Michigan · Nonprofit
POTTER PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
POTTER PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY (Michigan) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,896,243 to it, the largest being Dart Foundation fka Solid Waste Management Foundation ($504,650). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.5M
- Funders on record
- 21
- Grants received
- $1.9M
- Net assets
- $743k
What Potter Park Zoological Society does
Mission
Dedicated to the support of potter park zoo and inspiring people to conserve animals and the natural world.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Education - the society sponsors educational programs to promote further knowledge about animals, conservation, and the natural world. Educational activities include zookambi summer camp, scout programs and big zoo lesson. Utilizing conservation carts, artifacts and other supplemental resources that are easily moved to strategic locations around the zoo engage many zoo patrons.
$442,186 spent$205,377 earned by the program16% of program spendingVolunteer services - more than 929 volunteers provided 21,687 hours of assistance on zoo grounds.
$35,324 spent1% of program spendingZoo support - supported potter park zoo and its mission of inspiring conservation of animals and the natural world.
$2,154,160 spentof which $1,831,635 as grants$28,878 earned by the program80% of program spendingMemberships - several levels of membership are available to zoo guests and memberships benefits increase as membership levels increase. Members can add up to two unnamed guests per membership, gift memberships to others, and use their existing membership at reciprocal zoos/aquariums.
$76,320 spent3% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,707,990.
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 2021 to 2022, from $1.1M to $4.5M (+312%).
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 3% · 2018 12% · 2019 12% · 2020 27% · 2021 13% · 2022 32% · 2023 5% · 2024 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
83% of POTTER PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (74% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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
Amy Hall
Executive director
Board chair
Julie Pingston
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $27k → $564k.
3 of 21 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% 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 POTTER PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
POTTER PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 27% of grant income and the top three 66%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
45% 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 POTTER PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 62% · 2018 54% · 2019 41% · 2020 36% · 2021 75% · 2022 72% · 2023 89% — 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
46% of POTTER PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% 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
89% of POTTER PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY's grant income comes from Michigan funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $262k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
POTTER PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY's funding base is broadening — from 2 funders to 7 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 813 animals nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like POTTER PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
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 Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
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 POTTER PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: 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 POTTER PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY?
- POTTER PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY (Michigan) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,896,243 to it, the largest being Dart Foundation fka Solid Waste Management Foundation ($504,650). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does POTTER PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 21 organizations giving $1,896,243 in grants to POTTER PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of POTTER PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY?
- Dart Foundation fka Solid Waste Management Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $504,650 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like POTTER PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. 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 21 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