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Maryland · Nonprofit

THE WARD FOUNDATION INC

THE WARD FOUNDATION INC (Maryland) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $148,038 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF THE EASTERN SHOR ($71,529). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2022
$1.5M
Funders on record
10
Grants received
$148k
Net assets
$56k
6/10 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 3%
01What it does

What The Ward Foundation Inc does

Mission

The ward museum is dedicated to exhibiting, collecting and promoting wildfowl art and related materials, and interpreting their significance through educational programs and publications.

As stated on its FY2022 Form 990.

Program

Art events - hosts the ward world championship in april in which master carvers from around the world gather to compete and exhibit artwork; hosts the chesapeake wildfowl expo in october to celebrate the tradition of decoy making and waterfowling in the region; hosts the art in nature photo festival in august to showcase nature photography from throughout the country.

The first program described on its most recent Form 990, which lists programs largest first by expense.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($1.8M) Expenses 100 ($1.4M) Net assets 100 ($1.4M)2018 Revenue 86 ($1.6M) Expenses 226 ($3.2M) Net assets -18 ($-258475)2019 Revenue 82 ($1.5M) Expenses 115 ($1.6M) Net assets -25 ($-345025)2020 Revenue 61 ($1.1M) Expenses 90 ($1.3M) Net assets -37 ($-527022)2021 Revenue 99 ($1.8M) Expenses 82 ($1.2M) Net assets 7 ($92k)2022 Revenue 81 ($1.5M) Expenses 105 ($1.5M) Net assets 4 ($56k)
201720182019202020212022
Revenue (81)Expenses (105)Net assets (4)

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2017 to 2018, from $2.5M to $829k (−67%).

$2.5M
$829k
$638k
$461k
$632k
$446k
201720182019202020212022
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 27% · 2018 22% · 2019 18% · 2020 29% · 2021 35% · 2022 20%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

$371k
’17
−$1.7M
’18
−$156k
’19
−$182k
’20
$619k
’21
−$36k
’22
2.0
months of
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.

The chief executive listed changed between the FY2018 and FY2019 filings.

201720182019202020212022
Listed171819151718
Joined·+5+2+0+5+4
No longer listed·41433
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 4 funders to 3 funders, grant income fell $30k → $5k.

2 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 48% 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 WARD FOUNDATION INC’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

THE WARD FOUNDATION INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 48% of grant income and the top three 82%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

75% 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 WARD FOUNDATION INC.

48%
largest funder
82%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 82% · 2018 64% · 2019 52% · 2020 83% · 2021 37% · 2022 82% · 2023 59% — 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

29% of THE WARD FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

55% of THE WARD FOUNDATION INC's grant income comes from Maryland funders.

PA
VA
MD
DE
TX

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Maryland out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $72k 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.

04Its place in the field

Government funding THE WARD FOUNDATION INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.3M on record — $94k federal, $2.2M state.

Federal$94k
grants $94kcontracts $0
17
18
20
21
22
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Arts$80k
  • Institute of Museum and Library Services$14k
State$2.2M
11
12
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
Top programs
  • Grant$2.2M

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 THE WARD FOUNDATION 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 Maryland

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

83% of spending goes to programs.

Program 83%Management 13%Fundraising 3%

Governance

17
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

81%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

MD

Part of a family of 1 related entity

  • Salisbury University · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE WARD FOUNDATION 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.

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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 WARD FOUNDATION INC?
THE WARD FOUNDATION INC (Maryland) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $148,038 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF THE EASTERN SHOR ($71,529). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does THE WARD FOUNDATION INC have?
IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $148,038 in grants to THE WARD FOUNDATION INC, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of THE WARD FOUNDATION INC?
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF THE EASTERN SHOR is the largest funder on record, with $71,529 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like THE WARD FOUNDATION INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. 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 Ward →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2022 (financials across 2017–2022), 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