Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 154 organizations whose IRS filings report $24,139,413 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM PENN FOUNDATION ($4,465,000). 105 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $44M
- Funders on record
- 154
- Grants received
- $24M
- Net assets
- $122M
What Zoological Society of Philadelphia does
Mission
At philadelphia zoo, our mission is to flourish as an urban oasis, where people and animals thrive, transformational memories are made, and our passion for conservation saves wildlife (see schedule o).guided by a three-year strategic plan, the zoo is seeking to both strengthen and diversify revenue lines in order to sustain its historic campus and protect its precious animal collection. The zoo seeks to be impactful through 6 impact areas: amazing animals, transformational memories, connected science and conservation communities, innovative learning and engagement, united team and culture and strategic financial growth.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Exhibits and garden care: philadelphia zoo serves as one of philadelphia's most visited cultural attractions, typically welcoming approximately 900,000 visitors each year. Accredited by the association of zoos and aquariums, philadelphia zoo, provides unique and inspiring experiences that educate and inspire its guest and communities both through on site as well as off site programs. Philadelphia zoo has worked diligently to reimagine and transform its campus and the overall zoo experience, with the additions of award-winning exhibits such as the pioneering zoo360, kidzoou: hamilton family children's zoo & faris family education center (kidzoou), mcneil avian center and big cat falls. (see sched o).over the past decade, other updates and exhibit enhancements include:zoo360: zoo360 is an innovative, first-in-the-world system of see-through trails passing through treetops, crossing over pathways and connecting habitats, providing animals like amazing big cats, majestic primates and marvelous meerkats opportunities to travel and explore. Zoo360 offers exciting and enriching experiences for animals and visitors alike, taking the zoo experience to a whole new level. Zoo360 benefits…
$11,889,526 spent$16,649,099 earned by the program36% of program spendingAnimal care: philadelphia zoo is one of foremost conservation organizations and currently home to approximately 1,700 animals of more than 240 different species. Throughout its history, philadelphia zoo has provided exceptional care for animals while educating and inspiring guests and participating in worldwide conservation efforts. Known for continued innovation, commitment to wildlife, and achieving longevity records, philadelphia zoo is a zoo of many firsts. Ranging from having the first orangutan and chimpanzee born in the u.s. In the 1920's, to the first giant river otter born in the u.s. In 2004, to the creation of zoo360 a first-in-the-world animal travel and exploration system developed in 2011, and now implemented in more than 20 zoos across the globe. (see sched o).philadelphia zoo, continues to set standards across the industry.philadelphia zoo is part of a greater mission to create national zoo conservation and breeding programs for endangered species. The zoo works in cooperation with other accredited zoos in north america and worldwide via the species survival plan (ssp), a cooperative effort used to manage and breed endangered and other animal species to ensure…
$9,551,018 spent29% of program spendingEducation, conservation & community engagement programming: driven by a passion for promoting action that supports wildlife conservation, the zoo offers a broad portfolio of dynamic educational programs. As the region's largest living classroom, the zoo offers hands-on, curriculum-connected and mission-focused animal experiences to thousands of school children each year. Through these programs, the zoo helps to grow the next generation of environmental stewards, giving young people the opportunity to share their new wildlife and conservation knowledge with their communities. (see sched o).field tripsnot only are field trips fun, but they also immerse students in the world's wildlife, building empathy and encouraging them to make small changes in their everyday life that can have an impact on animals. A field trip to the zoo is an experience that will last a lifetime.community access program (cap)in partnership with individual, corporate, and foundation donors throughout our region, the zoo provides free visits and engaging learning opportunities to k-12 students from title I schools annually. By committing to providing access to the zoo in economically distressed communities, the…
$11,407,681 spentof which $370,000 as grants$398,757 earned by the program35% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $32,848,225.
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 $119M to $128M (+8%).
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 11% · 2018 1% · 2019 1% · 2020 1% · 2021 13% · 2022 20% · 2023 7% · 2024 7% · 2025 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
47% of ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA’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. 7 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
Jo-Elle Mogerman
President and CEO
Board chair
Joanna M Lewis
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 32 funders to 71 funders, grant income rose $813k → $2.0M.
16 of 154 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 13% 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: $295k from 6 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Philadelphia Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA raised.
From the IRS filings of ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 154 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 PHILADELPHIA has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 14% · 2018 16% · 2019 24% · 2020 31% · 2021 15% · 2022 12% · 2023 11% — 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
54% of ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 68% 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
64% of ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA is better cushioned than half of the 134 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 134 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $50k on record.
- STUDENT BODY ACTIVITY$44k
- ASSOC DUES AND CONF FEES$4k
- STUDENT TRAVEL$2k
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 PHILADELPHIA
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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
68%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 12 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA: 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 ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA?
- ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 154 organizations whose IRS filings report $24,139,413 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM PENN FOUNDATION ($4,465,000). 105 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA have?
- IRS filings report 154 organizations giving $24,139,413 in grants to ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA, 105 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA?
- THE WILLIAM PENN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $4,465,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 154 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