Nebraska · Nonprofit
LINCOLN CHILDREN'S ZOO
LINCOLN CHILDREN'S ZOO (Nebraska) receives grants from 53 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,354,456 to it, the largest being Fulk Family Foundation Inc ($4,894,500). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $10.0M
- Funders on record
- 53
- Grants received
- $9.4M
- Net assets
- $39M
What Lincoln Children's Zoo does
Mission
To enrich lives through firsthand interaction with living things.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Guest services
$2,107,716 spent$1,486,463 earned by the program34% of program spendingFacility operation
$3,793,427 spent$2,170,071 earned by the program62% of program spendingEducation
$231,212 spent$453,668 earned by the program4% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,132,355.
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 $19M to $29M (+49%).
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.
15% of LINCOLN CHILDREN'S ZOO’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (74% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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
Evan Killeen
CEO
Board chair
Jack Abel
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2020 and FY2021 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 18 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $522k → $529k.
8 of 53 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 6% 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: $10M from 3 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Lincoln Children's Zoo Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money LINCOLN CHILDREN'S ZOO raised.
From the IRS filings of LINCOLN CHILDREN'S ZOO’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 53 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
LINCOLN CHILDREN'S ZOO leans on a few funders — its largest provides 52% of grant income and the top three 67%; 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 38% · 2018 47% · 2019 59% · 2020 56% · 2021 57% · 2022 64% · 2023 47% — growing more concentrated.
“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
45% of LINCOLN CHILDREN'S ZOO's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
98% of LINCOLN CHILDREN'S ZOO's grant income comes from Nebraska funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $540k 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
LINCOLN CHILDREN'S ZOO runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,559 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,559 animals nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like LINCOLN CHILDREN'S 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 Nebraska
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
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 LINCOLN CHILDREN'S 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 LINCOLN CHILDREN'S ZOO?
- LINCOLN CHILDREN'S ZOO (Nebraska) receives grants from 53 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,354,456 to it, the largest being Fulk Family Foundation Inc ($4,894,500). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LINCOLN CHILDREN'S ZOO have?
- IRS filings report 53 organizations giving $9,354,456 in grants to LINCOLN CHILDREN'S ZOO, 32 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LINCOLN CHILDREN'S ZOO?
- Fulk Family Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $4,894,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LINCOLN CHILDREN'S ZOO find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Nebraska. 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 Lincoln Children's Zoo →
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 53 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