California · Nonprofit
THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC
THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC (California) receives grants from 354 organizations whose IRS filings report $23,464,620 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($4,500,027). 219 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 60% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2026
- $23M
- Funders on record
- 354
- Grants received
- $23M
- Net assets
- $24M
What The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust USA Inc does
Mission
To provide financial support to programs which specialize in the preservation of wildlife in their natural habitat and the dissemination of knowledge for the furtherance of wildlife preservation. The most important activity of the corporation in furtherance of this purpose will be to provide financial, technical, and other support for the programs of the david sheldrick wildlife trust (the "trust").
As stated on its FY2026 Form 990.
Program
The organization's most important program effort is funding the david sheldrick wildlife trust ("dswt") (dba sheldrick wildlife trust (swt)) which, to-date, has successfully hand-raised over 250 infant elephants, along with accomplishing its long-term conservation priority by effectively reintegrating orphans back into the wild. Dswt focuses on the preservation and protection of wildlife through anti-poaching efforts, surveilling and safe guarding the natural environment, enhancing community awareness, addressing animal welfare issues, providing veterinary assistance to animals in need, and rescuing and hand rearing elephant and rhino orphans. Rearing elephant and rhino orphans.
$18,177,349 spentof which $18,034,555 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $18,177,349.
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 $3.1M to $10M (+224%).
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.
98% of THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (67% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 10 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
Melissa Sciacca
Executive director
As listed on its FY2026 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 43 funders to 151 funders, grant income rose $588k → $4.3M.
57 of 354 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 60% 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 THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 354 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
THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% of grant income, and it takes 8 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 8 funders to its left
62% 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 THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 45% · 2018 23% · 2019 25% · 2020 16% · 2021 21% · 2022 17% · 2023 24% — 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
36% of THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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
60% of THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC'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 $9.3M that is directly attributable, 76% of it comes from funders outside California, across 39 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $14M arriving through sponsors registered in 28 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
THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 235 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 235 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2026
Organizations like THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
96% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
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 THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA 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 THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC?
- THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC (California) receives grants from 354 organizations whose IRS filings report $23,464,620 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($4,500,027). 219 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 60% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC have?
- IRS filings report 354 organizations giving $23,464,620 in grants to THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC, 219 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $4,500,027 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC 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 David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust USA →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2026 (financials across 2017–2026), and the filings of 354 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