Iowa · Nonprofit
BLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION INC
BLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION INC (Iowa) receives grants from 59 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,967,866 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FDN OF GREATER DES MOINES F/K/A GREATER DES MOINES COMMUNITY FDN ($5,660,879). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $12M
- Funders on record
- 59
- Grants received
- $14M
- Net assets
- $27M
What Blank Park Zoo Foundation Inc does
Mission
To inspire an appreciation of the natural world through conservation, education, and recreation.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The primary purposes of the foundation are a) to manage the blank park zoo; b) to solicit, collect and provide funds to improve the facilities and programs of the zoo; c) to promote interest among the general public concerning the zoo; d) to implement and assist in the study of zoological natural history, animal behavior and the science allied therewith; e) to provide charitable and educational assistance in association with the zoo.
$8,646,804 spentof which $12,500 as grants$6,498,014 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $8,646,804.
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 $25M to $28M (+11%).
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 3% · 2018 4% · 2020 7% · 2021 22% · 2022 14% · 2023 10% · 2024 4% · 2025 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
42% of BLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION 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. 1 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
Anne Shimerdla
Chief executive officer
Board chair
Rochelle Burnett
Chairperson
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 25 funders, grant income rose $2.1M → $3.1M.
10 of 59 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 42% 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: $5.0M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Blank Park Endowment Corporation). These are real filings, and they are not money BLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION INC raised.
From the IRS filings of BLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 59 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
BLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 67%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
67% 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 BLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 47% · 2018 38% · 2019 61% · 2020 63% · 2021 53% · 2022 62% · 2023 48% — broadly stable.
“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
47% of BLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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
92% of BLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION INC's grant income comes from Iowa funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
BLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 134 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 134 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding BLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $516k on record.
- Department of the Interior$516k
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 BLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION 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 Iowa
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
82%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Blank Park Endowment Corporation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION 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 BLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION INC?
- BLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION INC (Iowa) receives grants from 59 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,967,866 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FDN OF GREATER DES MOINES F/K/A GREATER DES MOINES COMMUNITY FDN ($5,660,879). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 59 organizations giving $13,967,866 in grants to BLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION INC, 34 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION INC?
- COMMUNITY FDN OF GREATER DES MOINES F/K/A GREATER DES MOINES COMMUNITY FDN is the largest funder on record, with $5,660,879 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Iowa. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 59 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