Florida · Nonprofit
ZOO MIAMI FOUNDATION INC
ZOO MIAMI FOUNDATION INC (Florida) receives grants from 75 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,938,623 to it, the largest being THE BATCHELOR FOUNDATION INC ($666,450). 42 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.9M
- Funders on record
- 75
- Grants received
- $3.9M
- Net assets
- $38M
What Zoo Miami Foundation Inc does
Mission
Zoo Miami Foundation's mission is to inspire people to preserve nature and motivate others to join us through community engagement, fundraising, and building relationships.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Zoo Miami Foundation (ZMF), formerly Zoological Society of Florida, is the private non-profit partner organization for Zoo Miami Founded in 1956. While Miami-Dade County operates and maintains the zoo, ZMF allows Zoo Miami to continue mission-driven initiatives and zoo enhancements to encourage an appreciation for the world's wildlife to conserve it for future generations. Through the generosity of individuals, corporations, foundations, and government entities, ZMF operates robust Learning Experience programs, manages a large volunteer base contributing more than 30,000 hours/year, supports vital conservation initiatives, and supplements key capital projects that bolster animal welfare and guest experiences at Zoo Miami. With one of the largest membership bases in South Florida, Zoo Miami Foundation continues to make a significant impact connecting with and educating the South Florida community to take conservation action! Zoo Miami Foundation partners with numerous organizations at the local, state, and national level including foundations, corporations, and government entities. These partnerships provide funding, program support, volunteers, materials/supplies, and advice that…
$7,013,406 spentof which $156,486 as grants$350,948 earned by the program100% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $7,013,406.
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 $25M to $31M (+24%).
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 4% · 2018 5% · 2019 5% · 2020 10% · 2021 28% · 2022 28% · 2023 40% · 2024 32% · 2025 25%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
70% of ZOO MIAMI FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (74% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Jose C Romano
President & CEO
Board chair
Alan Atkinson
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 31 funders, grant income rose $145k → $503k.
13 of 75 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 12% 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: $367k from 4 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest West Kendall Baptist Hospital Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money ZOO MIAMI FOUNDATION INC raised.
From the IRS filings of ZOO MIAMI FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 75 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
ZOO MIAMI FOUNDATION INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 17% of grant income, and it takes 9 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 9 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 36% · 2018 19% · 2019 36% · 2020 18% · 2021 15% · 2022 47% · 2023 13% — 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
56% of ZOO MIAMI FOUNDATION INC'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
75% of ZOO MIAMI FOUNDATION INC's grant income comes from Florida funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $463k 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
ZOO MIAMI FOUNDATION INC's funding base is broadening — from 12 funders to 31 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 813 animals nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding ZOO MIAMI FOUNDATION INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $502k on record — $500k federal, $3k state.
- National Science Foundation$500k
- PROPERTY RENTAL - OTHER GOVERNMENTAL UNITS $2k
- REFUNDS - GENERAL $175
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 ZOO MIAMI FOUNDATION 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 Florida
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
86%
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 ZOO MIAMI FOUNDATION 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 ZOO MIAMI FOUNDATION INC?
- ZOO MIAMI FOUNDATION INC (Florida) receives grants from 75 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,938,623 to it, the largest being THE BATCHELOR FOUNDATION INC ($666,450). 42 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ZOO MIAMI FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 75 organizations giving $3,938,623 in grants to ZOO MIAMI FOUNDATION INC, 42 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ZOO MIAMI FOUNDATION INC?
- THE BATCHELOR FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $666,450 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ZOO MIAMI FOUNDATION INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Florida. 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 75 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