Montana · Nonprofit
POLAR BEARS INTERNATIONAL
POLAR BEARS INTERNATIONAL (Montana) receives grants from 107 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,330,380 to it, the largest being THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION ($1,750,000). 65 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.7M
- Funders on record
- 107
- Grants received
- $7.3M
- Net assets
- $3.0M
What Polar Bears International does
Mission
Our mission is to conserve polar bears and the sea ice they depend on. Through media, science, and advocacy, we work to inspire people to care about the arctic, the threats to its future, and the connection between this remote region and our global climate.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Polar Bears International's mission is to conserve polar bears and the sea ice they depend on. Through media, science, and advocacy, we work to inspire people to care about the arctic, the threats to its future, and the connection between this remote region and our global climate. We serve as the global resource for information regarding polar bears and their habitat and are the leading voice on climate warming impacts to polar bears and their arctic home while actively seeking solutions through education, advocacy, and action. We conduct, support, and share scientific research that informs polar bear conservation and educate an international audience about polar bear conservation and provide mentorship for the actions that will help ensure their survival.
$3,181,661 spentof which $1,162,298 as grants$29,750 earned by the program82% of program spendingPbi research in the field (u.s., norway, and canada) involves conducting our own research and sponsoring researchers studying population biology and changing environments. Research using captive animals in zoos involves questions of basic physiology and behavior.
$704,102 spent$108,192 earned by the program18% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,885,763.
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 2022 to 2023, from $7.6M to $2.9M (−62%).
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: 2020 6% · 2021 5% · 2024 2% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of POLAR BEARS INTERNATIONAL’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (74% for the typical peer).
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
Krista Wright
Executive director
Board chair
Patrick Keeley
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 18 funders to 62 funders, grant income rose $486k → $1.7M.
19 of 107 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 25% 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 POLAR BEARS INTERNATIONAL’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 107 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
POLAR BEARS INTERNATIONAL has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 24% 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
37% 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 POLAR BEARS INTERNATIONAL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 41% · 2018 45% · 2019 21% · 2020 49% · 2021 31% · 2022 27% · 2023 27% — 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
52% of POLAR BEARS INTERNATIONAL'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
POLAR BEARS INTERNATIONAL draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Montana, across 28 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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
POLAR BEARS INTERNATIONAL runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 813 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 813 animals nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding POLAR BEARS INTERNATIONAL receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $40k on record.
- Department of the Interior$40k
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 POLAR BEARS INTERNATIONAL
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 Montana
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
76%
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
- Polar Bears International Canada · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for POLAR BEARS INTERNATIONAL: 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 POLAR BEARS INTERNATIONAL?
- POLAR BEARS INTERNATIONAL (Montana) receives grants from 107 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,330,380 to it, the largest being THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION ($1,750,000). 65 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does POLAR BEARS INTERNATIONAL have?
- IRS filings report 107 organizations giving $7,330,380 in grants to POLAR BEARS INTERNATIONAL, 65 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of POLAR BEARS INTERNATIONAL?
- THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,750,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like POLAR BEARS INTERNATIONAL find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Montana. 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 107 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