Minnesota · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF PINE GROVE ZOO
FRIENDS OF PINE GROVE ZOO (Minnesota) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $62,346 to it, the largest being INITIATIVE FOUNDATION ($37,577). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 69% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $785k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $62k
- Net assets
- $248k
What Friends of Pine Grove Zoo does
Mission
To promote environmental education and conservation while creating a progressive zoological park in central minnesota.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The pine grove zoo is a small zoo that is part of a community of approximately 8,300 people. Even though we are small in size, the impact we have in the community and surrounding communities is vast. One way this is evident is in our thriving educational programs. The number of educational programs we offer is modest but the amount of information we are able to convey through our programs are immense and far reaching. Our programs are designed to connect with a variety of people of all ages, interests, and backgrounds thru interactive, educational, and fun activities. Visitors to the pine grove zoo thru admissions and events totaled 22,446 for the 2025 season. These visitors came from 203 cities in minnesota, 50 states, and 5 countries. Our on site self-guided and guided tours provided interactive, educational programming for 2,411 people from cities throughout central minnesota. On-site education programs such as operant training demonstrations; zookeeper and enrichment presentations; drew over 1,788 people.we were able to have our zoo gone wild in which we had 418 in attendance. In october, we had our first annual boofest with 1,285 in attendance.the volunteer efforts of pine…
$635,111 spent$216,621 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $635,111.
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 2017 to 2018, from $49k to $350k (+621%).
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 34% · 2018 19% · 2019 36% · 2020 37% · 2021 42% · 2022 24% · 2023 27% · 2024 36% · 2025 42%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
63% of FRIENDS OF PINE GROVE 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 9 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
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $5k → $12k.
3 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 69% 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 PINE GROVE 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 PINE GROVE ZOO leans on a few funders — its largest provides 60% of grant income and the top three 94%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
95% 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 PINE GROVE ZOO.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 98% · 2022 84% · 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.
Where its funders are
69% of FRIENDS OF PINE GROVE ZOO's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $19k that is directly attributable, 89% of it comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $43k 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
FRIENDS OF PINE GROVE ZOO has grown faster than half of the 3,693 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,693 animals nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like FRIENDS OF PINE GROVE 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 Minnesota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 PINE GROVE 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 PINE GROVE ZOO?
- FRIENDS OF PINE GROVE ZOO (Minnesota) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $62,346 to it, the largest being INITIATIVE FOUNDATION ($37,577). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 69% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF PINE GROVE ZOO have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $62,346 in grants to FRIENDS OF PINE GROVE ZOO, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF PINE GROVE ZOO?
- INITIATIVE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $37,577 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF PINE GROVE ZOO find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. 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 Pine Grove Zoo →
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 6 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