Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in Feb 1996.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Where the money goes
89 cents of each dollar spent went to programs.
Form 990 Part IX, line 25, columns B–D. Every line is in By the numbers.
Something off? Claim to add context
Who runs it and what they're paid
8 people listed on the 990; $231K paid to officers and key staff.
Jamie Veronica Murdock’s $104K as President / is at the 39th percentile of top reported officer pay among 3869 $1–10M human services nonprofits. Peer set: organizations in the same NTEE major field of work and revenue-size band, compared on each org’s own highest-paid officer/key-employee, from Form 990 Part VII / 990-PF Part VIII. Descriptive placement, not a verdict on whether the pay is appropriate.
Compensation history total reportable pay by year · 3 named individuals · Part VII
| Name | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | FY2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jamie Veronica Murdock | $103,759 | $86,125 | $85,865 | $78,280 | $74,885 | $72,631 |
| Howard Baskin | $92,739 | $88,775 | $89,243 | $83,123 | $76,942 | $39,500 |
| Carole Baskin | $79,715 | $75,933 | $75,885 | $69,472 | $66,500 | $35,750 |
Total reportable compensation (Form 990 Part VII column D / Schedule J column E) by filing year, matched by name within this organization. The Schedule J base / bonus / deferred breakdown is not parsed into this dataset.
See Big Cat Rescue Corp executive salaries →Questions the 990 asks
The form asks each of these directly. These are the filed answers.
- Family or business ties among officersPt VI · Ln 2Yes
- Top official's pay set by an independent reviewPt VI · Ln 15aYes
Programs and updates
Rescues big cats, ends their captivity abuse, and prevents wild extinction.
Questions for Big Cat Rescue Corp
Your first name shows with your question. Big Cat Rescue Corp answers here, for everyone.
Care for Big Cats
Provided a permanent home for approximately 41 big cats, many of whom have been abused, abandoned, orphaned or retired from performing acts. Care included food, shelter, veterinary care through a state of the art cat hospital, operant conditioning and consistent frequent enrichment activities.
Advocacy
Normally, the sanctuary performed its advocacy mission by teaching about the plight of the big cats in captivity and in the wild through guided tours of the sanctuary to approximately 30,000 visitors during the year. Due to covid the sanctuary was closed to visitors other than a limited number of small tours for donors.
In-Situ Grants
We provide grants to nonprofit organziations and individuals to support in-situ conservation work directly related to preserving big cats in the wild. Grants ranging from 1,000 to 9,500 were made to 23 in-situ conservation projects spanning 13 species in 19 countries.
Funders
Who pays for it.
From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.
Grants
By the numbers
The FY2022 990, line by line.
Download 990
| Line | FY22 | FY21 | FY20 | FY19 | FY18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| End of yearLn 1g | $920K | $1.1M | $986K | $931K | $538K |
| Given inLn 1b | $300K | $25 | |||
| SpentLn 1d–1f | $57K | $53K | $50K | $32K | $31K |
| Line | Start FY22 | End FY22 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savingsLn 1–2 | $7.6M | $8.0M |
| InvestmentsLn 11–13 | $1.9M | $1.5M |
| Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c | $4.1M | $4.0M |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $16.1M | $15.9M |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $36K | $27K |
| Net assetsLn 32 | $16.0M | $15.8M |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants to domestic organizationsLn 1 | $331K | $331K | ||
| Grants and assistance to foreign recipientsLn 3 | $90K | $90K | ||
| Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5 | $231K | $183K | $28K | $20K |
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $362K | $251K | $104K | $8K |
| Pension plan contributionsLn 8 | $15K | $11K | $3K | $710 |
| Other employee benefitsLn 9 | $63K | $46K | $14K | $3K |
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $46K | $34K | $10K | $2K |
| Legal feesLn 11b | $125K | $125K | ||
| Accounting feesLn 11c | $12K | $12K | ||
| Lobbying feesLn 11d | $38K | $38K | ||
| Other fees for servicesLn 11g | $82K | $52K | $30K | |
| Advertising and promotionLn 12 | $15K | $10K | $5K | |
| Office expensesLn 13 | $89K | $57K | $21K | $11K |
| Information technologyLn 14 | $180K | $180K | ||
| TravelLn 17 | $6K | $6K | ||
| Conferences, conventions and meetingsLn 19 | $45K | $45K | ||
| Depreciation, depletion and amortizationLn 22 | $193K | $193K | ||
| InsuranceLn 23 | $6K | $6K | ||
| Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24 | $637K | $632K | $39 | $5K |
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $2.6M | $2.3M | $222K | $55K |
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 LatestFiled with the IRS May 14, 2026 | $5.0M | $1.6M | $3.4M | $37.4M | 990 PDF |
| FY2024Filed with the IRS Oct 22, 2025 | $18.1M | $2.0M | $16.1M | $31.9M | 990 PDF |
| FY2023Filed with the IRS Jul 29, 2024 | $3.3M | $3.4M | −$112K | $15.7M | 990 PDF |
| FY2022 ViewingFiled with the IRS Apr 23, 2023 | $2.4M | $2.6M | −$213K | $15.8M | 990 PDF |
| FY2021Filed with the IRS May 10, 2022 | $3.5M | $2.3M | $1.2M | $16.0M | 990 PDF |
| FY2020Filed with the IRS Apr 5, 2021 | $4.4M | $2.8M | $1.6M | $14.9M | 990 PDF |
Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2022 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $2,353,641 revenue, 12 lines filed
Part VI · Governance 5 of 8 board members independent, 1 to look at
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $2,353,641 across 10 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $2,566,921 across 19 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $15,853,657 assets, 14 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $15,826,936 net assets at year end
Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2022 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
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