· Public charity
Detroit Zoological Society
The mission of the Detroit Zoological Society (DZS) is to create meaningful connections between people, animals and the natural world so all can thrive.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
How this is measured
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k1 grant · $8k
- $10k–50k14 grants · $203k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $70k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International Inc | $70,000 |
| Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education Center Inc | $40,000 |
| Wildlife Conservation Network | $25,000 |
| OnePlanet Inc | $20,000 |
| American Forests | $18,020 |
| Re wild | $10,000 |
| Turtle Survival Alliance | $10,000 |
| Minnesota Zoo Foundation | $10,000 |
| Global Conservation Network | $10,000 |
| Ngogo Chimpanzee Project Inc | $10,000 |
| Polar Bears International Inc | $10,000 |
| Oklahoma City Zoological Trust dba Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden | $10,000 |
| Lincoln Park Zoological Society | $10,000 |
| Amphibian Survival Alliance | $10,000 |
| Red Panda Network | $10,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 63% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
Grants abroad, by region: $295k on the FY2024 return
Schedule F, as filed: 3 regions. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.
Stated purpose: Education Support · Conservation Support
Stated purpose: Conservation Support
Stated purpose: Conservation Support
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +83% since the first grant, against +33% for those funded once.
35 repeat relationships: 13 still active in FY2024, 22 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 90% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $28k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- GRGORILLA REHABILITATION CONSERVATION EDUCATION (GRACE) CENTER INC8× · 2017–2024 · $265k · revenue +87%
REWILD8× · 2017–2024 · $232k · revenue +550%- AAAMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC7× · 2017–2024 · $223k · revenue +83%
Funded once
- TBTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOISone grant, 2022 · $146k
- WCWildlife Conservation Societygraduatedone grant, 2017 · $13k · revenue +59%
- MTMichigan Tech Fundone grant, 2017 · $10k · revenue -37%
How this is measured
Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
Closest unfunded matches
The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
Wwf's mission is to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on earth. (continued on schedule o)
Rainforest trust saves endangered wildlife and protects our planet by creating rainforest reserves through partnerships, community engagement, and donor support.
Protecting the world's remaining primates by monitoring and exposing illegal trade, supporting a worldwide network of overseas sanctuaries and ngo's, publicising the plight of abused primates, and operating a sanctuary for resued gibbons.
Awf's mission is to ensure wildlife and wild lands thrive in modern africa. we work to equip african governments, institutions, business, and communities with the tools, insights, and support they need to define, own, and realize a…
Funding innovative veterinary research and supporting organizations dedicated to preserving and protecting wildlife for future generations.
Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.
Panthera's mission is the conservation of the world's 40 wild cat species, many of which are endangered or threatened. panthera develops, implements and oversees wild cat conservation strategies on a global scale.
To safeguard large carnivores, their prey, and habitat in zambia through applied research, conservation, and education.
Protecting india's precious wildlife from poaching, habitat loss, and human exploitation since 1995.
Through management of oakland zoo, the conservation society of california deepens connection with animals, saves wildlife, and inspires champions for the natural world.
To protect endangered species.
Iucn-us fund builds bridges between us donors and iucn by catalyzing, accelerating, funding and promoting iucn's work - conserving nature and natural resources in the united states and throughout the world.
How this is measured
41 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.
Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.
How this is measured
Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 41 of the 57 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.
Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding
A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds GORILLA REHABILITATION CONSERVATION EDUCATION (GRACE) CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds REWILD ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC ↗
- Who funds POLAR OCEANS RESEARCH GROUP ↗
- Who funds Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International Inc ↗
- Who funds THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds AFRICAN ELEPHANT CONSERVATION TRUST ↗
- Who funds RED PANDA NETWORK ↗
- Who funds GIRAFFE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION USA ↗
- Who funds MINNESOTA ZOO FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds JANE GOODALL INSTITUTE FOR WILDLIFE RESEARCH EDUCATION AND CONSERVATION ↗
- Who funds GLOBAL CONSERVATION NETWORK ↗
- Who funds THE SAINT LOUIS ZOO ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds AMERICANS FOR OXFORD INC ↗
- Who funds UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds INTERNATIONAL SNOW LEOPARD TRUST ↗
- Who funds OnePlanet USA Inc ↗
- Who funds WILDLIFE CONSERVATION NETWORK INC ↗
- Who funds The Ocean Foundation ↗
- Who funds BAT CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL ↗
- Who funds THE PEREGRINE FUND INC ↗
- Who funds POLAR BEARS INTERNATIONAL ↗
- Who funds RELEAF MICHIGAN INC ↗
- Who funds MGVP INC Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project ↗
- Who funds Yale University ↗
- Who funds LINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds American Forests ↗
- Who funds Wildlife Conservation Society ↗
- Who funds Michigan Tech Fund ↗
Co-funders
Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: Columbus Zoological Park Association · Zoological Society of San Diego · Dallas Zoo Management Inc · Commonwealth Zoological Corporation D/B/A Zoo New England · Houston Zoo Inc · Jacksonville Zoological Society Inc · Reid Park Zoological Society · Utah Zoological Society · East Coast Zoological Society of Florida Inc · Nashville Zoo Inc · Living Desert The · Arizona Center for Nature Conservation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Detroit Zoological Society funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Detroit Zoological Society. Bigger dots raise more.
- Yale University: 12% of income from government
- Giraffe Conservation Foundation Usa: 2% of income from government
How this is measured
Play a game based on Detroit Zoological Society’s filings →