Colorado · Nonprofit
CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY (Colorado) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,314,040 to it, the largest being EL POMAR FOUNDATION ($1,198,554). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2026
- $34M
- Funders on record
- 36
- Grants received
- $4.3M
- Net assets
- $135M
What Cheyenne Mountain Zoological Society does
Mission
The Cheyenne Mountain Zoological Society owns and operates the cheyenne mountain zoo. A leader in conservation, captive breeding and animal care, the zoo connects people with wildlife and wild places through experiences that inspire action. A leader in the community, its purpose is to educate people and provide first class animal experiences that bring people into the awe and wonder of animals and the natural world, resulting in action toward species conservation and the environment. We work to secure a bright future for our captive collections, wildlife and wild places by encouraging direct community action, managing and breeding imperiled species, and participating in field conservation programs that will benefit from our unique skills and abilities. Cheyenne mountain zoo's flagship conservation species are black-footed ferrets, wyoming toads, orangutans, panama amphibians, and african elephants, rhinos, and giraffes.
As stated on its FY2026 Form 990.
Programs
Animal care and conservation - to house and display an animal collection for the cultural and recreational benefit of the general public and to provide survival assistance for species in peril. We share our enthusiasm for animals in the hopes that this will compel others to love, respect and protect the natural environment and its' inhabitants. We will cultivate deep appreciation of wildlife in our visitors by providing amazing opportunities to connect with our animals, and we will continually improve our animals' quality of life through training, enrichment, health care, exhibits and staff development.
$19,101,787 spent$24,835,941 earned by the program81% of program spendingEducational activities - to provide educational programs designed to foster an appreciation and respect for wildlife and wild places and to educate youth on the ecosystems of the world. Our education programs create connections to animals, nature, staff and zoos that empower action and environmental stewardship. We want our guests to be excited to share their experiences and feelings by offering an unselfconscious, comfortable and engaging environment. It is our goal to ignite passion in the very young and foster it for life; we consider every stage of life and offer age appropriate programs.
$4,379,680 spent$1,104,935 earned by the program19% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $23,481,467.
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 2024 to 2025, from $116M to $136M (+16%).
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: 2021 8% · 2022 4% · 2024 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
18% of CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY’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. 0 of the last 10 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.
Board chair
Ann Naughton
Chair
As listed on its FY2026 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 9 funders, grant income rose $146k → $379k.
16 of 36 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 41% 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: $3.4M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Cheyenne Mtn Zoo Endowment Fund). These are real filings, and they are not money CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY raised.
From the IRS filings of CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 36 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
CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 28% of grant income and the top three 64%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
58% 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 CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 55% · 2018 25% · 2019 44% · 2020 31% · 2021 74% · 2022 29% · 2023 27% — 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
43% of CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 47% 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
70% of CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY's grant income comes from Colorado funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY's funding has concentrated — grant income rose while the number of funders held roughly flat.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 232 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2026
Organizations like CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
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 Colorado
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
60%
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
- Cheyenne Mtn Zoo Endowment Fund · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: 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 CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY?
- CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY (Colorado) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,314,040 to it, the largest being EL POMAR FOUNDATION ($1,198,554). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 36 organizations giving $4,314,040 in grants to CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY?
- EL POMAR FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,198,554 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Colorado. 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 FY2026 (financials across 2017–2026), and the filings of 36 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing