Grantmakers › District of Columbia
Defenders of Wildlife
Washington, DC · EIN 53-0183181. Reported 106 grants totalling $2,858,988 to 65 organizations across tax years 2020-2023, on Form 990 Schedule I.
Does this grantmaker accept applications?
Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.
Three things in the filing do bear on it:
- What kind of organization it is. For Defenders of Wildlife, the IRS classifies it under animal welfare rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE D300) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 65 distinct organizations, with 20% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
- How much its list changes. 41% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% private foundations manage. A list that turns over this much is one a newcomer can realistically join.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $10,000. Half of what it reported fell between $6,500 and $22,500; the smallest was $5,002 and the largest $575,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nature Conservancy | Arlington, VA | $575,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Wilderness Society | Washington, DC | $357,794 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Natural Resources Defense Council Inc | New York, NY | $286,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Alaska Wilderness League | Washington, DC | $185,000 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| Indian Nations Conservation Alliance | Taos, NM | $114,333 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Aris Land & Livestock LLC | New River, AZ | $78,000 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| University of Alaska | Fairbanks, AK | $72,120 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Resurrection Bay Conservation Alliance | Seward, AK | $66,673 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Rangeland Wild | Laguna Niguel, CA | $60,017 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| Florida Conservation Group Inc | Nokomis, FL | $60,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes | Poplar, MT | $57,652 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| University of Montana | Missoula, MT | $53,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Blackfoot Challenge Inc | Ovando, MT | $49,000 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| Hispanic Access Foundation | Washington, DC | $45,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Clark Fork Coalition | Missoula, MT | $41,653 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | Blacksburg, VA | $38,087 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| The Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Nation | Browning, MT | $36,900 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Alaska Wildlife Alliance | Anchorage, AK | $36,600 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| National Wildlife Refuge Association | Washington, DC | $33,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Kck Investments Inc | Mesa, AZ | $33,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Mainspring Conservation Trust Inc | Franklin, NC | $29,700 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory | Brighton, CO | $26,032 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Tom Miner Basin Association | Emigrant, MT | $24,500 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Patagonia Area Resource Alliance | Patagonia, AZ | $24,321 | 3 | 3 | 2022 |
| Slade Ranch LLC Co Sug Peters | Springerville, AZ | $24,000 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| Legacy Philanthropy Works | Santa Barbara, CA | $21,656 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Montana Freshwater Partners Inc | Livingston, MT | $21,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Intertribal Buffalo Counsel | Rapid City, SD | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| National Wildlife Federation | Reston, VA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| North American Butterfly Association Inc | Morristown, NJ | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Partnership Project Inc | Washington, DC | $18,300 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Association for the Betterment of Bucksport | Conway, SC | $18,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Strayhorse Ranch LLC | Lakeside, AZ | $18,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| White Mountain Apache Tribe | Whiteriver, AZ | $18,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Champions for Wildlife | Lynn, NC | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| University of Florida Foundation Inc | Gainesville, FL | $15,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Wolf Conservation Center Inc | South Salem, NY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Southern Environmental Law Center | Charlottesville, VA | $13,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Andrus Ranch Holdings LLC | Concho, AZ | $12,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Friends of the Heinz Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum | Philadelphia, PA | $11,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Blackfeet Tribe | Browning, MT | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Grama Grass and Livestock LLC | Boulder, CO | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Gwich'in Steering Committee | Fairbanks, AK | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Mica Group Inc | Baltimore, MD | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Okefenokee Swamp Park Inc | Waycross, GA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Species Survival Network | Highland, MD | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Tyonek Tribal Conservation District | Anchorage, AK | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Wild Earth Society Incorporated | Salt Lake Cty, UT | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Greater Yellowstone Coalition Inc | Bozeman, MT | $9,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| American Prairie Foundation | Bozeman, MT | $8,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| J Bar L Ranches LLC | Bozeman, MT | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Vital Ground Foundation Inc | Missoula, MT | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Wolf Haven International | Tenino, WA | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Animal Welfare Institute | Washington, DC | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Birkmaier Ranch Inc | Joseph, OR | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| League of Conservation Voters Inc | Washington, DC | $6,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Trustees for Alaska | Anchorage, AK | $6,400 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Friends of Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge | Los Fresnos, TX | $6,250 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Flying W Ranch Inc | Reserve, NM | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| J Albert Brown Ranches Inc | Saint Johns, AZ | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Pyramid Communications | Seattle, WA | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Renewable Energy Wildlife Institute | Washington, DC | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Tribal Government of St Paul Island | Anchorage, AK | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Nils Pedersen Dba Wind River Bear Institute LLC | Fairbanks, AK | $5,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Rio Grande Return | Lamy, NM | $5,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
24 of 65 (37%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.
- The Nature Conservancy
Sub-grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to support a joint program to facilitate and expedite the sensitive siting of renewable energy projects through the development of federal and state energy and land management policies. - Indian Nations Conservation Alliance
To support tribal efforts to reduce conflicts between wolves and livestock and to assist with range and grassland conservation objectives. - Alaska Wilderness League
To support the Arctic Refuge Defense Campaign's efforts to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. - Univeristy of Alaska
To support ANSEP contract - Hispanic Access Foundation
To support conservation projects and programs; to support Latino Conservation Week 2022 activities and event; to support work to establish the Western Riverside County National Wildlife Refuge in California; sponsorship for Our Planet film week. - Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
To contribute to the NWFW Eastern Hellbender Project.
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 38 of 65 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 29 | $1,585,131 | $10,000 |
| 2021 | 27 | $436,804 | $10,000 |
| 2022 | 32 | $544,829 | $10,516 |
| 2023 | 18 | $292,224 | $12,407 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.
Where its money goes
23% of its giving went to organizations in District of Columbia. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.
Down to the city
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Funders that support the same organizations
These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available that two funders have overlapping priorities -- and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.
How to approach this grantmaker
- Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $10,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in District of Columbia.
- Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Defenders of Wildlife's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2020-2023). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 13 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 4 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.
Address of record on the latest return: 1130 17TH Street Nw, Washington, DC, 20036.
EIN 53-0183181 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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