 45% of grant income and the top three 81%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
98% 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 PHEASANTS FOREVER INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 76% · 2018 73% · 2019 66% · 2020 50% · 2021 54% · 2022 43% · 2023 37% — 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
39% of PHEASANTS FOREVER INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% 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
PHEASANTS FOREVER INC draws 96% of its grant income from funders outside Minnesota, across 24 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 19 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.
Government funding PHEASANTS FOREVER INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $252.5M on record.
- Department of Agriculture$164.6M
- Department of the Interior$87.9M
- Department of Defense$15k
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 PHEASANTS FOREVER INC
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
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
90%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 33 states
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Habitat Forever LLC · disregarded
- The Forever Land Trust LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PHEASANTS FOREVER INC: 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 PHEASANTS FOREVER INC?
- PHEASANTS FOREVER INC (Minnesota) receives grants from 97 organizations whose IRS filings report $40,612,801 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA ($18,155,651). 52 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PHEASANTS FOREVER INC have?
- IRS filings report 97 organizations giving $40,612,801 in grants to PHEASANTS FOREVER INC, 52 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PHEASANTS FOREVER INC?
- FOUNDATION FOR CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA is the largest funder on record, with $18,155,651 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PHEASANTS FOREVER INC 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 Pheasants Forever →
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 97 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