FORT WAYNE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY INC

As filed

Subsection

03

NTEE code

D115

Classification

1200

Street

3411 SHERMAN BLVD

These codes are the IRS's own and are shown exactly as filed. What each one means is in the Business Master File documentation (opens in a new tab).

Mission and programs · 2023

• EDUCATIONAL & MEMBERSHIP SERVICES:AT THE END OF 2023, WE HAD JUST OVER 17,500 ACTIVE MEMBER HOUSEHOLDS. WE KICKED OFF OUR 2023 SEASON WITH TWO MEMBERS-ONLY PREVIEW DAYS ON APRIL 20-21, AND PROVIDED A NUMBER OF SPECIAL MEMBER DISCOUNTS OR EARLY-ACCESS OFFERINGS ALL SEASON LONG. MEMBER APPRECIATION MONTH WAS, ONCE AGAIN, A BIG HIT WITH OUR MEMBERS AND THESE FAMILIES ALSO ENJOYED FREE ADMISSION TO OUR WILD ZOO HALLOWEEN AND WILD ZOO WONDERLAND EVENTS. WE INTRODUCED A NEW INCENTIVE ON CYBER MONDAY WHICH GAVE TWO COMPLIMENTARY GUEST PASSES TO NEW, RENEWING, OR GIFT MEMBERSHIPS PURCHASED. THE ZOO SOLD OVER 550 MEMBERSHIPS THAT DAY. OUR WILD ZOO WONDERLAND EVENT WAS OPEN FOR MORE DAYS THAN EVER BEFORE. GUESTS ENJOYED A WALK AROUND THE CENTRAL LOOP DURING THE MILD WEATHER DAYS WE EXPERIENCED NEAR THE END OF THE YEAR. ANOTHER CHANGE FOR 2023 WAS THE REBRANDING OF OUR SUPPORTING-LEVEL MEMBERSHIPS, WHICH INCLUDE A DONATION TO THE ZOO AND SPECIAL PERKS, FROM "DONOR CLUB MEMBERSHIPS" TO "SAFARI SOCIETY." CONSERVATION EDUCATION CONTINUES TO BE A FOCUS OF THE FORT WAYNE CHILDREN'S ZOO EDUCATORS. IN 2023 OVER 17,000 PEOPLE PARTICIPATED IN 2,479 ZOO EDUCATION PROGRAMS. 466 AREA SCHOOL CLASSROOMS WERE VISITED AND KIDS FOR NATURE SUMMER CAMP HOSTED 1,248 CAMPERS WHERE ZOO CONSERVATION EDUCATORS CONNECTED KIDS TO ANIMALS AND THE NATURAL WORLD AROUND THEM.

