Ohio · Nonprofit
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI (Ohio) receives grants from 129 organizations whose IRS filings report $31,698,292 to it, the largest being FARMER FAMILY FOUNDATION ($6,745,000). 94 of them have funded it in more than one year.
Against its field
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI's funding base is broadening — from 25 funders to 66 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 95 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- Millstone Fundshared funderslocal
- Woodland Park Zoological Societyportfolio match
- The Zoological Society of the Palm Beaches Incportfolio match
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.
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 13% · 2018 7% · 2019 11% · 2020 14% · 2021 14% · 2022 23% · 2023 10% · 2024 7% · 2025 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
60% of ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI’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
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 25 funders to 66 funders, grant income rose $546k → $3.7M.
17 of 129 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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: $22M from 11 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Cincinnati Zoo Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI raised.
From the IRS filings of ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 129 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
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 26% · 2018 36% · 2019 22% · 2020 33% · 2021 56% · 2022 20% · 2023 20% — 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 ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 73% 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
86% of ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI's grant income comes from Ohio funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 statesis 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 129 funders put you well-backed among the 400 organizations that share them.
- Millstone Fundshared funderslocalOH · backs 123 organizations that share your funders · funds 125 organizations near you
- Woodland Park Zoological Societyportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Zoological Society of the Palm Beaches Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Jack J Smith Jr Charitable Trustshared funderslocalPA · backs 97 organizations that share your funders · funds 92 organizations near you
- Arizona Center for Nature Conservationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Leiden Conservation Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Sacramento Zoological Societyportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Houston Zoo Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Trust Estate of George B Rileyshared fundersOH · backs 33 organizations that share your funders
- Marge & Charles J Schott Foundationshared fundersOH · backs 101 organizations that share your funders
- Elsa M Heisel Sule Charitable Trust 2005shared fundersKY · backs 127 organizations that share your funders
- Josephine S Russell Charitableshared fundersPA · backs 96 organizations that share your funders
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Government funding ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $6.5M on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$6.2M
- Department of the Interior$272k
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 ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Ohio
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
88% 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
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Cincinnati Zoo Properties LLC · disregarded
- Cincinnati Zoo Foundation Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI: 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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI?
- ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI (Ohio) receives grants from 129 organizations whose IRS filings report $31,698,292 to it, the largest being FARMER FAMILY FOUNDATION ($6,745,000). 94 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI have?
- IRS filings report 129 organizations giving $31,698,292 in grants to ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI, 94 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI?
- FARMER FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $6,745,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. 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 129funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing