Missouri · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF THE ZOO OF KANSAS CITY FOUNDATION
FRIENDS OF THE ZOO OF KANSAS CITY FOUNDATION (Missouri) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,762,590 to it, the largest being JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER KANSAS CITY ($2,500,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $759k
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $2.8M
- Net assets
- $5.9M
What Friends of the Zoo of Kansas City Foundation does
Mission
The foundation shall further educational and cultural programs relating to zoological activities, establish and maintain zoological facilities, provide for the acquisition and care of species for display and study, and engage in collateral activities consistent with such programs in the kansas city, missouri area.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Support of the kansas city zoo for capital projects.
$967,402 spentof which $967,402 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $967,402.
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 $2.4M to $24M (+910%).
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.
94% of FRIENDS OF THE ZOO OF KANSAS CITY FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than 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 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.
Board chair
Kevin Pistilli
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $30k → $141k.
3 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 100% 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: $163k from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Friends of the Zoo Inc of Kansas City Missouri C/O Linda Falk). These are real filings, and they are not money FRIENDS OF THE ZOO OF KANSAS CITY FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of FRIENDS OF THE ZOO OF KANSAS CITY FOUNDATION’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 THE ZOO OF KANSAS CITY FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 90% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 THE ZOO OF KANSAS CITY FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 64% — 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.
Where its funders are
100% of FRIENDS OF THE ZOO OF KANSAS CITY FOUNDATION'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 $250 that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Missouri, across 1 state.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.8M 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 THE ZOO OF KANSAS CITY FOUNDATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters 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 THE ZOO OF KANSAS CITY FOUNDATION
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
99% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
37%
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 OF KANSAS CITY FOUNDATION: 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 OF KANSAS CITY FOUNDATION?
- FRIENDS OF THE ZOO OF KANSAS CITY FOUNDATION (Missouri) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,762,590 to it, the largest being JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER KANSAS CITY ($2,500,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF THE ZOO OF KANSAS CITY FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $2,762,590 in grants to FRIENDS OF THE ZOO OF KANSAS CITY FOUNDATION, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF THE ZOO OF KANSAS CITY FOUNDATION?
- JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER KANSAS CITY is the largest funder on record, with $2,500,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF THE ZOO OF KANSAS CITY FOUNDATION 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 4 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