Johnny Morris' Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium

Legal name: Johnny Morris' Wonders of Wildlife Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
822342237
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Springfield, MO, USA
Phone
4172251171
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Museum, Museum Activities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$26,281,365
Expenses
$22,469,057
Assets
$107,333,503
Liabilities
$7,396,164

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JOHN L MORRIS (PRESIDENT/DIRECTOR)
  • MEGAN C STACK (VICE PRESIDENT/DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • JOHN MIKOLAJCZYK (SENIOR DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS): $214,824 total reported compensation
  • MIKE DANIEL (DIRECTOR OF ANIMAL CARE): $161,793 total reported compensation
  • JARED BOYD (DIRECTOR OF FINANCE): $149,753 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Wonders of Wildlife shares a passion for connecting people with the great outdoors through fishing, hunting and outdoor recreation, and celebrates wildlife conservation through authentic, educational and fun visitor experiences. Conservation Virtual Learning Let us help you turn your home and backyard into a fun and safe educational environment. Wonders of Wildlife is collaborating with _Agents of Discovery _and several leading conservation organizations to launch Mission Conservation. We want to help parents and educators make Conservation Education at home fun and engaging! We are creating Missions (or games) every month, which learners can access on their phones. Conservation Mission Conservation Virtual Learning Let us help you turn your home and backyard into a fun and safe educational environment.

What it reported doing in 2025

The foundation manages and operates johnny morris' wonders of wildlife national museum and aquarium (wow) located in springfield, mo. The museum and aquarium offer visitors a unique experience to learn about conservation through tours, live animal collections, taxidermied wildlife galleries and other exhibits. The experience celebrates those who hunt, fish and act as stewards of the land and water. The education team connects people to nature through interpretive programs, outreach and field programs. The wonders of wildlife houses the exhibit, nature's best photography. This exhibit is home to the windland smith rice international awards and its annual nature's best photography exhibition, previously only displayed at the smithsonian museum of natural history in Washington, d.c. Established to recognize and display the creative talents and documentary achievement of nature photographers worldwide, the exhibition features a rotating gallery of jaw-dropping wildlife photography and videos from around the world as a celebration of both people and nature.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 71% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 76
  • Accountability: 59
  • Sustainability: 71
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 72.7%; rating input score 73
  • Program expense ratio: 84.4%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 50%; rating input score 50; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 14.5%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.78; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.9%; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.3% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.8% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.7% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site
  • Where the money goes: 72.7% of revenue deployed · 84.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 6 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $19M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $215K · 11 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $5.1M reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 7 filed related-organization links
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 50/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.