Tennessee · Nonprofit
NASHVILLE ZOO INC
NASHVILLE ZOO INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 131 organizations whose IRS filings report $48,770,059 to it, the largest being THE FRIST FOUNDATION ($25,003,500). 97 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $70M
- Funders on record
- 131
- Grants received
- $49M
- Net assets
- $207M
What Nashville Zoo Inc does
Mission
In fulfillment of our mission to inspire a culture of understanding and discovery of our natural world through conservation, innovation and leadership, our goal is to build a first class zoo for middle tennessee and to develop a facility that is recognized for excellence in animal care and global conservation with strong community value in mind. We strive to be the best at creating unique designs and innovative architecture and horticultural components to enhance exhibits for the benefit of the animals, our visitors and the zoological community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Nashville zoo is proud to share that, in 2025, we once again made significant strides in global conservation efforts, while continuing to serve as a vital resource for education and family fun in our community. We invested more than one million dollars in conservation work around the globe. Our expert keepers worked with conservationists on the ground, supporting critical efforts with giraffes in botswana, puerto rican crested toads in puerto rico, and helped raise and rehabilitate cheetah cubs in somaliland in east africa. Additionally, our veterinary team partnered with tristar skyline medical center on a study using thromboelastography (teg) to better understand how giant anteater blood clots and assisted with the first-ever cross-species blood transfusion for audubon zoo's giant anteater. Nashville zoo released 17 eastern hellbenders back into the wild, worked to protect the critically endangered nashville crayfish, participated in the aza safe north america monarch butterfly program, and installed a pollinator garden at liberty elementary. Students of all ages, from toddlers to college interns, connected with the natural world through our educational programs. Visitors to the…
$30,648,897 spent$11,793,552 earned by the program96% of program spendingNashville zoo actively participates in 50+ species survival plans and have the honor of working with institutions around the world to help save species vulnerable to extinction. A member of the zoo's hoofstock team traveled to africa twice to work with local communities and wild giraffe populations. She teamed up with save giraffes now (sgn) to help facilitate a translocation of 20 giraffe out of marloth park because of the human-wildlife conflict in the area and the extreme browsing and grazing pressure the wildlife there is facing. The zoo successfully shipped a record-breaking 6,681 puerto rican crested toad tadpoles to puerto rico to boost their population in the wild. We also sent a herpetology keeper to puerto rico to assist with fieldwork and gain hands-on experience supporting these endangered amphibians in the natural habitat. Since starting our breeding efforts in 2012, we've produced over 33,000 tadpoles for release.
$1,116,936 spentof which $1,116,936 as grants4% of program spendingEducation: overall nashville zoo served a total of 807,256 individuals through educational programming in 2025.we had 54,458 students visit the zoo through field trips, coming from 38 different counties.attendance for traditional programming includes:*homeschool days served 1,125 students in 2025 between the ages of 5-14*zootots served 2,668 students in ages 0-4*scout workshops served 529 students in 2025*zooventures outreach virtual programs served 5,031 students*summer camps served 1,431 students in 2025in addition to traditional classroom-based programming, our interpretive staff served a total of 415,502 guests through interpretive programming.
$776,822 earned by the program
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $31,765,833.
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 2024 to 2025, from $183M to $215M (+18%).
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 17% · 2018 17% · 2019 6% · 2020 11% · 2021 22% · 2022 1% · 2023 32% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
59% of NASHVILLE ZOO INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (67% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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.
Board chair
Butch Spyridon
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 34 funders to 63 funders, grant income rose $1.9M → $3.7M.
19 of 131 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 25% 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 NASHVILLE ZOO INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 131 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
NASHVILLE ZOO INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 51% of grant income and the top three 69%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
29% 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 NASHVILLE ZOO INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 36% · 2018 48% · 2019 69% · 2020 45% · 2021 63% · 2022 78% · 2023 27% — 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
66% of NASHVILLE ZOO INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 74% 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 NASHVILLE ZOO 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. $12M arriving through sponsors registered in 17 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
NASHVILLE ZOO INC 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 NASHVILLE ZOO 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
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
61%
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 NASHVILLE ZOO 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 NASHVILLE ZOO INC?
- NASHVILLE ZOO INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 131 organizations whose IRS filings report $48,770,059 to it, the largest being THE FRIST FOUNDATION ($25,003,500). 97 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NASHVILLE ZOO INC have?
- IRS filings report 131 organizations giving $48,770,059 in grants to NASHVILLE ZOO INC, 97 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NASHVILLE ZOO INC?
- THE FRIST FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $25,003,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NASHVILLE ZOO 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.
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 131 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