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Oregon · Nonprofit

Wisdom of the Elders Incorporated

Wisdom of the Elders Incorporated (Oregon) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,879,869 to it, the largest being NOVO FOUNDATION ($450,000). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$543k
Funders on record
30
Grants received
$1.9M
Net assets
$93k
13/30 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 48%
01What it does

What Wisdom of the Elders Incorporated does

Mission

Record preserve & share Native American oral history cultural arts language concepts & traditional ecological knowledge of exemplary indigenous elders storytellers

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Workforce development Develpe social venture to provide a holistic approach to environmental habitat restoration utilizing Native American traditional ecological knowledge & conventional science Strengthen Native workers career engagement cultural identity positive health and wellness resiliency and address Native American disparities.

    $308,650 spent
    73% of program spending
  2. Production of a series of Native American climate documentaries Oral history cultural arts and climate science series featuring voices of exemplary Native elders storytellers song carriers and scientists offer vital perspective on environmental and climate issues.

    $114,432 spent
    27% of program spending
  3. Not described on the e-filed return.

    $0 spent
    0% of program spending
  4. Other program services, not described on the e-filed return.

    $0 spent
    0% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $423,082.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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.

100 = 20182018 Revenue 100 ($565k) Expenses 100 ($656k) Net assets 100 ($122k)2019 Revenue 96 ($540k) Expenses 100 ($656k) Net assets 5 ($7k)2020 Revenue 99 ($559k) Expenses 75 ($490k) Net assets 55 ($67k)2021 Revenue 122 ($691k) Expenses 90 ($593k) Net assets 142 ($173k)2022 Revenue 137 ($772k) Expenses 108 ($710k) Net assets 193 ($235k)2023 Revenue 185 ($1.0M) Expenses 154 ($1.0M) Net assets 214 ($262k)2024 Revenue 73 ($411k) Expenses 106 ($699k) Net assets 61 ($74k)2025 Revenue 96 ($543k) Expenses 75 ($494k) Net assets 76 ($93k)
'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (96)Expenses (75)Net assets (76)Peer revenue range

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 $293k to $98k (−67%).

$189k
$53k
$101k
$211k
$261k
$293k
$98k
$117k
'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2018 38% · 2019 22% · 2020 20% · 2021 4% · 2022 12% · 2023 17% · 2024 15% · 2025 20%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

94% of Wisdom of the Elders Incorporated’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 19,547 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$91k
’18
−$116k
’19
$69k
’20
$97k
’21
$62k
’22
$35k
’23
−$288k
’24
$50k
’25
2.2
months of
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.

The chief executive listed changed between the FY2018 and FY2019, and between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.

'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed66544655
Joined·+3+5+1+0+3+2+0
No longer listed·3620130
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $66k → $497k.

2 of 30 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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 Wisdom of the Elders Incorporated’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 28 of 30 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

Wisdom of the Elders Incorporated has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 24% 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

24%
largest funder
53%
top three
~8
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 38% · 2018 26% · 2019 37% · 2020 39% · 2021 38% · 2022 23% · 2023 26% — 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 Wisdom of the Elders Incorporated's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 43% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

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

56% of Wisdom of the Elders Incorporated's grant income comes from Oregon funders.

VT
WA
NY
OR
CA
CO
VA
DE

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Oregon out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $82k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Wisdom of the Elders Incorporated runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin9% · above the median
Months of reserve2.2mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)−1% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Government funding Wisdom of the Elders Incorporated receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $334k on record — $300k federal, $34k state.

Federal$300k
grants $300kcontracts $0
17
18
19
20
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Arts$100k
  • National Endowment for the Humanities$100k
  • Department of Agriculture$100k
State$34k
Top programs
  • DISTRIBUTION TO NON-PROFIT ORG$34k

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 Wisdom of the Elders Incorporated

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 Oregon

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

57% of spending goes to programs.

Program 57%Management 43%Fundraising 0%

Governance

3
board members
0%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

100%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

OR

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Wisdom of the Elders Incorporated: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Wisdom of the Elders Incorporated?
Wisdom of the Elders Incorporated (Oregon) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,879,869 to it, the largest being NOVO FOUNDATION ($450,000). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Wisdom of the Elders Incorporated have?
IRS filings report 30 organizations giving $1,879,869 in grants to Wisdom of the Elders Incorporated, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Wisdom of the Elders Incorporated?
NOVO FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $450,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Wisdom of the Elders Incorporated find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Oregon. 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 Wisdom of the Elders →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 30 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