Montana · Nonprofit
WILD ROCKIES FIELD INSTITUTE INC
WILD ROCKIES FIELD INSTITUTE INC (Montana) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $346,792 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($168,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 53% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $923k
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $347k
- Net assets
- $194k
What Wild Rockies Field Institute Inc does
Mission
To broaden the nature of a liberal arts education; teach critical thinking about social & environmental issues; foster understanding of & respect for natural & human communities; & cultivate a sense of place that encourages personal, social & environmental responsibility.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The Wild Rockies Field Institute (WRFI) is a Missoula, MT based 501(c)3 nonprofit educational organization. WRFIs vision is to foster the next generation of leaders and environmental stewards through field-based education in the American West. The Wild Rockies Field Institute was founded on a strong set of values. The entire WRFI community board members, staff, students, instructors and alumni share a commitment to wilderness, education, responsibility, respect, and excellence. Together, these values define who we are and what we do.WRFI offers a unique combination of outdoor adventure, quality academics, and experiential learning. Courses are taught almost entirely in the backcountry where students camp, backpack, bike, kayak and/or canoe while studying the ecology, land use policy, cultural history and current issues of the region. WRFI courses are accredited through the University of Montana and offer 300-level credits in departments such as Environmental Studies, Forestry, Geography, Natural Resource Conservation, Philosophy and Native American Studies. As a small organization, WRFI is committed to the experiences and well-being of its students and staff.
$525,189 spentof which $6,250 as grants$496,309 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $525,189.
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 $188k to $412k (+119%).
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 75% · 2021 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
46% of WILD ROCKIES FIELD INSTITUTE INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 8 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
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $3k → $18k.
4 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 53% 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 WILD ROCKIES FIELD INSTITUTE 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
WILD ROCKIES FIELD INSTITUTE INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 48% of grant income and the top three 81%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
53% 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 WILD ROCKIES FIELD INSTITUTE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 99% · 2022 66% · 2023 60% — 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
60% of WILD ROCKIES FIELD INSTITUTE INC's funders are still giving 1 year after their first grant; 50% 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
53% of WILD ROCKIES FIELD INSTITUTE INC's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $163k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Montana, across 8 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $184k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
WILD ROCKIES FIELD INSTITUTE INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 22,838 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 22,838 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like WILD ROCKIES FIELD INSTITUTE 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 Montana
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for WILD ROCKIES FIELD INSTITUTE 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 WILD ROCKIES FIELD INSTITUTE INC?
- WILD ROCKIES FIELD INSTITUTE INC (Montana) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $346,792 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($168,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 53% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does WILD ROCKIES FIELD INSTITUTE INC have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $346,792 in grants to WILD ROCKIES FIELD INSTITUTE INC, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WILD ROCKIES FIELD INSTITUTE INC?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $168,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WILD ROCKIES FIELD INSTITUTE INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Montana. 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 Wild Rockies Field Institute →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 12 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