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Wisconsin · Nonprofit

ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF MILWAUKEE CTY

ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF MILWAUKEE CTY (Wisconsin) receives grants from 56 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,302,050 to it, the largest being DOHMEN FAMILY FOUNDATION INC ($4,800,000). 37 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$14M
Funders on record
56
Grants received
$10M
Net assets
$8.1M
37/56 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 24%
01What it does

What Zoological Society of Milwaukee Cty does

Mission

The mission of the zoological society is to conserve wildlife and endangered species, to educate people about the importance of wildlife and the environment, and to support the milwaukee county zoo.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Direct support of milwaukee county zoo through construction of exhibits, animal conservation, and educational programs.

    $12,098,609 spentof which $4,306,049 as grants$537,639 earned by the program
    99% of program spending
  2. Research grants for advanced studies in conservation and endangered species.

    $134,157 spentof which $31,110 as grants
    1% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $12,232,766.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($22M) Expenses 100 ($13M) Net assets 100 ($18M)2018 Revenue 74 ($17M) Expenses 117 ($16M) Net assets 104 ($19M)2019 Revenue 69 ($15M) Expenses 146 ($20M) Net assets 81 ($15M)2020 Revenue 40 ($8.8M) Expenses 95 ($13M) Net assets 59 ($11M)2021 Revenue 61 ($14M) Expenses 102 ($14M) Net assets 50 ($9.0M)2022 Revenue 73 ($16M) Expenses 88 ($12M) Net assets 73 ($13M)2023 Revenue 55 ($12M) Expenses 95 ($13M) Net assets 72 ($13M)2024 Revenue 58 ($13M) Expenses 109 ($15M) Net assets 60 ($11M)2025 Revenue 63 ($14M) Expenses 125 ($17M) Net assets 45 ($8.1M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (63)Expenses (125)Net assets (45)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2018 to 2019, from $22M to $16M (−24%).

$21M
$22M
$16M
$14M
$14M
$17M
$17M
$18M
$17M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

91% of ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF MILWAUKEE CTY’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (67% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 238 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$8.9M
’17
$792k
’18
−$4.2M
’19
−$4.0M
’20
−$143k
’21
$4.5M
’22
−$628k
’23
−$1.6M
’24
−$2.7M
’25
4.6
months of
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

Jodi Gibson

President and CEO

Board chair

Tami Garrison

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed464645414446464442
Joined·+7+6+4+6+9+4+5+7
No longer listed·77837479
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 15 funders to 22 funders, grant income fell $5.5M → $444k.

14 of 56 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 19% 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: $1.8M from 6 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Greater Milwaukee Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF MILWAUKEE CTY raised.

From the IRS filings of ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF MILWAUKEE CTY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 56 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 MILWAUKEE CTY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 47% of grant income and the top three 59%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

47%
largest funder
59%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 88% · 2018 21% · 2019 20% · 2020 21% · 2021 33% · 2022 33% · 2023 26% — 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

44% of ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF MILWAUKEE CTY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 66% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

93% of ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF MILWAUKEE CTY's grant income comes from Wisconsin funders.

MN
IL
WI
NY
CT
VA
MD
DE
DC
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Wisconsin out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF MILWAUKEE CTY is better cushioned than half of the 134 animals nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−20% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve4.6mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)−6% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 134 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025

Government funding ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF MILWAUKEE CTY receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $111k on record.

Federal$111k
grants $111kcontracts $0
Top agencies
  • Department of the Interior$111k

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 MILWAUKEE CTY

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 Wisconsin

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

73% of spending goes to programs.

Program 73%Management 22%Fundraising 5%

Governance

39
board members
97%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

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 2 states

IL
WI

Part of a family of 1 related entity

  • Zoological Society of Milw Endowment Trust · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF MILWAUKEE CTY: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF MILWAUKEE CTY?
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF MILWAUKEE CTY (Wisconsin) receives grants from 56 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,302,050 to it, the largest being DOHMEN FAMILY FOUNDATION INC ($4,800,000). 37 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF MILWAUKEE CTY have?
IRS filings report 56 organizations giving $10,302,050 in grants to ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF MILWAUKEE CTY, 37 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF MILWAUKEE CTY?
DOHMEN FAMILY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $4,800,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF MILWAUKEE CTY find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Wisconsin. 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 56 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