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Missouri · Nonprofit

FRIENDS OF THE ZOO OF SPRINGFIELD MO INC

FRIENDS OF THE ZOO OF SPRINGFIELD MO INC (Missouri) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $787,321 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF THE OZARKS INC ($472,602). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 64% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2024
$2.4M
Funders on record
6
Grants received
$787k
Net assets
$1.5M
4/6 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 9%
01What it does

What Friends of the Zoo of Springfield Mo Inc does

Mission

Support the operation of the dickerson park zoo including caring for animals, constructing new exhibits and providing fun, meaningful education experiences.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. Operation of zoo including exhibits of animals, operations of concession stands for patrons, conducting tours, lectures and presentations relating to wildlife and participation in species survival plans that are saving animals from extinction.

    $1,711,806 spentof which $67,451 as grants$1,980,511 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,711,806.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($1.4M) Expenses 100 ($1.5M) Net assets 100 ($997k)2018 Revenue 98 ($1.4M) Expenses 99 ($1.5M) Net assets 81 ($807k)2019 Revenue 113 ($1.6M) Expenses 98 ($1.5M) Net assets 88 ($879k)2020 Revenue 94 ($1.3M) Expenses 92 ($1.4M) Net assets 82 ($817k)2021 Revenue 173 ($2.4M) Expenses 122 ($1.9M) Net assets 137 ($1.4M)2022 Revenue 174 ($2.4M) Expenses 145 ($2.2M) Net assets 147 ($1.5M)2023 Revenue 154 ($2.1M) Expenses 150 ($2.3M) Net assets 136 ($1.4M)2024 Revenue 175 ($2.4M) Expenses 152 ($2.3M) Net assets 150 ($1.5M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (175)Expenses (152)Net assets (150)Peer revenue range

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 $1.2M to $1.7M (+49%).

$1.2M
$987k
$1.0M
$1.2M
$1.7M
$1.6M
$1.5M
$1.6M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 2% · 2021 10% · 2022 8% · 2024 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

19% of FRIENDS OF THE ZOO OF SPRINGFIELD MO INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (74% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 1,657 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$146k
’17
−$152k
’18
$70k
’19
−$100k
’20
$530k
’21
$182k
’22
−$161k
’23
$95k
’24
2.4
months of
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

Allyson Tuckness

Executive director

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed1415161416171921
Joined·+4+2+2+3+2+7+7
No longer listed·3141155
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $26k → $96k.

3 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 64% 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 THE ZOO OF SPRINGFIELD MO INC’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 SPRINGFIELD MO INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 60% 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

64% 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 SPRINGFIELD MO INC.

60%
largest funder
100%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 89% · 2020 76% · 2021 82% · 2022 50% · 2023 53% — 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

64% of FRIENDS OF THE ZOO OF SPRINGFIELD MO INC'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 $284k that is directly attributable, 99% of it comes from Missouri funders.

MO
NC
MS

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Missouri out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $504k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

FRIENDS OF THE ZOO OF SPRINGFIELD MO INC's revenue grew 75% between 2017 and 2024.

Operating margin4% · below the median
Months of reserve2.4mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)8% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,559 animals nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Organizations like FRIENDS OF THE ZOO OF SPRINGFIELD MO INC

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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

73% of spending goes to programs.

Program 73%Management 19%Fundraising 8%

Governance

17
board members
100%
independent
–Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

78%

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 SPRINGFIELD MO INC: 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.

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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 SPRINGFIELD MO INC?
FRIENDS OF THE ZOO OF SPRINGFIELD MO INC (Missouri) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $787,321 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF THE OZARKS INC ($472,602). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 64% 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 SPRINGFIELD MO INC have?
IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $787,321 in grants to FRIENDS OF THE ZOO OF SPRINGFIELD MO INC, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF THE ZOO OF SPRINGFIELD MO INC?
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF THE OZARKS INC is the largest funder on record, with $472,602 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like FRIENDS OF THE ZOO OF SPRINGFIELD MO INC 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 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