Maryland · Nonprofit
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC (Maryland) receives grants from 56 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,574,004 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($1,750,000). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $21M
- Funders on record
- 56
- Grants received
- $5.6M
- Net assets
- $24M
What American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums Inc does
Mission
The association is an educational organization dedicated to the advancement of zoological parks and aquariums in the areas of species conservation, animal welfare, and conservation education.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Endangered species relief fund: the association of zoos and aquariums (aza) and the u.s. Fish and wildlife service (fws) have entered into a cooperative agreement to implement section 6003(a)(2) of public law (p.l.) 117-2, the american rescue plan act.fws entered into a cooperative agreement with aza to provide reimbursements to eligible facilities that cared for native endangered and threatened species and rescued and confiscated wildlife and that experienced earned revenue declines as a result of the covid-19 pandemic. Funds were directed toward reimbursing eligible facilities for the following three captive care categories: 1) u.s. Native plant and animal species listed (continued on schedule o)
$6,176,656 spentof which $5,923,288 as grants39% of program spendingConservation education: aza provides support to aza members in the development and implementation of zoo and aquarium education programs to advance the understanding of wildlife. Aza provides on-going professional development opportunities, both on site and online and through conferences, publications, websites, newsletters, etc. Offers opportunities for the exchange of educational information on a range of topics relevant to the zoo and aquarium community.
$3,093,748 spentof which $135,373 as grants$3,086,878 earned by the program20% of program spendingConservation & science: aza facilitates, supports, promotes and coordinates cooperative animal management, conservation and scientific initiatives of aza member institutions. Program provides grants for conservation through the conservation grants fund.
$2,847,260 spentof which $1,171,750 as grants18% of program spendingGovernment affairs
$547,165 spentof which $5,400 as grants3% of program spendingWildlife traficking alliance
$428,782 spentof which $1,046 as grants3% of program spendingPublic education & communication
$729,163 spent5% of program spendingAccreditation & membership
$1,971,046 spentof which $89,500 as grants$7,559,692 earned by the program12% of program spending
The 7 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $15,793,820.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $22M to $30M (+33%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 4% · 2018 4% · 2019 4% · 2020 4% · 2021 14% · 2022 61% · 2023 2% · 2024 30%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
40% of AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (67% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Daniel M Ashe
President & CEO
Board chair
Denise Verret
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 33 funders to 16 funders, grant income fell $1.4M → $866k.
4 of 56 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 40% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $10k from one payer (the same organization on both sides, largest American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC raised.
From the IRS filings of AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 56 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 31% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
90% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 14% · 2018 31% · 2019 21% · 2020 34% · 2021 83% · 2022 24% · 2023 58% — growing more concentrated.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
15% of AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 43% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC draws 98% of its grant income from funders outside Maryland, across 24 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 4 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 235 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 235 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $32.0M on record.
- Department of the Interior$30.3M
- Department of Agriculture$1.7M
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Maryland
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC?
- AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC (Maryland) receives grants from 56 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,574,004 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($1,750,000). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC have?
- IRS filings report 56 organizations giving $5,574,004 in grants to AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC, 24 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $1,750,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 56 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing