Grants for zoos

Name: Top 25 grants made to zoos and acquariums
Creator: Cause IQ
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

99 zoos and acquariums received at least $22.5 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 593 grants made from 436 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,000. Of these 436 foundations, 89% made just a single grant to zoos, and 2% made grants to four or more zoos. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.

$22,478,821

Total grant dollars given to zoos

593

Number of grants made annually to zoos

436

Number of grantmakers funding zoos

$1,000

Median grant size to zoos

Foundations that support zoos and acquariums

Out of all grants made to zoos, 80% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 95% of the dollar-value of grants to zoos. Foundations funding zoos also made grants to art museums, multiservice human service organizations, food banks, colleges, and scholarship organizations.

Foundation size

Foundation size	Number of grantmakers
Small	350
Medium	44
Large	42

Small foundations have <$10M in assets. Medium foundations have $10M to $50M in assets. Large foundations have >$50M in assets.

Foundation type

Foundation type	Number of grantmakers
Community	12
Private	390
Corporate	20
Other	14

Grants made

Grants made to zoos	Number of grantmakers
1	389
2-3	34
4-10	10
11+	3

Top 10 foundations supporting zoos and acquariums

Grantmaker	State	Geographic focus	Percent of grant dollars to zoos	Number of grants made to zoos	Median grant size
Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT)	TN	Metro	0.1%	32	$1,000
JP Morgan Chase Foundation	NY	National	0.0%	25	$350
The Rhode Island Foundation	RI	Metro	0.0%	13	$1,000
Seattle Foundation	WA	State	0.0%	10	$1,500
Salesforce Com Foundation	CA	National	0.0%	8	$1,350
Chubb Charitable Foundation	PA	National	0.1%	8	$282
Shell Oil Company Foundation	TX	National	0.0%	6	$200
Charity Partners Foundation	MA	National	0.5%	6	$198
Synchrony Foundation	CT	National	0.0%	6	$100
Baird Foundation	WI	National	0.0%	5	$500

See all grantmaking to zoos

Zoos and acquariums grantees

Zoos with more than $5 million in total revenues received 99% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 92% of all zoos.

Grant amounts

Size of grant	Number of grants
<$10k	590
$10k-$25k	0
$25k-$100k	0
$100k+	3

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue	Median grant size
<$100k	$2,500
$100k-$500k	$3,000
$500k-$1M	$1,500
$1M-$5M	$1,400
>$5M	$1,000

Grantee states

State of grantee	Number of grants
California	149
Tennessee	59
Illinois	45
Texas	29
Other	311

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee	Number of grants
Salinas	53
Nashville	47
Chicago	45
San Francisco	29
Other	403

Top 25 grants made to zoos

Grantee	Grant size	Purpose	Grantmaker
Monterey Bay Aquarium	$10,000,000	$5 Million for Conservation and Science Prorgams, $5 Million for Conservation Research Programs	The Chicago Community Trust
Monterey Bay Aquarium	$6,410,000	Mbaq	David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Nashville Zoo	$4,970,658	Support Toward the Zoo'S $195 Million "grow Wild" Capital Campaign.	The Frist Foundation
Virginia Zoological Society (VZP)	$5,000	Sponsorship	Monarch Charities
Saint Louis Zoo Association	$5,000	Conservation	The Columbus Foundation
Columbus Zoological Park Association	$5,000	Conservation	The Columbus Foundation
Columbus Zoological Park Association	$5,000	Conservation	The Columbus Foundation
Columbus Zoological Park Association	$5,000	Conservation	The Columbus Foundation
New Zoological Society	$5,000	Program Support	Morley - Murphy Foundation
Living Desert	$5,000	In Furtherance of Organization's Work	The Castle Foundation
Zoo Atlanta	$5,000	Unrestricted General	Mary W Covey Foundation
Virginia Zoological Society (VZP)	$5,000	General Fund	Shearwater Foundation
Austin Zoo	$5,000	Accessibility Projectzoo Public Building,	The Henry Foundation
Woodland Park Zoo	$5,000	Feeding and Care of Visayan Warty Pigs	Lily Pointe Foundation
Aquarium of the Pacific	$5,000	To Support and Further Its Exempt Purpose	Raymond and Barbara Alpert Foundation
Sacramento Zoological Society	$5,000	Exhibit Modifications To Accommodate New Species	Thornton S. Glide Jr. and Katrina D. Glide Foundation
Seneca Park Zoo	$5,000	Unrestricted Gift	The Riedman Foundation
Shedd Aquarium	$5,000	General	A. G. Cox Charity Trust
The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore	$5,000	All for General Purposes	Eliasberg Family Foundation
The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore	$5,000	All for General Purposes	Eliasberg Family Foundation
Monterey Bay Aquarium	$5,000	Education	Storm Castle Foundation Silver Lake
Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk	$5,000	Charitable Exempt Purpose	The William H Pitt Foundation
Houston Zoo	$5,000	General Support	Harvey R Houck Jr and Patricia W Houck Foundation
Savenatureorg	$5,000	General Support	The Nathan Cummings Foundation
Utah Zoological Society	$5,000	Support To Help Animals Habitats	Lawrence & Janet Dee Foundation

See all grants to zoos

Methodology: To determine grants and grantees, Cause IQ analyzes electronically-filed Form 990, Form 990-EZ, and Form 990-PF financial disclosure documents, matching grantees to specific organizations using EINs and fuzzy matching logic. The "Zoos" category for this page is determined by the "D50: Zoo, Zoological Society" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.