California · Nonprofit
SAN FRANCISCO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
SAN FRANCISCO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY (California) receives grants from 115 organizations whose IRS filings report $19,220,113 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($6,866,780). 64 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 58% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $23M
- Funders on record
- 115
- Grants received
- $19M
- Net assets
- $15M
What San Francisco Zoological Society does
Mission
To connect all people with wildlife, inspire caring for nature, and advance conservation action.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
General public service: food, merchandise, rides, and parking. The san francisco zoo serves hundreds of thousands of visitors annually and is open to the public 365 days a year. The facility is located on 90 acres on the edge of the pacific ocean in the city of san francisco.
$1,292,343 spent$3,205,110 earned by the program5% of program spendingMembership services, admissions, educational programs, and publications: educational programs and services including docent-guided tours, adult and youth volunteer programs, zoo camp, children's and adult classes, overnights, conservation lecture series, zoo mobile, wildlife theatre presentations, and teacher resources.
$5,740,892 spent$11,124,634 earned by the program22% of program spendingAnimal and botanical collections: the san francisco zoo is home to thousands of engangered and rescued animals comprised of species from around the world. The zoo participates in conservation programs aimed at protecting and saving endangered animals. The zoo maintains gardens showcasing a variety of plant species.
$18,500,083 spentof which $1,804,834 as grants72% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $25,533,318.
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 2017 to 2018, from $13M to $19M (+50%).
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 13% · 2019 17% · 2020 19% · 2021 26% · 2022 36% · 2023 18% · 2024 16% · 2025 17%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
34% of SAN FRANCISCO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY’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. 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
Tanya Peterson
CEO & executive director
Board chair
Marie-Claude Nadeau
Chairman of the board
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 32 funders to 35 funders, grant income fell $2.8M → $1.6M.
18 of 115 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 58% 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 SAN FRANCISCO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 115 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
SAN FRANCISCO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 36% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
60% 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 SAN FRANCISCO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 51% · 2018 58% · 2019 32% · 2020 29% · 2021 25% · 2022 60% · 2023 45% — 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
38% of SAN FRANCISCO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
58% of SAN FRANCISCO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $8.0M that is directly attributable, 86% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $11M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
SAN FRANCISCO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY receives grants from 115 organizations whose IRS filings report $19M to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 119 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding SAN FRANCISCO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $533k on record.
- Department of the Interior$350k
- Department of Agriculture$183k
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 SAN FRANCISCO 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 California
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
91%
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 SAN FRANCISCO 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 SAN FRANCISCO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY?
- SAN FRANCISCO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY (California) receives grants from 115 organizations whose IRS filings report $19,220,113 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($6,866,780). 64 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 58% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SAN FRANCISCO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 115 organizations giving $19,220,113 in grants to SAN FRANCISCO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 64 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SAN FRANCISCO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $6,866,780 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SAN FRANCISCO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 115 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing