Wisconsin · Nonprofit
WISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY
WISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY (Wisconsin) receives grants from 216 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,730,590 to it, the largest being THE RACHAEL RAY FOUNDATION ($1,625,000). 152 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $20M
- Funders on record
- 216
- Grants received
- $15M
- Net assets
- $42M
What Wisconsin Humane Society does
Mission
The mission of the Wisconsin Humane Society is to make a difference for animals and the people who love them.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Sheltering and animal care - the client services department successfully placed 14,123 dogs, cats and small animals into loving homes. Through its comprehensive adoption program, the counselors work with families to match them with homeless companion animals. They provide follow up and support to new adopters. They also assist callers with information related to training and health issues for their companion animals. The behavior department provided behavior assessments for dogs and cats to determine eligibility for placement in the adoption program. They provided in person and online training in group classes and workshops. They also managed and supported behaviorally challenged dogs and cats through in shelter behavior modification and in home support programs. Our wildlife rehabilitation center is the largest center in the state in terms of annual admits and is one of the largest in the nation. We annually care for over 5,000 injured, sick and orphaned wild animals of about 150 different species. Our goal is to rescue, rehabilitate and return them to the wild.
$8,959,494 spent$2,456,384 earned by the program58% of program spendingVeterinary - the veterinary department performed 20,713 sterilization surgeries including 8,676 surgeries at the spay/neuter clinic. All dogs, cats and rabbits were sterilized prior to placing them into adoption. Dogs and cats were microchipped prior to adoption. We performed 96,052 veterinary exams to ensure all animals were healthy before going into adoption.
$4,998,825 spent$1,899,245 earned by the program32% of program spendingCommunity relations and outreach - our youth programs play an essential role in engaging young people ages 2-18 in our mission. From scout nights to afterschool programs and camps, we served 7,233 young people. Each program is designed to strengthen the human animal bond and engage our next generation of pet owners. The pets for life outreach program serves families in milwaukee's 53206 zip code and surrounding neighborhoods, where families face many barriers to accessing important services for their pets. The community we serve doesn't have a veterinary clinic. Through door-to-door outreach we reached 3,776 families and provided 1,030 free spay/neuter surgeries. We also provided free vaccinations, flea treatments, collars, crates, other medications and supplies to the animals in our focus community.
$1,552,550 spent$213,800 earned by the program10% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $15,510,869.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 $32M to $37M (+16%).
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 0% · 2021 17% · 2022 0% · 2023 0% · 2024 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
76% of WISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (67% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 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
Alison Fotsch
President & CEO
Board chair
Devin Hayes
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023, and between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 41 funders to 100 funders, grant income rose $410k → $2.2M.
35 of 216 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 35% 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 WISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 216 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
WISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 11% of grant income, and it takes 10 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 10 funders to its left
54% 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 WISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 24% · 2018 28% · 2019 17% · 2020 22% · 2021 14% · 2022 15% · 2023 14% — 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
54% of WISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 70% 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
WISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY draws 54% of its grant income from funders outside Wisconsin, across 27 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 17 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
WISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY is better cushioned than half of the 235 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 235 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like WISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY
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 Wisconsin
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
81% 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 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for WISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY: 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 WISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY?
- WISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY (Wisconsin) receives grants from 216 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,730,590 to it, the largest being THE RACHAEL RAY FOUNDATION ($1,625,000). 152 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 216 organizations giving $14,730,590 in grants to WISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY, 152 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY?
- THE RACHAEL RAY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,625,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Wisconsin. 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 Wisconsin Humane Society →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 216 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