Minnesota · Nonprofit
WILDLIFE SCIENCE CENTER
WILDLIFE SCIENCE CENTER (Minnesota) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $199,390 to it, the largest being MIGHTYCAUSE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION ($55,535). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 50% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $310k
- Funders on record
- 15
- Grants received
- $199k
- Net assets
- $2.0M
What Wildlife Science Center does
Mission
To serve as an educatonal resource for all ages; by: providing exposure to wild animals and the body of knowledge generated for their conversation; to advance understanding of wild animal biology through long-term, humane scientific studies on captive populations, thus
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Education: the Wildlife Science Center provided programs for over 15,000 visitors. Programs are provided for the general public, non-school organizations and school groups ages pre-k through 12 and post secondary. Every Wildlife Science Center education program is aligned with national and state science standards, but the focus of presentation does not involve science. The subject of wolves and wildlife lends itself to discussions of history, culture, mathmatics, literature, art, and other topics. Close-up observation of our wildlife affords unique learning opportunities from color and size variation to a more in-depth look at adaptations, behaviors, management and conservation. Training: Wildlife Science Center continued a long tradition of providing hands-on training to wild life professionals and students using our real wolves and bears. Research: biologists have spent time researching animals in natural habitat in order to maintain healthy wolf and bear populations.
$403,661 spent$310,284 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $403,661.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 $1.2M to $2.0M (+63%).
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 5% · 2021 7% · 2023 26%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
41% of WILDLIFE SCIENCE CENTER’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. 3 of the last 6 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
Mark Beckel
Board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 5 funders, grant income fell $56k → $39k.
7 of 15 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 50% 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 WILDLIFE SCIENCE CENTER’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 14 of 15 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
WILDLIFE SCIENCE CENTER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 28% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
83% 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 WILDLIFE SCIENCE CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 89% · 2019 100% · 2020 42% · 2021 44% · 2022 94% · 2023 78% — 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
38% of WILDLIFE SCIENCE CENTER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 33% 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
50% of WILDLIFE SCIENCE CENTER'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 $99k that is directly attributable, 67% of it comes from funders outside Minnesota, across 5 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $100k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
WILDLIFE SCIENCE CENTER's revenue fell 58% between 2019 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 22,838 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like WILDLIFE SCIENCE CENTER
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
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 WILDLIFE SCIENCE CENTER: 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 WILDLIFE SCIENCE CENTER?
- WILDLIFE SCIENCE CENTER (Minnesota) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $199,390 to it, the largest being MIGHTYCAUSE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION ($55,535). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 50% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does WILDLIFE SCIENCE CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 15 organizations giving $199,390 in grants to WILDLIFE SCIENCE CENTER, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WILDLIFE SCIENCE CENTER?
- MIGHTYCAUSE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $55,535 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WILDLIFE SCIENCE CENTER 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.
Play a game about who funds Wildlife Science Center →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 15 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