Tennessee · Nonprofit
KNOXVILLE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS INC
KNOXVILLE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,703,982 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($1,530,461). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $17M
- Funders on record
- 30
- Grants received
- $4.7M
- Net assets
- $62M
What Knoxville Zoological Gardens Inc does
Mission
The mission of knoxville zoological gardens is to celebrate the wonders of the natural world. Through education, conservation, exhibition, research and recreation, the zoo will tell the stories of the animals, the plants and the people who make up the communities of the earth. The zoo will develop positive attitudes and actions about nature and about conservation as a local and global issue.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Zoological park operated for the enjoyment and education of the general public. In 2024, 536,731 people were admitted to the zoo. The zoo also conducts endangered species research in conjunction with official species survival plans.
$14,827,282 spent$8,861,804 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $14,827,282.
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 2019 to 2020, from $53M to $61M (+15%).
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 19% · 2018 15% · 2019 21% · 2020 30% · 2021 18% · 2022 32% · 2023 16% · 2024 20%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
41% of KNOXVILLE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS INC’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. 1 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
Russ Watkins
Chairman of the board
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 14 funders, grant income fell $423k → $258k.
10 of 30 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 44% 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: $12M from 3 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest East Tennessee Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money KNOXVILLE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS INC raised.
From the IRS filings of KNOXVILLE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS 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
KNOXVILLE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 33% of grant income and the top three 73%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
50% 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 KNOXVILLE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 56% · 2018 80% · 2019 32% · 2020 74% · 2021 72% · 2022 26% · 2023 25% — 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
50% of KNOXVILLE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
77% of KNOXVILLE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS INC's grant income comes from Tennessee funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
KNOXVILLE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS INC's revenue fell 22% between 2017 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 235 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding KNOXVILLE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $750k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$750k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like KNOXVILLE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS 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 Tennessee
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
91%
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 KNOXVILLE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS 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.
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 KNOXVILLE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS INC?
- KNOXVILLE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,703,982 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($1,530,461). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does KNOXVILLE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS INC have?
- IRS filings report 30 organizations giving $4,703,982 in grants to KNOXVILLE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS INC, 19 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of KNOXVILLE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $1,530,461 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like KNOXVILLE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Tennessee. 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 Knoxville Zoological Gardens →
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 30 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing