Form 990 for tax year 2025

Totals

Total revenue

$7,890,389

Total expenses

$10,190,336

Contributions and grants received

$7,743,685

Grants paid

$8,816,071

Program service revenue

$0

Investment income

$140,259

Other revenue

$6,445

Total assets, end of year

$3,864,833

Total liabilities, end of year

$70,396

Net assets or fund balances, end of year

$3,794,437

Program services expenses (Part IX)

$9,074,536

Management and general expenses

$526,003

Fundraising expenses

$589,797

Program service expenses (Part III)

$9,074,536

Program services were 89.1% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

Line items

Every line the filer filed in Parts VIII, IX and X, as filed and in filed order. Blank columns are left out, and the lines are not forced to add up to the totals above.

Mission and programs · 2025

• WILDLIFE SECURITY AND HABITAT:BIG LIFE FOUNDATION USA FUNDS PROGRAMS THAT SEEK TO PREVENT THE POACHING OF ALL WILDLIFE WITHIN OUR AREA OF OPERATION ACROSS KENYA AND TANZANIA. AMONG OTHER THINGS, WE FUND ONE OF THE LARGEST EMPLOYERS OF LOCAL MAASAI IN THE AMBOSELI-TSAVO-KILIMANJARO ECOSYSTEM, WHOSE RANGERS ARE EXPERTLY TRAINED AND WELL-EQUIPPED TO TACKLE A VARIETY OF WILDLIFE CRIMES SPANNING APPROXIMATELY TWO MILLION ACRES OF WILDERNESS. WHEN NECESSARY, THE RANGERS TRACK AND APPREHEND POACHERS AND COLLABORATE WITH LOCAL PROSECUTORS TO ENSURE THAT THEY ARE PUNISHED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW. (CONTINUED ON SCHEDULE O - SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION)IN 2025, WE FUNDED 33 PERMANENT OUTPOSTS AND 13 MOBILE UNITS IN KENYA, AND WE SUPPORTED THE SALARIES, TRAINING, AND EQUIPMENT OF 593 TOTAL FIELD STAFF IN KENYA, INCLUDING 391 TRAINED RANGERS. RANGERS IN KENYA PATROLLED 546,923 KM BY VEHICLE, 234,863 KM ON FOOT, AND 28,817 KM BY PLANE. 209 SUSPECTS WERE ARRESTED IN 113 INCIDENTS IN KENYA. HUNDREDS OF POACHING TOOLS AND RELATED ITEMS WERE CONFISCATED, ALONG WITH 254 KG OF IVORY. WE ALSO SUPPORTED THE LEGAL MONITORING OF COURT CASES THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.

  Expenses $6,744,114 · Grants $6,612,919

• COMMUNITY AND OUTREACH:FIGHTING WILDLIFE CRIME HELPS THE ECOSYSTEM TODAY, BUT WINNING THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF THE COMMUNITY AND PROVIDING A MUTUAL BENEFIT THROUGH CONSERVATION IS THE ONLY WAY TO PROTECT WILDLIFE AND WILD LANDS FAR INTO THE FUTURE. BIG LIFE FOUNDATION USA INVESTS IN THE FUTURE OF PARTICIPATING COMMUNITIES BY FUNDING TEACHERS' SALARIES AND PROVIDING EDUCATIONAL SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS FOR HUNDREDS OF LOCAL MAASAI STUDENTS IN KENYA. THESE SALARIES AND SCHOLARSHIPS ARE DISTRIBUTED TO BIG LIFE KENYA WHO ALSO SELECTS THE RECIPIENTS. WHEN THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY BENEFITS FROM CONSERVATION EFFORTS AND RECOGNIZES THE VALUE OF PROTECTING THE ECOSYSTEM, ENFORCEMENT BECOMES SELF-POLICING. (CONTINUED ON SCHEDULE O - SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION) IN 2025, BIG LIFE FOUNDATION USA PROVIDED FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR 462 STUDENTS AT VARYING LEVELS OF EDUCATION AND PAID THE SALARIES OF 8 TEACHERS. MULTIPLE CONSERVATION-ORIENTED STUDENT AND COMMUNITY MEETINGS AND FIELD TRIPS WERE ALSO HELD IN 2025.

  Expenses $2,145,862 · Grants $2,022,206

• HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICT:BIG LIFE FOUNDATION USA FUNDS COLLABORATIVE PROGRAMS TO HELP MITIGATE THE NEGATIVE IMPACT OF HUMAN-WILDLIFE INTERACTION, SUCH AS MITIGATING CROP-RAIDING BY HUNGRY ELEPHANTS, BOTH FOR THE PEOPLE AND THE ANIMALS THROUGH THE CONSTRUCTION OF WILDLIFE EXCLUSION FENCES TO KEEP ELEPHANTS OUT OF CROPS. IN 2025, 55 CROP RAIDS WERE PREVENTED. WE ALSO FUND A PREDATOR COMPENSATION FUND VIA GRANTS TO BIG LIFE LIMITED (BIG LIFE KENYA), A RELATED ORGANIZATION. FOR MAASAI HERDERS, THEIR CATTLE ARE THEIR LIVELIHOOD. WHEN LIVESTOCK FALLS PREY TO PREDATORS, THE HERDERS ARE FINANCIALLY DISADVANTAGED AND JUSTIFIABLY FRUSTRATED. (CONTINUED ON SCHEDULE O - SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION)TO PREVENT LOSSES THAT LEAD TO HERDERS RETALIATING WITH SPEARS OR POISONED CARCASSES, BIG LIFE FOUNDATION USA FUNDS PROGRAMS TO ENCOURAGE IMPROVED FENCING AND HUSBANDRY PRACTICES. IN THE EVENT THAT AN ANIMAL IS LOST TO A PREDATOR, THE HERDER IS COMPENSATED FOR A PERCENTAGE OF THE MARKET VALUE OF THE ANIMAL, USING FUNDS FROM THE PREDATOR COMPENSATION FUND. THIS SMALL CONSOLATION IS SIGNIFICANT TO THE MAASAI, AND AS A RESULT, RETALIATORY KILLINGS HAVE BEEN REDUCED SIGNIFICANTLY. IN 2025, WE FUNDED THE SUCCESSFUL INTERVENTION BY RANGERS AGAINST 8 ATTEMPTED RETALIATORY LION HUNTS, AND OUR GRANTS TO THE PREDATOR COMPENSATION FUND WERE USED TO REIMBURSE PARTICIPATING COMMUNITY MEMBERS A TOTAL OF $101,099 FOR VERIFIED DEATHS BY PREDATION OF LIVESTOCK.

  Expenses $184,560 · Grants $180,946

As filed on the 2025 return. The filer continues this part on Schedule O, which is not shown here.

Listed in Part VII

Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those. A Schedule J breakdown is as filed: base pay, bonus, other, deferred compensation and nontaxable benefits from this organization, with any from related organizations beside each, and the filer's own total. It is shown with the Part VII listing of the same name on the same return. The form gives no key between the two, so that pairing is ours, and is marked matched by us.

Schedule J

Part I's answers as filed. A line not listed was left unanswered; on lines 1a and 3 that means the box was not checked.

Grants on this return

No itemized grants to organizations on this return.

Provenance

Return type

form_990

Tax year

2025

Filed

17 June 2026

IRS schema version

2025v4.1

Source object

202611689349301616

Check it against the return as filed: the GivingTuesday Data Lake hosts a public copy of the original XML.

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