Texas · Nonprofit
THE FORT WORTH ZOOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION
THE FORT WORTH ZOOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION (Texas) receives grants from 53 organizations whose IRS filings report $22,259,913 to it, the largest being Alice L Walton Foundation ($3,000,000). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $62M
- Funders on record
- 53
- Grants received
- $22M
- Net assets
- $123M
What The Fort Worth Zoological Association does
Mission
With more than 1 million visitors annually, the fort worth zoo strengthens the bond between humans and the environment by promoting responsible stewardship of wildlife and ensuring diverse, high-quality educational and entertaining family experiences through effective and efficient management of its resources.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Animal and conservation: the living animal collection includes almost 600 species and nearly 7,000 individual specimens of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, amphibians, and invertebrates. Animal programs include a state-of-the-art animal hospital and nutrition lab, animal commissary, and conservation research center. The animal staff also supports numerous projects in texas and approximately 30 countries worldwide.
$21,757,498 spentof which $138,278 as grants$421,652 earned by the program53% of program spendingAdmissions and attractions: more than 1 million guests visit the zoo each year during regular operating hours. Approximately 75% of our visitors coming from the dallas-fort worth metroplex. Zoo visitors are treated to naturalistic animal habitats, interactive learning experiences, and entertaining attractions.
$15,818,171 spent$22,971,834 earned by the program38% of program spendingEducational programs: approximately 30,000 students and teachers attended zoo education programs including weekday zoo school, summer zoo camp, zoo careers camp, home school days, overnights, birthday parties, teacher workshops, and more. More than 100,000 students and chaperones visit the zoo on organized field trips. The wild ones mobile education serves more than 5,000 children attending title I schools in tarrant county, extending the zoo's educational outreach beyond its 64 acres.
$2,630,001 spent$2,188,518 earned by the program6% of program spendingMembership activities: the zoo has more than 50,000 members, who receive exclusive membership privileges including free admission to the zoo, free parking, gift shop discounts, an annual subscription to roar magazine, priority registration for zoo education programs, and invitations to habitat openings and special members-only events.
$1,121,190 spent$3,082,072 earned by the program3% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $41,326,860.
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 $97M to $129M (+33%).
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 20% · 2018 32% · 2019 33% · 2020 33% · 2021 40% · 2022 16% · 2023 24% · 2024 25% · 2025 25%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
40% of THE FORT WORTH ZOOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION’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
Michael Fouraker
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 14 funders to 21 funders, grant income rose $2.5M → $5.9M.
8 of 53 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 7% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $20M from 12 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Lee & Ramona Bass Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money THE FORT WORTH ZOOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION raised.
From the IRS filings of THE FORT WORTH ZOOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 53 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
THE FORT WORTH ZOOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 13% 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 50% · 2018 38% · 2019 42% · 2020 40% · 2021 28% · 2022 32% · 2023 43% — 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
41% of THE FORT WORTH ZOOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
72% of THE FORT WORTH ZOOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
THE FORT WORTH ZOOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION 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 THE FORT WORTH ZOOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $647k on record.
- Department of the Interior$647k
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 THE FORT WORTH ZOOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION
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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE FORT WORTH ZOOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION: 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 THE FORT WORTH ZOOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION?
- THE FORT WORTH ZOOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION (Texas) receives grants from 53 organizations whose IRS filings report $22,259,913 to it, the largest being Alice L Walton Foundation ($3,000,000). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE FORT WORTH ZOOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION have?
- IRS filings report 53 organizations giving $22,259,913 in grants to THE FORT WORTH ZOOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, 34 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE FORT WORTH ZOOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION?
- Alice L Walton Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $3,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE FORT WORTH ZOOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 53 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