Washington · Nonprofit
WILD WHATCOM
WILD WHATCOM (Washington) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $644,591 to it, the largest being WHATCOM COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($239,278). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 35
- Grants received
- $645k
- Net assets
- $217k
What Wild Whatcom does
Mission
Wild Whatcom's mission is to foster lifelong connections with nature and community through outdoor exploration and service.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Explorers Club is a long-term, outdoor, youth mentoring program based on exploration, service, and connection. Our goals are to awaken and strengthen in youth a profound connection to the natural world; instill a life-long ethic of service to the community; and to reinforce character traits that sustain the capacity for healthy relationships with self, others, and the earth.
$272,974 spentof which $29,293 as grants$206,261 earned by the program24% of program spendingSchool programs offer children the opportunity to explore and connect with the natural world near their school and neighborhoods. The program encourages students to develop a connection to local natural and cultural history through exploration, games, play, art, and nature activities.
$430,212 spentof which $16,199 as grants$144,846 earned by the program39% of program spendingCamps are three to five day adventures that utilize mentor-facilitated learning and discovery outdoors in and around Whatcom County. While exploring, we aim to help kids: discover their capabilities through appropriate challenges; better understand themselves and others; and develop their collaborative leadership capacity.
$223,525 spentof which $18,437 as grants$201,868 earned by the program20% of program spendingThe Nature Preschool delivers outdoor education and enrichment to preschool-aged youth, ages 3-5, with half-day, 4-hour programming. Program offerings include 1-4 days per week during the academic year and multi-day summer camps.
$88,543 spentof which $17,352 as grants$151,102 earned by the program8% of program spendingCommunity programs inspire and awaken wonder in the natural world by sharing nature's mysteries with others. The program facilitates explorations, discovery, and fun in the natural world for people of all ages in local parks in and around Whatcom County.
$99,865 spent$13,270 earned by the program9% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,115,119.
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 $418k to $724k (+73%).
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 17% · 2021 10% · 2023 14% · 2025 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
37% of WILD WHATCOM’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (48% 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.
Chief executive
Samantha Jolly
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 12 funders, grant income fell $43k → $42k.
4 of 35 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 44% 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 WHATCOM’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 35 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 WHATCOM has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 37% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
62% 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 WHATCOM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 35% · 2018 51% · 2019 46% · 2020 29% · 2021 69% · 2022 46% · 2023 37% — broadly stable.
“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
20% of WILD WHATCOM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 46% 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
54% of WILD WHATCOM's grant income comes from Washington funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $282k 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.
Against its field
WILD WHATCOM is better cushioned than half of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like WILD WHATCOM
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
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
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 WILD WHATCOM: 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 WHATCOM?
- WILD WHATCOM (Washington) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $644,591 to it, the largest being WHATCOM COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($239,278). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WILD WHATCOM have?
- IRS filings report 35 organizations giving $644,591 in grants to WILD WHATCOM, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WILD WHATCOM?
- WHATCOM COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $239,278 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WILD WHATCOM 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 Wild Whatcom →
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 35 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