Wild Welfare Us

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
873213544
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2022
Location
Houston, TX, USA
Phone
2814332863
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Management & Technical Assistance

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$412,630
Expenses
$465,632
Assets
$159,275
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Margaret Whittaker (Executive Director)
  • Kristin Vehrs (President)
  • Mark Penning (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Margaret Whittaker (Executive Director): $68,750 total reported compensation
  • Dena Honeycutt (Operations Manager): $14,400 total reported compensation
  • David Morgan (Field Director): $7,825 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To end the suffering of captive wild animals around the world, by uniting the world's leading animal welfare organizations and captive wildlife facilities in providing expert, practical, and sustainable solutions to improve animal welfare.

What it reported doing in 2025

Lok Kawi Wildlife Park in Sabah, Malaysia: training staff to train elephants, consulting on design and construction of new elephant barns and assisting, coordinating elephant moves to new barn.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 90% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 71% of its reported program spending out as grants.

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 the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 93
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 47
  • Sustainability: 24
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 98.9%; rating input score 99
  • Program expense ratio: 87.7%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $69.52 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 33.3%; rating input score 33; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -12.8%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.34; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 19.5%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 20.9% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 16% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 98.9% of revenue deployed · 87.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 6 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $408K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $69K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 27 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

Key Signals

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

  • Moderate — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 33/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 7 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 16/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 18/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 19/100.