Minnesota · Nonprofit
THE WILDCAT SANCTUARY
THE WILDCAT SANCTUARY (Minnesota) receives grants from 76 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,003,054 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($493,150). 49 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.2M
- Funders on record
- 76
- Grants received
- $3.0M
- Net assets
- $9.9M
What The Wildcat Sanctuary does
Mission
Provide a natural sanctuary to wild cats in need and inspire change to end the captive wildlife crisis.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The Wildcat Sanctuary (tws) is a 501c3 non-profit, big cat rescue located in sandstone, mn. Tws provides a natural sanctuary to wild cats in need and inspires change to end the captive wildlife crisis. Tws is funded solely on private donations. The sanctuary is a rescue organization and is not open to the public. Combining natural and spacious habitats with a life free of exhibition, tws allows all residents to live wild at heart. As a true sanctuary, we do not buy, breed, sell or exhibit animals. The Wildcat Sanctuary is accredited by the american sanctuary association, the global federation of animal sanctuaries and a member of the wildlife confiscation network. We are also licensed by the usda. Our savingsas an organization with the responsibility of caring for over 150 felines for years into the future, sustainability is a cornerstone of our sanctuary.o our board ensures that we have a minimum of 2 years of operating savings in the bank to ensure we can care for the cats even during the toughest of times.o we also have savings earmarked for acquiring any adjacent land that becomes available to provide a natural border to the sanctuary and conserve wildlife land.o we have…
$2,580,581 spent$5,508 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,580,581.
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 2023 to 2024, from $7.1M to $9.0M (+26%).
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 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of THE WILDCAT SANCTUARY’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. 0 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
Thies Tammy
Executive director
Board chair
Sirek Julie
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 21 funders to 37 funders, grant income rose $182k → $546k.
13 of 76 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 WILDCAT SANCTUARY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 76 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 WILDCAT SANCTUARY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 16% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
61% 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 WILDCAT SANCTUARY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 19% · 2018 45% · 2019 31% · 2020 32% · 2021 23% · 2022 12% · 2023 27% — growing more concentrated.
“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
56% of THE WILDCAT SANCTUARY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
THE WILDCAT SANCTUARY draws 90% of its grant income from funders outside Minnesota, across 23 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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 WILDCAT SANCTUARY holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 813 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 813 animals nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like THE WILDCAT SANCTUARY
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
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 WILDCAT SANCTUARY: 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 WILDCAT SANCTUARY?
- THE WILDCAT SANCTUARY (Minnesota) receives grants from 76 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,003,054 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($493,150). 49 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE WILDCAT SANCTUARY have?
- IRS filings report 76 organizations giving $3,003,054 in grants to THE WILDCAT SANCTUARY, 49 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE WILDCAT SANCTUARY?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $493,150 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE WILDCAT SANCTUARY 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 Wildcat Sanctuary →
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 76 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