Louisiana · Nonprofit
Audubon Nature Institute Inc
Audubon Nature Institute Inc (Louisiana) receives grants from 85 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,521,199 to it, the largest being ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO ($3,089,984). 60 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $61M
- Funders on record
- 85
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $5.0M
What Audubon Nature Institute Inc does
Mission
Operation of museums and parks dedicated to nature on behalf of the City of New Orleans.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Audubon completed significant renovations to its downtown campus, encompassing Audubon Aquarium, Audubon Insectarium, and Woldenberg Riverfront Park. The new complex reopened in summer 2023 and involves collaborations with local partners, including the RTA, to create a revitalized walkable downtown area and an unparalleled destination celebrating New Orleans' connection with the Mississippi River. Audubon continued planning efforts for Riverfront for All, a visionary project that will forever change the Mississippi Riverfront in downtown New Orleans, creating uninterrupted pedestrian and bicycle access across 2.25 miles of contiguous riverfront. Wings of the World took flight at Audubon Zoo when it opened in March. Wings of the World is the largest and most immersive experience of its kind regionally, with new exhibitry, a free-flight aviary, and more than 60 birds from around the world. The reimagined planetarium reopened at Audubon Louisiana Nature Center, taking guest from bayous to black holes in one afternoon. USA Today readers voted for their favorite North American AZA-accredited zooa and aquariums - facilities that excel in the fields of animal care and enrichment, while…
$34,979,433 spentof which $1,424,125 as grants$22,628,284 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $34,979,433.
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 2023 to 2024, from $10.0M to $22M (+120%).
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 1% · 2018 0% · 2019 0% · 2020 0% · 2021 32% · 2022 4% · 2023 2% · 2024 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
40% of Audubon Nature Institute 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. 5 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
L Ronald Forman
President & CEO
Board chair
Willard L Dumas
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 22 funders to 43 funders, grant income rose $506k → $2.2M.
8 of 85 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 3% 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: $11M from 7 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Audubon Nature Institute Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money Audubon Nature Institute Inc raised.
From the IRS filings of Audubon Nature Institute Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 85 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
Audubon Nature Institute Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 29% of grant income and the top three 58%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
53% 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 Audubon Nature Institute Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 39% · 2018 75% · 2019 69% · 2020 44% · 2021 49% · 2022 30% · 2023 23% — diversifying over time.
“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
46% of Audubon Nature Institute Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% 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
Audubon Nature Institute Inc draws 60% of its grant income from funders outside Louisiana, across 20 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $345k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
Audubon Nature Institute 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 Audubon Nature Institute Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $4.7M on record.
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$3.0M
- Department of the Interior$964k
- Department of Commerce$735k
- National Science Foundation$25k
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 Audubon Nature Institute 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 Louisiana
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
68% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
89%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Audubon Nature Institute Foundation · exempt
- Audubon Commission · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Audubon Nature Institute 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 Audubon Nature Institute Inc?
- Audubon Nature Institute Inc (Louisiana) receives grants from 85 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,521,199 to it, the largest being ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO ($3,089,984). 60 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Audubon Nature Institute Inc have?
- IRS filings report 85 organizations giving $10,521,199 in grants to Audubon Nature Institute Inc, 60 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Audubon Nature Institute Inc?
- ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO is the largest funder on record, with $3,089,984 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Audubon Nature Institute Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Louisiana. 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 85 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