Louisiana · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF BATON ROUGE ZOO
FRIENDS OF BATON ROUGE ZOO (Louisiana) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $136,536 to it, the largest being COYPU FOUNDATION TRUST XXXXX3002 ($37,500). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $520k
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $137k
- Net assets
- $355k
What Friends of Baton Rouge Zoo does
Mission
To support brec's baton rouge zoo
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Funds three key positions for the zoo: director of development, director of marketing, & public relations and membership & events coordinator, including memberships and conferences. Provides funds for zoo staff professional development including memberships and conferences.
$290,230 spentof which $5,000 as grants$525 earned by the program81% of program spendingSupports brec's baton rouge zoo by soliciting funds for animal exhibits and making donations in the zoo's name to conservation organizations to assist the zoo in maintaining its accreditation by the association of zoos and aquariums (aza).
$65,902 spent19% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $356,132.
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 $274k to $355k (+30%).
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: 2020 13% · 2023 60% · 2024 43%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
81% of FRIENDS OF BATON ROUGE ZOO’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (86% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Chief executive
Rhonda Ruffino
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 6 funders, grant income rose $5k → $49k.
3 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 19% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of FRIENDS OF BATON ROUGE ZOO’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
FRIENDS OF BATON ROUGE ZOO has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 27% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
54% 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 FRIENDS OF BATON ROUGE ZOO.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 73% · 2021 69% · 2022 77% · 2023 76% — 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
100% of FRIENDS OF BATON ROUGE ZOO's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 73% 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
FRIENDS OF BATON ROUGE ZOO draws 57% of its grant income from funders outside Louisiana, across 6 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $27k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
FRIENDS OF BATON ROUGE ZOO runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 6,435 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,435 animals nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like FRIENDS OF BATON ROUGE ZOO
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
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
85%
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 FRIENDS OF BATON ROUGE ZOO: 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 FRIENDS OF BATON ROUGE ZOO?
- FRIENDS OF BATON ROUGE ZOO (Louisiana) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $136,536 to it, the largest being COYPU FOUNDATION TRUST XXXXX3002 ($37,500). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF BATON ROUGE ZOO have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $136,536 in grants to FRIENDS OF BATON ROUGE ZOO, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF BATON ROUGE ZOO?
- COYPU FOUNDATION TRUST XXXXX3002 is the largest funder on record, with $37,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF BATON ROUGE ZOO 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.
Play a game about who funds Friends of Baton Rouge Zoo →
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 11 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