California · Nonprofit
VENTANA WILDLIFE SOCIETY
VENTANA WILDLIFE SOCIETY (California) receives grants from 58 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,170,691 to it, the largest being EAST BAY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($615,000). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.7M
- Funders on record
- 58
- Grants received
- $4.2M
- Net assets
- $4.9M
What Ventana Wildlife Society does
Mission
The conservation of native wildlife,including recovery projects for the bald eagle and california condor,providing educational programs and outdoor experiences, and ownership and management of two wildlife sanctuaries
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
EDUCATION AND OUTREACH: Using nature as a classroom, the Society helps children and adults understand and appreciate wildlife conservation and the outdoors while exploring ways they can contribute to its protection or enhancement. Largely funded by government grants intended for under served populations, the Society operates a year-round active youth education program that includes Natural Science Discovery Camp, Wee Ones in the Woods, Condor Wilderness Camp and After School Program for Teens during the school year. The Society serves as training grounds for recent college graduates by offering internships in a professional, hands-on setting. In addition, the Society provides timely and meaningful information through its newsletter, press releases, special events, exhibits, videos, films, and scientific presentations and publications.
$1,190,609 spent$34,827 earned by the program53% of program spendingSpecies recovery: focusing on native species of wildlife, the society reintroduces, manages, and monitors wild populations of animals. The society restored a population of bald eagles in central california, along with partners, and continues to release eagles and other birds of prey as needed. The society is actively reintroducing california condors to central california. Working closely with landowners and government, the society has been effective at encouraging a switch from lead to nonlead ammunition in key condor areas since the ingestion of spent lead ammunition remains the greatest threat to their recovery. The society is also participating in a collaboration to restore condors to the pacific northwest and building a program-wide, inter-agency, online database to facilitate sharing and research.
$1,009,932 spent45% of program spendingECOLOGICAL SERVICES: Through research and monitoring projects, the Society determines the status, health, and distribution of wildlife species, with an emphasis on birds. Clients include government and private enterprise and often involve consultation by Society experts to assess risk to birds from wind power and overhead powerlines, large-scale land use changes, and other projects to help safeguard wildlife in the future.
$30,012 spent1% of program spendingREBUILDING THE CONDOR SANCTUARY IN BIG SUR, CA: The Dolan Wildfire of August 2020 destroyed all facilities at this remote property where California Condor Recovery work has taken place since 1997 when the first release of captive-bred condors in central California. The rebuilding effort is underway to build bigger and better facilities including a new Condor Release Facility and a Bunkhouse / Research Facility for use by biologists.
$2,729 spent0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,233,282.
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 2020 to 2021, from $3.7M to $5.2M (+41%).
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 6% · 2018 12% · 2019 20% · 2020 27% · 2021 20% · 2022 32% · 2023 33% · 2024 41% · 2025 46%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of VENTANA WILDLIFE SOCIETY’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. 4 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 25 funders, grant income rose $190k → $771k.
15 of 58 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 40% 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 VENTANA WILDLIFE SOCIETY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 58 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
VENTANA WILDLIFE SOCIETY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 15% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
57% 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 VENTANA WILDLIFE SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 54% · 2018 32% · 2019 51% · 2020 15% · 2021 24% · 2022 26% · 2023 21% — 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
49% of VENTANA WILDLIFE SOCIETY'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
62% of VENTANA WILDLIFE SOCIETY's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
VENTANA WILDLIFE SOCIETY's funding base is broadening — from 11 funders to 25 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 813 animals nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding VENTANA WILDLIFE SOCIETY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.2M on record.
- Department of the Interior$2.8M
- Department of Commerce$407k
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 VENTANA WILDLIFE SOCIETY
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
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
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 VENTANA WILDLIFE SOCIETY: 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 VENTANA WILDLIFE SOCIETY?
- VENTANA WILDLIFE SOCIETY (California) receives grants from 58 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,170,691 to it, the largest being EAST BAY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($615,000). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does VENTANA WILDLIFE SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 58 organizations giving $4,170,691 in grants to VENTANA WILDLIFE SOCIETY, 36 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of VENTANA WILDLIFE SOCIETY?
- EAST BAY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $615,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like VENTANA WILDLIFE SOCIETY 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 Ventana Wildlife Society →
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 58 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