How much does Houston Zoo Inc give?

Houston Zoo Inc reported 23 itemized grants totaling $1,048,215, out of $2,790,863 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 9 and 23 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.

What does Houston Zoo Inc fund?

By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2024, its largest causes are Animals (54%), Health (33%), Environment (6%).

Who are Houston Zoo Inc's largest grantees?

By total granted over FY2017 to FY2024: Baylor College of Medicine ($3.0M), MGVP INC Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project ($915k), Wildlife Conservation Network Inc ($858k).

Does Houston Zoo Inc fund new organizations?

In FY2023, 35% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.

Which funders back the same organizations as Houston Zoo Inc?

Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Dallas Zoo Management Inc, Columbus Zoological Park Association, Jacksonville Zoological Society Inc.

Where is Houston Zoo Inc based?

Houston Zoo Inc is based in TX.

Foundation Dossiers Mostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

Texas · Public charity

Houston Zoo Inc

Mission: Connect communities with animals, inspiring action to save wildlife. Vision: Be a leader in the global movement to save wildlife. (Continued on Schedule O) Houston Zoo, Inc. (HZI) strives to be a zoo that practices exemplary animal care, delivers an outstanding guest experience, creates a workplace that instills respect and…

$2.8M
Granted FY2024(still arriving): 23
Itemized grants FY2024: 20
Organizations funded FY2023: 35%
First-time grantees FY2023

Read the full brief

Itemized, FY2024: $1.0M; The rest is grants the schedule does not break out
Median grant, FY2024: $20,000
Largest grant, FY2024: $341,112
Organizations funded a year: 9 to 23; FY2017 to FY2023
States reached, FY2024: 10
Total assets, FY2024: $381M

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2023, 35% of the organizations Houston Zoo Inc funded were first-time grantees, receiving 15% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 85% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $167k went to new ones.

RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

AnimalsEnvironmentYouth DevelopmentPhilanthropyArts & CultureOther

How this is measured

First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

The numbers by year

Fiscal year	Organizations funded	To those organizations	First-time grantees
FY2024still arriving	23	$1.0M	17%
FY2023	20	$1.1M	35%
FY2022	14	$1.3M	43%
FY2021	9	$845k	0%
FY2020	13	$928k	0%
FY2019	21	$1.4M	24%
FY2018	18	$1.3M	11%
FY2017	23	$1.3M	n/a

100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Animals$4.9MHealth$3.1MEnvironment$514kEducation$246kFood & Nutrition$144kInternational$85kYouth Development$76kArts & Culture$64kOther$0

Where its grants go

Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.

Which US states its grants reach

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Baylor College of Medicine	$3,001,923	8	0%
MGVP INC Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project	$915,000	8	12%
Wildlife Conservation Network Inc	$857,599	7	1%
Ecology Project International	$430,500	6	12%
George Miksch Sutton Avian Research Center Inc	$331,308	2	18%
Fossil Rim Wildlife Center Inc	$331,307	3	3%
University of California Davis	$324,750	8	n/a
Americans for Oxford Inc	$299,917	4	0%
Wildlife Guardians	$250,065	5	5%
International Crane Foundation Inc	$242,186	6	1%

Show all 47 grantees

All grantees of Houston Zoo Inc by total granted
Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Baylor College of Medicine	$3,001,923	8	0%
MGVP INC Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project	$915,000	8	12%
Wildlife Conservation Network Inc	$857,599	7	1%
Ecology Project International	$430,500	6	12%
George Miksch Sutton Avian Research Center Inc	$331,308	2	18%
Fossil Rim Wildlife Center Inc	$331,307	3	3%
University of California Davis	$324,750	8	n/a
Americans for Oxford Inc	$299,917	4	0%
Wildlife Guardians	$250,065	5	5%
International Crane Foundation Inc	$242,186	6	1%
Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International Inc	$240,000	6	1%
Smithsonian Institution	$170,000	3	0%
American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums Inc	$140,000	3	1%
The Fort Worth Zoological Association	$135,638	2	0%
International Elephant Foundation	$130,000	7	3%
Wildlife Conservation Global Inc	$125,000	4	5%
Texas A&M Agrilife Research	$113,608	2	n/a
Gorilla Rehabilitation Conservation Education (Grace) Center Inc	$109,500	5	4%
Global Conservation Network	$82,000	8	1%
The International Rhino Foundation	$80,000	4	1%
Telonics Inc	$76,783	2	n/a
Boy Scouts of America #564 Capitol Area Council	$75,988	2	1%
Johns Hopkins University	$69,166	1	0%
Save Giraffes Now	$62,300	2	6%
Dallas Zoological Society	$54,456	2	0%
Texas State University	$51,440	3	n/a
Rewild	$46,000	3	0%
Texas Conservation Alliance	$45,000	2	2%
Bat Conservation International	$40,000	1	1%
North Carolina Zoological Society Inc	$40,000	2	0%
Lincoln Park Zoological Society	$35,000	2	0%
Friends of Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge	$30,000	1	28%
The Turtle Survival Alliance Foundation	$30,000	1	1%
Minnesota Zoo Foundation	$30,000	3	0%
Maralliance	$23,150	1	3%
Knoxville Zoological Gardens Inc	$20,000	1	0%
American Bird Conservancy	$20,000	1	0%
Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research Education and Conservation	$20,000	2	0%
Pines and Prairies Land Trust	$15,552	1	23%
The Four Corners Institute	$13,750	1	14%
White Oak Conservation Foundation Inc	$11,069	1	1%
William Marsh Rice University	$10,000	1	0%
Port Aransas Tourism Bureau and Chamber of Commerce	$10,000	1	0%
Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (See) Inc	$10,000	1	0%
Wildtracks USA	$8,360	1	n/a
Columbus Zoological Park Association	$7,000	1	0%
National Mall and Memorial Parks	$5,150	1	n/a

Houston Zoo Inc supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 1 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 41 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured

Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 41.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

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.

Dallas Zoo Management IncTX24.2× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Dallas Zoo Management Inc · Columbus Zoological Park Association · Jacksonville Zoological Society Inc · Dallas Zoological Society · Utah Zoological Society · Nashville Zoo Inc · Detroit Zoological Society · Zoological Society of San Diego · National Fish and Wildlife Foundation · National Geographic Society · Riverbanks Society · The Caldwell Foundation

How this is measured

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Compare Houston Zoo Inc with peer funders

About Houston Zoo Inc

How much does Houston Zoo Inc give?: Houston Zoo Inc reported 23 itemized grants totaling $1,048,215, out of $2,790,863 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 9 and 23 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.
What does Houston Zoo Inc fund?: By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2024, its largest causes are Animals (54%), Health (33%), Environment (6%).
Who are Houston Zoo Inc's largest grantees?: By total granted over FY2017 to FY2024: Baylor College of Medicine ($3.0M), MGVP INC Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project ($915k), Wildlife Conservation Network Inc ($858k).
Does Houston Zoo Inc fund new organizations?: In FY2023, 35% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Which funders back the same organizations as Houston Zoo Inc?: Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Dallas Zoo Management Inc, Columbus Zoological Park Association, Jacksonville Zoological Society Inc.
Where is Houston Zoo Inc based?: Houston Zoo Inc is based in TX.