North Carolina · Nonprofit
NORTH CAROLINA ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY INC
NORTH CAROLINA ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY INC (North Carolina) receives grants from 76 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,375,472 to it, the largest being The Winston-Salem Foundation ($2,292,564). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $15M
- Funders on record
- 76
- Grants received
- $10M
- Net assets
- $66M
What North Carolina Zoological Society Inc does
Mission
To champion our zoo and its initiatives, wildlife and wild places, with an emphasis on the future.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Provide financial and promotional support to the nc zoological park and its capital projects, operations and program initiatives - with a priority focus on field research, wildlife conservation, science and welfare. The society has provided funds for specific conservation and research projects working with elephants, vultures and gorillas in africa, raised for capital projects, animal and horticulture purchases, marketing, staffing, training, and operations of a wildlife rehabilitation center, a wildlife learning/residential center, an education website and other park needs.
$9,401,549 spent83% of program spendingMembership services (including information and referral, education, member benefit and identifcation administration, record-keeping and special events) extend to member households and the employees of businesses enrolled in the corporate member program, as well as all of the people around the world who benefit from the protection the society's program extends to the natural resources they depend on for survival.
$1,866,346 spent16% of program spendingThrough its support of zoo education programs, the society serves visitors and member households (including n.c. School children). Through field research and veterinarian overnight camps for a wide range of ages, shadow a vet program, educational and family-friendly behind the scenes tours for children and adults who come to the park each year to learn about wildlife and the environment.
$61,466 spent1% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $11,329,361.
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 2020 to 2021, from $37M to $48M (+28%).
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: 2020 17% · 2021 3% · 2022 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
67% of NORTH CAROLINA ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 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.
Chief executive
Cheryl Armstrong
Executive director
Board chair
Margery J Springer
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2018 and FY2019 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 37 funders, grant income rose $82k → $2.3M.
14 of 76 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 37% 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 NORTH CAROLINA ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 76 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
NORTH CAROLINA ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
51% 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 NORTH CAROLINA ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 44% · 2018 30% · 2019 40% · 2020 69% · 2021 43% · 2022 26% · 2023 23% — 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
45% of NORTH CAROLINA ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 51% 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
70% of NORTH CAROLINA ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY INC's grant income comes from North Carolina funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
NORTH CAROLINA ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 134 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 134 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding NORTH CAROLINA ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $154k on record.
- Department of the Interior$154k
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 NORTH CAROLINA ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 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 North Carolina
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
85%
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 NORTH CAROLINA ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 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 NORTH CAROLINA ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY INC?
- NORTH CAROLINA ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY INC (North Carolina) receives grants from 76 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,375,472 to it, the largest being The Winston-Salem Foundation ($2,292,564). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NORTH CAROLINA ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY INC have?
- IRS filings report 76 organizations giving $10,375,472 in grants to NORTH CAROLINA ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY INC, 39 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NORTH CAROLINA ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY INC?
- The Winston-Salem Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $2,292,564 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NORTH CAROLINA ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in North Carolina. 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 North Carolina Zoological Society →
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 76 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