Wildize Foundation

Wildize Foundation is a small, all-volunteer family foundation run by Ellen S. Weiss (President/Treasurer) and Andrew Hanson (Director), both currently drawing $0 in compensation — this is not a staffed program office with formal cycles, but a relationship-driven vehicle for two people directing funds into African wildlife conservation. There is no published LOI-to-proposal-to-site-visit pipeline; the foundation's own IRS filing states applications are restricted "only to African organizations & individuals" advancing sustainable wildlife, habitat, and indigenous-culture conservation, and its accepting_applications flag is on but with no application_form_url, grants_page_url, or deadline on record — meaning the real front door is a direct email to info@wildize.org, not a portal. First-time applicants should not treat this as a cold-application funder: known grantees like the International Anti-Poaching Foundation (Zimbabwe) and the Chobe Research Institute / Caracal Center (northern Botswana) are established, technically credentialed field operations with pre-existing relationships to the foundation's leadership, and documentary projects (Walking Thunder, Wild Daze) suggest media/storytelling partners are also in the mix. Unusually for a foundation with well under $300,000 in total assets in any recent filing year, Wildize funds across a wide spectrum — direct anti-poaching security operations, ecosystem/disease research, individual scholarships for sub-Saharan African students in wildlife-related graduate fields, and conservation documentary film — rather than a single narrow program. The foundation's own language, "Conservation IS about people," signals it wants proposals framed around community ownership and local accountability, not top-down protection schemes. Because the foundation operates as a pass-through (grants paid track closely with that year's incoming contributions rather than a stable endowment payout), timing and framing that acknowledges its capacity constraints — proposing right-sized, phased asks rather than large lump-sum requests — will read as more credible than a generic six-figure ask. Given the tiny board and lack of public infrastructure, expect a personal, multi-email or phone relationship to precede any funding decision rather than a single-shot written application.

Wildize's own Form 990 filings (available years: 2011-2015, 2020-2023; no data on file for 2016-2019, 2024-2026) show grants paid ranging from a low of $30,308 (FY2014) to a high of $265,712 (FY2013), with a median across the nine reported years of roughly $141,674 and a rough average of $138,000 per year. Total giving (which includes grants plus related program costs) has ranged from $79,983 (FY2014) to $463,246 (FY2011). Total assets have stayed small and volatile — $110,515 (FY2013) up to $303,401 (FY2020), sitting at just $164,782 as of the most recent filing (FY2023) — confirming this is a pass-through vehicle, not an endowed grantmaker: contributions received in a given year ($150,000 in FY2023, $250,000 in FY2021, $434,436 in FY2011) closely track that year's total giving, meaning available grant capacity depends almost entirely on what donors give the foundation that same year. Officer compensation has been $0 in every year since 2014 (it was $16,104 in FY2012-2013 and $4,831 in FY2011), reinforcing the all-volunteer, low-overhead structure — essentially all incoming dollars are earmarked to flow through to grantees, consistent with the foundation's own claim of directing 80-90% of contributions straight to grantees. No program-area or geographic breakdown is available in the database (the grantees table returned zero matched records, avg_amount and total_amount are null), so the only category-level detail comes from web research: named projects span anti-poaching/security (International Anti-Poaching Foundation, Zimbabwe), applied ecosystem-health research (Chobe Research Institute/Caracal Center, Botswana), documentary film/advocacy (Walking Thunder, Wild Daze), and individual scholarships for sub-Saharan African students in wildlife-related fields — with a newly emerging Sub-Saharan Lion Conservation Project spanning multiple partner sites as of the 2025 grantmaker refresh. Applicants should size requests against the observed $30K-$265K annual grants-paid range rather than assume six- or seven-figure capacity; a single ask above roughly $100,000 would represent a large share of a typical year's entire giving.

*Note: the platform's BMF-sourced asset_amount field for Wildize ($8,717,771) is far larger than the $110K-$303K asset range reported across its own Form 990 filings from 2011-2023 — this looks like a data inconsistency between IRS Business Master File and the foundation's actual filed financials, and this report treats the 990-derived figures as authoritative for financial analysis. On that basis, Wildize is a much smaller, faster-turnover funder than the similarly "Animals"-classified peers it was matched against by asset size — those peers appear to be operating sanctuaries/reserves with real multi-million-dollar asset bases, while Wildize is a lean pass-through grantmaker moving under $300K a year with no endowment cushion. None of the peer foundations have disclosed public application processes in this dataset, reinforcing that this peer set consists of small, relationship-driven or operating-focused entities rather than foundations with formal open-call RFPs.

The most concrete recent signal is Candid's Foundation Directory Online record showing a grant-data refresh dated 2025-09-05 that names a new Sub-Saharan Lion Conservation Project, described as coordinated across several on-the-ground partner sites with additional projects "proposed and further envisioned" — the clearest evidence of a new funding initiative in the 2025-2026 window, though no press release, dollar figure, or named partner list could be independently confirmed beyond this directory summary. Separately, the foundation's corporate registration shifted with an incorporation dated 2024-08-27, appearing to reflect a re-domiciling to Colorado (the Wildize Foundation history page lists an Aspen, CO 501(c)(3) registration) while day-to-day operations and mailing address remain in Carlsbad, CA — this looks like a legal/administrative change rather than a programmatic pivot. Beyond these two items, no dated 2025 or 2026 press releases, leadership changes, or named large grants surfaced in web search; the foundation does not appear to issue its own news releases, and its social presence is limited to the "Our Wild World Conservation" talk-radio program (hosted by a person identified only as "Eli," airing Mondays at 8am Pacific on Voice America Radio), which functions as its primary public-facing communications channel. Its most recent Form 990 on file in this platform's data is for FY2023 (fiscal year ended December 31, 2023), reporting $113,079 in grants paid and $150,000 in contributions received — no FY2024 or FY2025 filing was available at research time, consistent with typical nonprofit filing lag. Given the thin public information trail, applicants should not expect a formal calendar of announcements and should treat direct outreach as the primary way to learn what the foundation is currently prioritizing.

There is no application form, portal, published deadline, or grants page on record for Wildize (application_form_url, grants_page_url, and application_deadline are all blank in the platform's database, and application_instructions is explicitly "none") — so the single most important tip is to initiate contact directly at info@wildize.org or (760) 209-5508 rather than searching for a form that does not exist. Confirm eligibility before reaching out: the foundation's own restriction language limits funding strictly to African organizations and individuals working on sustainable wildlife/habitat/indigenous-culture conservation — U.S.-based nonprofits, even those doing Africa-focused work from a domestic office, should clarify whether their in-country partner (not the U.S. entity) would be the actual grantee of record. Use the foundation's own framing in any pitch: their repeated language, "Conservation IS about people," and emphasis on projects being "culturally and ecologically appropriate" and community-driven, signals they want to see local ownership and accountability structures, not an externally-imposed protection plan. Because grants paid have ranged from $30,308 to $265,712 across the years on file (median roughly $141,674), pitch a specific, modestly-scoped request rather than an open-ended six-figure ask — proposals sized to a clear, standalone deliverable (a research phase, a scholarship cohort, an equipment/security tranche) are more fundable than multi-year general operating asks given the foundation's own pass-through funding model (its grant capacity depends on that year's incoming donations, not a stable endowment payout). Common mistakes to avoid: submitting a generic cold proposal with no prior contact (there's no portal to catch it), applying from outside Africa or with a program not centered on wildlife/habitat/indigenous culture, and asking for amounts that exceed roughly a third of the foundation's typical annual grants-paid total. Relationship-building matters more than paperwork here — reference or seek introduction through known grantee networks (International Anti-Poaching Foundation, Chobe Research Institute) where plausible, and consider engaging with their "Our Wild World Conservation" radio program as a lower-friction way to get visibility with the foundation's principals before a formal ask. Because the foundation is entirely volunteer-run with no paid staff, expect slower, more personal correspondence rather than a standardized review-committee timeline.