Washington · Nonprofit
Washington Wildlife First
Washington Wildlife First (Washington) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $334,091 to it, the largest being WILD LIVES FOUNDATION ($200,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $422k
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $334k
- Net assets
- $171k
What Washington Wildlife First does
Mission
Washington Wildlife First is the nation's only state-based advocacy group dedicated to reforming state wildlife policy. We seek to transform Washington's relationship with its fish and wildlife from an approach centered around consumptive use to a more democratic paradigm that values science, recognizes the intrinsic value of individual animals, and prioritizes protecting, preserving and perpetuating wild lives.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Public Engagement and Grassroots Advocacy: We focus on educating and empowering the Washington public to demand a state Department of Fish and Wildlife that is ethical, scientific, and reflective of Washington values. We provide a broader view of how the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) falls short of its responsibility to act as a public trustee for wildlife, as well as keeping the public informed about current policy issues. We develop strategies to address emergent issues, develop talking points, coordinate letter-writing campaigns, and host workshops to help people learn how to advocate effectively. We have built a coalition of fish and wildlife advocacy groups to help us mobilize broad grassroots involvement. At the state Fish and Wildlife Commission, our grassroots campaigns brought an end to Washington's recreational spring bear hunt; defeated a WDFW proposal to prematurely downlist wolves on the state endangered species list; and obtained passage of rules to reduce bear and cougar mortality to more sustainable and ethical levels. At the legislative level, our campaigns promote legislation to improve state wildlife policy and reform the wildlife governance…
$161,805 spent$4,255 earned by the program55% of program spendingDirect Participation in Current Issues: We use our scientific expertise to serve as watchdogs over WDFW, monitoring its activities, investigating problems, and responding to issues. We attend every meeting and committee meeting of the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission, following current issues, providing frequent testimony, and submitting letters on a wide variety of topics. We submit formal comments informed by science on issues ranging from the Game Management Plan to the State Wildlife Action Plan to hatchery policies. We coordinate with our coalition of fish and wildlife advocacy groups to join forces on issues of importance, focusing our combined resources to achieve better outcomes for fish and wildlife.
$73,547 spent25% of program spendingRulemaking, Litigation, and Other Legal Actions: We use our legal expertise to employ a range of legal strategies to hold WDFW accountable as a public trustee. We draft rulemaking petitions, including to protect fish species from overexploitation and stop WDFW from shooting state-endangered gray wolves on public lands at the behest of the beef industry. When other strategies fail, we file litigation to hold WDFW accountable to the law, including challenges to WDFW's arbitrary and capricious decisions to kill wolves, its frequent violations of the State Environmental Policy Act, and its disregard for the Public Records Act.
$58,838 spent20% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $294,190.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
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 $114k to $177k (+56%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 3 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
Claire Loebs Davis
President, Interim Executive Director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2022 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $10k → $112k.
3 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 24% 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 Washington Wildlife First’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
Washington Wildlife First leans on a few funders — its largest provides 60% of grant income and the top three 91%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
30% 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 Washington Wildlife First.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2022 100% · 2023 89% — 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.
Where its funders are
78% of Washington Wildlife First's grant income comes from Washington funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $79k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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.
Organizations like Washington Wildlife First
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 Washington
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Washington Wildlife First: 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 Washington Wildlife First?
- Washington Wildlife First (Washington) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $334,091 to it, the largest being WILD LIVES FOUNDATION ($200,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Washington Wildlife First have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $334,091 in grants to Washington Wildlife First, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Washington Wildlife First?
- WILD LIVES FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $200,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Washington Wildlife First find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington. 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 Washington Wildlife First →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2022–2024), and the filings of 7 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