Tennessee · Nonprofit
NASHVILLE ZOO INC
NASHVILLE ZOO INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 130 organizations whose IRS filings report $48,680,915 to it, the largest being THE FRIST FOUNDATION ($25,003,500). 95 of them have funded it in more than one year.
Against its field
NASHVILLE ZOO INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 235 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 235 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- Joe C Davis Foundationshared funderslocal
- The Zoological Society of the Palm Beaches Incportfolio match
- Arizona Center for Nature Conservationportfolio match
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.
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%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
28% of NASHVILLE ZOO 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. 0 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 34 funders to 63 funders, grant income rose $1.9M → $3.7M.
18 of 130 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 130 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; 73% 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 16 statesis 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 130 funders put you well-backed among the 400 organizations that share them.
- Joe C Davis Foundationshared funderslocalTN · backs 107 organizations that share your funders · funds 139 organizations near you
- The Zoological Society of the Palm Beaches Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Arizona Center for Nature Conservationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Woodland Park Zoological Societyportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Sacramento Zoological Societyportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Eisen-Wald Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureauportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Saint Thomas West Hospitalshared funderslocalMO · backs 45 organizations that share your funders · funds 53 organizations near you
- The West End Home Foundationshared funderslocalTN · backs 36 organizations that share your funders · funds 43 organizations near you
- Kharis Foundationshared funderslocalTN · backs 39 organizations that share your funders · funds 42 organizations near you
- McCauley-Lindsay Charities of Tennshared fundersTN · backs 42 organizations that share your funders
- United Way of Williamson Countyshared fundersTN · backs 27 organizations that share your funders
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Organizations like NASHVILLE ZOO INC
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of 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
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
70%
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. 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 130 organizations whose IRS filings report $48,680,915 to it, the largest being THE FRIST FOUNDATION ($25,003,500). 95 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NASHVILLE ZOO INC have?
- IRS filings report 130 organizations giving $48,680,915 in grants to NASHVILLE ZOO INC, 95 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 130funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing