Missouri · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF THE ZOO INC OF KANSAS CITY MISSOURI C/O LINDA FALK
FRIENDS OF THE ZOO INC OF KANSAS CITY MISSOURI C/O LINDA FALK (Missouri) receives grants from 52 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,936,377 to it, the largest being THE SUNDERLAND FOUNDATION ($10,000,000). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $54M
- Funders on record
- 52
- Grants received
- $14M
- Net assets
- $28M
What Friends of the Zoo Inc of Kansas City Missouri C/O Linda Falk does
Mission
The kansas city zoo & aquarium connects all people to each other and the natural world to promote understanding, appreciation, and conservation.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Collection of animals as well as conservation and research - see schedule o
$30,271,853 spentof which $506,223 as grants$21,854,154 earned by the program63% of program spendingMembership programs - see schedule o
$13,097,811 spent$7,362,985 earned by the program27% of program spendingEducation and volunteer programs - see schedule o
$4,519,694 spent$723,724 earned by the program9% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $47,889,358.
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 2020 to 2021, from $19M to $28M (+50%).
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 35% · 2018 41% · 2019 43% · 2020 60% · 2021 63% · 2022 48% · 2023 41% · 2024 33%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
41% of FRIENDS OF THE ZOO INC OF KANSAS CITY MISSOURI C/O LINDA FALK’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. 2 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
Sean Putney
Executive director/CEO
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 29 funders, grant income rose $307k → $308k.
7 of 52 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 3% 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: $31M from 8 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Friends of the Zoo of Kansas City Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money FRIENDS OF THE ZOO INC OF KANSAS CITY MISSOURI C/O LINDA FALK raised.
From the IRS filings of FRIENDS OF THE ZOO INC OF KANSAS CITY MISSOURI C/O LINDA FALK’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 52 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
FRIENDS OF THE ZOO INC OF KANSAS CITY MISSOURI C/O LINDA FALK leans on a few funders — its largest provides 72% of grant income and the top three 84%; 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: 2017 83% · 2018 70% · 2019 25% · 2020 30% · 2021 89% · 2022 26% · 2023 24% — 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
55% of FRIENDS OF THE ZOO INC OF KANSAS CITY MISSOURI C/O LINDA FALK's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 69% 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 THE ZOO INC OF KANSAS CITY MISSOURI C/O LINDA FALK draws 92% of its grant income from funders outside Missouri, across 13 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $365k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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 THE ZOO INC OF KANSAS CITY MISSOURI C/O LINDA FALK is better cushioned than half of the 235 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 235 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like FRIENDS OF THE ZOO INC OF KANSAS CITY MISSOURI C/O LINDA FALK
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 Missouri
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
93% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
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 FRIENDS OF THE ZOO INC OF KANSAS CITY MISSOURI C/O LINDA FALK: 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 THE ZOO INC OF KANSAS CITY MISSOURI C/O LINDA FALK?
- FRIENDS OF THE ZOO INC OF KANSAS CITY MISSOURI C/O LINDA FALK (Missouri) receives grants from 52 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,936,377 to it, the largest being THE SUNDERLAND FOUNDATION ($10,000,000). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF THE ZOO INC OF KANSAS CITY MISSOURI C/O LINDA FALK have?
- IRS filings report 52 organizations giving $13,936,377 in grants to FRIENDS OF THE ZOO INC OF KANSAS CITY MISSOURI C/O LINDA FALK, 36 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF THE ZOO INC OF KANSAS CITY MISSOURI C/O LINDA FALK?
- THE SUNDERLAND FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $10,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF THE ZOO INC OF KANSAS CITY MISSOURI C/O LINDA FALK find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Missouri. 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 2017–2024), and the filings of 52 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