Minnesota · Nonprofit
WILDERNESS INQUIRY INC
WILDERNESS INQUIRY INC (Minnesota) receives grants from 106 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,541,938 to it, the largest being SAINT PAUL & MINNESOTA FOUNDATION ($2,689,775). 76 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $10.0M
- Funders on record
- 106
- Grants received
- $13M
- Net assets
- $13M
What Wilderness Inquiry Inc does
Mission
Wilderness inquiry's mission is to connect people of all ages, backgrounds, identities, and abilities through shared outdoor adventures so that all people can equitably experience the benefits of time spent in nature.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Day & multi-day programs: wilderness inquiry day programs provides introductory hands-on learning and outdoor recreation in more than 80 communities throughout minnesota and nationally. Day programs serve the majority of wilderness inquiry's participants through programs including canoemobile, outdoor activity days, outdoor credit recovery, and virtual explorers. These nationally recognized outdoor programs connect youth, adults, and families to their local public lands and waterways, develop our next generation of environmental stewards, and address the opportunity gap. Wilderness inquiry continues to offer virtual programming in addition to in-person outdoor experiences. In 2025, 35,939 people participated in day & multi-day programs (1,096 virtually).number of people served: 35,939number of service days: 17,082number of events: 400" "day programs provides introductory hands-on learning and outdoor recreation in more than 80 communities throughout minnesota and nationally. Day programs serve the majority of wilderness inquiry's participants through programs including canoemobile, outdoor activity days, outdoor credit recovery, and virtual explorers. These nationally recognized…
$4,103,158 spent57% of program spendingNear nature & extended overnight adventures: overnight adventures bring participants to destinations nationally and internationally and are designed to welcome individuals regardless of age, background, identity, or ability. Inclusion is at the heart of these programs, which strive to create authentic and positive outdoor adventure opportunities for all participants. Adventures are 2-15 nights and include activities such as kayaking, canoeing, hiking, and winter adventuring. In 2025, wilderness inquiry guided 141 trips to more than 20 unique destinations, including apostle islands national lakeshore, boundary waters canoe area, costa rica, florida everglades, glacier national park, isle royale, kenya, and yellowstone national park. New itineraries in 2025 included black hills, morocco, and rocky mountain national park. 1,970 people traveled with wilderness inquiry on overnight adventures in 2025. Number of people served: 1,970number of service days: 8,248number of events: 141"
$2,616,491 spent37% of program spendingTraining, leadership & career pathways: wilderness inquiry offers many programs focused on training, leadership, and career development. In 2025, programs included a fellowship program, which provides paid, accessible, professional skill-building opportunities for individuals interested in building careers in the outdoor and nonprofit job sectors, as well as an american sign language fellowship, other partnered internship opportunities, and many outdoor leadership trainings. In total, wilderness inquiry worked with 403 people through training, leadership, and career programs. Number of people served: 403number of service days: 263number of events: 17"
$431,962 spent6% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $7,151,611.
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 $7.5M to $15M (+103%).
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: 2017 19% · 2018 17% · 2019 22% · 2020 26% · 2021 9% · 2024 24% · 2025 41%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
82% of WILDERNESS INQUIRY INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Erika Rivers
Executive director
Board chair
Louis Lambert
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 35 funders to 56 funders, grant income rose $726k → $4.1M.
11 of 106 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% 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 WILDERNESS INQUIRY INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 106 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
WILDERNESS INQUIRY INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% 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
42% 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 WILDERNESS INQUIRY INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 41% · 2018 24% · 2019 28% · 2020 15% · 2021 19% · 2022 17% · 2023 53% — 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.
How long its funders stay
64% of WILDERNESS INQUIRY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 72% 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 WILDERNESS INQUIRY INC's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
WILDERNESS INQUIRY INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,209 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,209 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding WILDERNESS INQUIRY INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.9M on record.
- Department of Agriculture$1.3M
- Department of the Interior$651k
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 WILDERNESS INQUIRY 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 Minnesota
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
88%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Wilderness Inquiry Foundation · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for WILDERNESS INQUIRY 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 WILDERNESS INQUIRY INC?
- WILDERNESS INQUIRY INC (Minnesota) receives grants from 106 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,541,938 to it, the largest being SAINT PAUL & MINNESOTA FOUNDATION ($2,689,775). 76 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WILDERNESS INQUIRY INC have?
- IRS filings report 106 organizations giving $12,541,938 in grants to WILDERNESS INQUIRY INC, 76 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WILDERNESS INQUIRY INC?
- SAINT PAUL & MINNESOTA FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,689,775 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WILDERNESS INQUIRY INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. 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 106 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