Montana · Nonprofit
WILD SHEEP FOUNDATION
WILD SHEEP FOUNDATION (Montana) receives grants from 60 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,241,133 to it, the largest being MIDWAY USA FOUNDATION INC ($597,311). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $15M
- Funders on record
- 60
- Grants received
- $5.2M
- Net assets
- $5.8M
What Wild Sheep Foundation does
Mission
Wsf enhances wild sheep populations, promotes scientific wildlife management, and educates the public and youth on sustainable use and the conservation benefits of hunting while promoting the interests of the hunter.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Wsf enhances wild sheep populations, promotes scientific wildlife management, and educates the public and youth on sustainable use and the conservation benefits of hunting while promoting the interests of the hunter.
$12,732,106 spentof which $10,211,928 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $12,732,106.
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 2019 to 2020, from $5.6M to $7.2M (+28%).
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 2% · 2022 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
26% of WILD SHEEP FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (67% 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.
Board chair
Charlie Kelly
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 24 funders, grant income rose $125k → $995k.
11 of 60 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 19% 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: $3.2M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Wild Sheep Legacy Foundation Attn Bryan Bartlett). These are real filings, and they are not money WILD SHEEP FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of WILD SHEEP FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 60 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
WILD SHEEP FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 11% 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
65% 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 SHEEP FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 50% · 2018 35% · 2019 23% · 2020 15% · 2021 20% · 2022 15% · 2023 20% — 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
40% of WILD SHEEP FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
WILD SHEEP FOUNDATION draws 97% of its grant income from funders outside Montana, across 23 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $992k arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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 SHEEP FOUNDATION has grown faster than half of the 119 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 119 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding WILD SHEEP FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $15k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$15k
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 WILD SHEEP FOUNDATION
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
84% 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 13 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Wild Sheep Legacy Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for WILD SHEEP FOUNDATION: 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 SHEEP FOUNDATION?
- WILD SHEEP FOUNDATION (Montana) receives grants from 60 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,241,133 to it, the largest being MIDWAY USA FOUNDATION INC ($597,311). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WILD SHEEP FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 60 organizations giving $5,241,133 in grants to WILD SHEEP FOUNDATION, 36 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WILD SHEEP FOUNDATION?
- MIDWAY USA FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $597,311 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WILD SHEEP FOUNDATION 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.
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 60 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