Minnesota · Nonprofit
MINNESOTA ZOO FOUNDATION
MINNESOTA ZOO FOUNDATION (Minnesota) receives grants from 138 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,960,316 to it, the largest being PAUL AND SUZANNE HANIFL FOUNDATION ($1,662,500). 89 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $14M
- Funders on record
- 138
- Grants received
- $12M
- Net assets
- $18M
What Minnesota Zoo Foundation does
Mission
The Minnesota Zoo Foundation raises contributed income and supports conservation and animal care programs on behalf of the minnesota zoo. The mission of the minnesota zoo is to connect people, animals, and the natural world to save wildlife.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Zoo capital projects:our support propels leading-edge ideas that redefine the role and impact of modern zoos, such as the creation of innovative nature experiences, best-in-class education programs, and industry-leading conservation efforts. We empower the minnesota zoo to continuously raise the bar for excellence in animal care and operations by funding the most advanced equipment, best-in-class facilities and industry-leading staff development opportunities. The Minnesota Zoo Foundation's financial support of the treetop trail has expanded the zoo's role and impact in our communities. As visitors have explored the innovative, immersive, and accessible attraction, they've been able to connect with nature and nurture their personal well-being.the foundation's funding of the zoo's future new animal hospital will elevate the zoo's excellence in animal care by providing an industry-leading facility and high-tech equipment. The minnesota zoo's wildlife hospital and wellness center will serve as an oasis of care and wellbeing for our animals and as a high-powered research center bringing together zoological veterinarians and scientists from around the country to learn and work together…
$4,400,000 spentof which $4,400,000 as grants64% of program spendingZoo support:the Minnesota Zoo Foundation helps open doors to uniquely immersive nature experiences that benefit the well-being of all by sponsoring programs that bring the minnesota zoo experience to minnesota communities and reduce physical, financial, and cultural barriers to the zoo. We empower the zoo to continuously raise the bar for excellence in animal care and operations by funding the most advanced equipment, best-in-class facilities and industry-leading staff development opportunities. Efforts by the Minnesota Zoo Foundation, including grants to the minnesota zoo and support of zoo programs and leading-edge ideas redefine the role and impact of modern zoos, including through the creation of innovative nature experiences, best-in-class education programs, and industry-leading conservation efforts. These efforts directly support developing a world-class nature zoo experience for nearly 1.5 million annual visitors to the zoo, delivering exceptional welfare for over 4,500 animals in the zoo's care (many of which are threatened or endangered in the wild), and stewardship of 485 acres of forest, prairie, and wetlands.
$1,901,917 spentof which $1,554,158 as grants28% of program spendingConservation:the minnesota zoo is able to lead and participate in industry-leading conservation programs that are saving wildlife because of funding from the Minnesota Zoo Foundation. From native mussel restoration work and turtle head-start programs here in minnesota to global efforts through the ulysses s. Seal conservation grant program and black rhino restoration in namibia, the foundation helps further the zoo's conservation footprint.the Minnesota Zoo Foundation funds several saving animals from extinction (safe) programs and the zoo and foundation co-host the tiger conservation campaign, both programs with the national association of zoos and aquariums. Supporting these field conservation programs furthers our wildlife-saving impact around the world.the Minnesota Zoo Foundation helps to fund four paid internships that support prairie butterfly, freshwater turtle, and freshwater mussel conservation programs at the zoo. The support from these interns allows our conservation biologists to focus on higher-level projects and priorities that help us raise the bar for excellence in our conservation work.
$578,086 spentof which $463,689 as grants8% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,880,003.
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 2018 to 2019, from $5.7M to $14M (+138%).
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: 2021 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of MINNESOTA ZOO FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations 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. 4 of the last 9 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
Jamie Flaws
Executive director
Board chair
Blake Grams
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 37 funders to 55 funders, grant income rose $638k → $2.0M.
23 of 138 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 39% 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 MINNESOTA ZOO FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 138 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
MINNESOTA ZOO FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% of grant income, and it takes 8 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 8 funders to its left
49% 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 MINNESOTA ZOO FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 40% · 2018 11% · 2019 23% · 2020 18% · 2021 29% · 2022 11% · 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 MINNESOTA ZOO FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
MINNESOTA ZOO FOUNDATION draws 56% of its grant income from funders outside Minnesota, across 25 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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
MINNESOTA ZOO FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 134 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 134 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like MINNESOTA ZOO 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 Minnesota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
67% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
73%
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 MINNESOTA ZOO 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 MINNESOTA ZOO FOUNDATION?
- MINNESOTA ZOO FOUNDATION (Minnesota) receives grants from 138 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,960,316 to it, the largest being PAUL AND SUZANNE HANIFL FOUNDATION ($1,662,500). 89 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MINNESOTA ZOO FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 138 organizations giving $11,960,316 in grants to MINNESOTA ZOO FOUNDATION, 89 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MINNESOTA ZOO FOUNDATION?
- PAUL AND SUZANNE HANIFL FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,662,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MINNESOTA ZOO FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 138 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