Maryland · Nonprofit
WATERFOWL FESTIVAL INC
WATERFOWL FESTIVAL INC (Maryland) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,687 to it, the largest being FAIR PLAY FOUNDATION ($9,500). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.2M
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $15k
- Net assets
- $5.1M
What Waterfowl Festival Inc does
Mission
Waterfowl chesapeake will create, restore and conserve waterfowl habitat throughout the chesapeake bay watershed and nearby coastal bays by engaging in collaborative, strategic initiatives with organizations, governments, corporations, foundations and individuals.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
For more than four decades, the organization has staged an annual event that has raised a total of more than 5 million for wildlife and habitat conservation, education, and research. More than fifty organizations have benefited through grants of nearly 4 million on conservation projects, more than 1 million on environmental education programs, and more than 26,000 on habitat and wildlife research initiatives. In recent years we began turning our focus towards more collaborative and participatory projects, leveraging funds and creating partnerships on more expansive projects. The organization has been a contributing partner in association with several private, governmental, and nonprofit entities to restore and protect critical wetland habitat at eastern neck national wildlife refuge.
$883,302 spentof which $50,000 as grants$1,255,458 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $883,302.
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 2024 to 2025, from $4.4M to $5.3M (+19%).
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: 2020 24% · 2021 9% · 2022 5% · 2023 67% · 2024 12% · 2025 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
14% of WATERFOWL FESTIVAL INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue 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. 3 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
Deena Kilmon
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income rose $1k → $3k.
1 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 1% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $535k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Waterfowl Festival Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money WATERFOWL FESTIVAL INC raised.
From the IRS filings of WATERFOWL FESTIVAL 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
WATERFOWL FESTIVAL INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 65% of grant income and the top three 95%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 83% · 2020 77% · 2021 86% · 2022 99% · 2023 99% — 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.
Where its funders are
WATERFOWL FESTIVAL INC draws 97% of its grant income from funders outside Maryland, across 5 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $87 arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
WATERFOWL FESTIVAL INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 717 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 717 animals nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding WATERFOWL FESTIVAL INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $662k on record.
- Grant$662k
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 WATERFOWL FESTIVAL 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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
62% 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 WATERFOWL FESTIVAL 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 WATERFOWL FESTIVAL INC?
- WATERFOWL FESTIVAL INC (Maryland) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,687 to it, the largest being FAIR PLAY FOUNDATION ($9,500). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WATERFOWL FESTIVAL INC have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $14,687 in grants to WATERFOWL FESTIVAL INC, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WATERFOWL FESTIVAL INC?
- FAIR PLAY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $9,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WATERFOWL FESTIVAL 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.
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 6 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