Texas · Nonprofit
El Paso Zoological Society
El Paso Zoological Society (Texas) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $919,696 to it, the largest being PAUL L FOSTER FAMILY FOUNDATION ($502,500). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $398k
- Funders on record
- 8
- Grants received
- $920k
- Net assets
- $739k
What El Paso Zoological Society does
Mission
To conduct, operate, and manage a public zoo or wild life refuge or other area intended for the recreation or education of the public in the el paso area.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
During the fiscal year, the organization completed its transition following the march 2024 expiration of its longstanding license agreement with the city of el paso, under which it had operated as the support organization for the el paso zoo. Effective march 2024, the organization was renamed the conservation society of el paso and adopted a revised mission focused on conservation education, wildlife workshops, youth engagement, and community outreach conducted independently of the el paso zoo. The organization continued its youth summer camp programming under its own direction and launched new community-based conservation education initiatives.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
The society conducts an integrated conservation education program serving children, families, and community groups in the el paso border region. During the fiscal year, the society held youth summer camp sessions providing hands-on wildlife and conservation education to approximately 260 children, delivered conservation education programming and wildlife workshops to schools and community organizations, and conducted community outreach events and partnerships with area organizations to promote environmental awareness and stewardship. A total of 5 workshops were hosted and 187 participants. These activities reflect the society's mission of connecting communities with the natural world and empowering the next generation to protect the environment.
$179,201 spent$29,432 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $179,201.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 $1.3M to $913k (−32%).
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: 2022 6% · 2023 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
38% of El Paso Zoological Society’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (86% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 7 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $18k → $507k.
2 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 2% 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: $103k from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest El Paso Community Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money El Paso Zoological Society raised.
From the IRS filings of El Paso Zoological Society’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
El Paso Zoological Society leans on a few funders — its largest provides 55% of grant income and the top three 96%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 81% · 2020 86% · 2021 100% · 2022 50% · 2023 99% — 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
17% of El Paso Zoological Society's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
98% of El Paso Zoological Society's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $22k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
El Paso Zoological Society's funding base is broadening — from 1 funders to 3 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,435 animals nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like El Paso 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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
74%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for El Paso 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 El Paso Zoological Society?
- El Paso Zoological Society (Texas) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $919,696 to it, the largest being PAUL L FOSTER FAMILY FOUNDATION ($502,500). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does El Paso Zoological Society have?
- IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $919,696 in grants to El Paso Zoological Society, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of El Paso Zoological Society?
- PAUL L FOSTER FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $502,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like El Paso Zoological Society find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 2018–2024), and the filings of 8 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