California · Nonprofit
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO (California) receives grants from 314 organizations whose IRS filings report $75,465,500 to it, the largest being THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION ($9,174,989). 177 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $438M
- Funders on record
- 314
- Grants received
- $75M
- Net assets
- $862M
What Zoological Society of San Diego does
Mission
San diego zoo wildlife alliance is committed to saving species worldwide by uniting our expertise in wildlife care and conservation science with our dedication to inspiring passion for nature.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Wildlife care and conservation: sdzwa is an international conservation organization with two front doors: the san diego zoo and the san diego zoo safari park. Sdzwa is committed to saving species worldwide by uniting our expertise in wildlife care and conservation science with our dedication to inspiring passion for nature. Conservation is at the heart of everything sdzwa pursues and it starts with connecting people with wildlife through our zoological parks and education programs, inspiring and educating our guests every day. Because when wildlife thrives, all life thrives. Sdzwa is dedicated to conservation work supporting eight hubs located around the globe, across six continents. Wildlife care and conservation science expertise anchors conservation projects in these regions driving greater impact for wildlife. Program activities are supported through admissions, memberships, donations, grants, partners, and sales at both facilities.
$314,914,671 spentof which $4,658,824 as grants$311,901,098 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $314,914,671.
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 2018 to 2019, from $698M to $839M (+20%).
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 5% · 2018 5% · 2019 5% · 2020 8% · 2021 9% · 2022 6% · 2023 6% · 2024 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
19% of ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (73% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 8 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 81 funders to 123 funders, grant income rose $8.4M → $9.6M.
37 of 314 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 39% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 314 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 SAN DIEGO has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 12% 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
47% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 37% · 2018 25% · 2019 17% · 2020 25% · 2021 23% · 2022 12% · 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
42% of ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO'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
53% of ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $30M arriving through sponsors registered in 22 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 SAN DIEGO is better cushioned than half of the 14 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 14 animals nonprofits over $100M, FY2024
Government funding ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $46.4M on record — $46.3M federal, $13k state.
- Department of the Interior$24.6M
- Department of Defense$18.1M
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$2.3M
- National Science Foundation$649k
- Department of Education$500k
- Department of Agriculture$143k
- Other Contr and 3rd Pty Serv$13k
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 SAN DIEGO
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% 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 2 states
Part of a family of 4 related entities
- Foundation of Zoological Society of San Diego · exempt
- Sdzwa-Peru · exempt
- Sdzwa-Kenya · exempt
- 2116 Holdings Inc · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO: 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 SAN DIEGO?
- ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO (California) receives grants from 314 organizations whose IRS filings report $75,465,500 to it, the largest being THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION ($9,174,989). 177 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO have?
- IRS filings report 314 organizations giving $75,465,500 in grants to ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO, 177 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO?
- THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $9,174,989 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 314 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