  Expenses $1,262,648 · Grants $17,555 · Revenue $2,991,147

• ANIMAL EXHIBITS AND IMPROVEMENTS:ANIMAL PROGRAMS - BEGINNING IN APRIL, GUESTS NOTICED A NEW SIGN "ASIAN TREK" ON THEIR WAY TO THE INDONESIAN RAIN FOREST. ALL EXHIBITS FROM THE SWITCH BACK AND NORTH BECAME PART OF ASIAN TREK AND FEATURED ANIMALS AND EXHIBITS FROM THE ASIA. UPDATES WERE MADE TO THE SUMATRAN TIGER EXHIBIT INCLUDING A LARGER WATER FEATURE AND A NEW "CATIO" DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY WITH BUGARA AND INDAH IN MIND. RED PANDA RIDGE OPENED IN LATE MAY. THE FIRST ADDITION TO THE REIMAGINED ASIAN TREK. RED PANDA RIDGE, IS ONE OF THE LARGEST RED PANDA HABITATS IN THE US. IT IS HOME TO 4 RED PANDAS, ANNE, AURORA, PAULA AND PHAY. THIS NEW EXHIBIT AREA FEATURES: CHINESE AND HIMALAYAN RED PANDAS, ZOJI, A CHINESE MUNTJAC DEER; FIVE ASIAN BIRDS INCLUDING A WHITE EARED PHEASANT, GRETEL; VICTORIA CROWNED PIGEONS, PENN AND TELLER; AND A PAIR OF RED-BILLED BLUE MAGPIES, JINGWEI AND DALLAS. BENEDICT, A TWO-TOED SLOTH, MADE A SLOW APPEARANCE IN JUNE IN HIS NEW HOME IN CENTRAL ZOO. THE SLOTH WILD ENCOUNTER WAS POPULAR, WHICH ALLOWS GUESTS TO GET A BEHIND THE SCENES OPPORTUNITY WITH BENEDICT AND TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS AWE-INSPIRING ANIMAL. THE ZOO WELCOMED A NEW FEMALE BAT-EARED FOX, RIPLEY. SHE IS RECOMMENDED TO BREED WITH OUR MALE, MKHUSELI, BY THE ASSOCIATION OF ZOOS AND AQUARIUM'S BAT-EARED FOX SSP (SPECIES SURVIVAL PLAN). SPECIES SURVIVAL PLANS ARE IN PLACE TO CREATE GENETICALLY DIVERSE POPULATIONS OF ANIMALS TO PROTECT THEM FROM EXTINCTION. THE FORT WAYNE CHILDREN'S ZOO PARTICIPATES IN 63 COOPERATIVE SPECIES SURVIVAL PLANS. MORE THAN 1,500 ANIMALS CALL THE FORT WAYNE CHILDREN'S ZOO HOME AND ARE CARED FOR DAILY BY INCREDIBLE ANIMAL CARE AND HEALTH TEAMS. EDUCATING GUESTS WITH MORE THAN 80 KEEPER CHATS WEEKLY, ACCESSING ANIMAL WELL BEING, PROVIDING ZOO ANIMALS WITH CHOICE AND CONTROL, TRAINING BEHAVIORS ALLOWING THE ANIMALS TO ASSIST IN THEIR MEDICAL CARE, AND PROVIDING ENRICHMENT TO ELICIT NATURAL BEHAVIORS IS JUST PART OF A DAY'S WORK FOR OUR ANIMAL CARE SPECIALISTS.

  Expenses $3,787,942 · Revenue $4,928,781

• Withheld by Nonprofiteer: this text may name a private individual.

  Expenses $7,575,885 · Grants $229,952 · Revenue $1,477,216

As filed on the 2023 return. The filer continues this part on Schedule O, which is not shown here. A text marked withheld matched a screen for wording that may name a private individual, such as an honorific or "in memory of". Most of what it withholds names no one; it is withheld so that what does is never shown.

Officers and directors · 2023

As listed in Part VII of the 2023 return, in the order the filer printed them. Each return names its own; this is not a roster the organization keeps with us.

The first 25 listed. Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those. A Schedule J breakdown is as filed: base pay, bonus, other, deferred compensation and nontaxable benefits from this organization, with any from related organizations beside each, and the filer's own total. It is shown with the Part VII listing of the same name on the same return. The form gives no key between the two, so that pairing is ours, and is marked matched by us. Earlier years are each on their own filing page.

Filings

• 2023

  Revenue

  $15,740,300

  Expenses

  $18,577,780

  Contributions

  $3,803,824

  Grants paid

  $247,507

• 2022

  Revenue

  $15,430,147

  Expenses

  $12,754,297

  Contributions

  $5,252,524

  Grants paid

  $307,209

The four totals the IRS asks for on Part I of the Form 990, as filed. A dash means the figure was not present on the return — not that it was zero.

Other returns filed

• 2021 · 990

  Revenue

  $21,227,261

  Expenses

  $10,790,421

  Assets (EOY)

  $38,602,539

• 2020 · 990

  Revenue

  $8,609,549

  Expenses

  $9,260,017

  Assets (EOY)

  $25,957,163

• 2019 · 990

  Revenue

  $10,687,834

  Expenses

  $12,914,146

  Assets (EOY)

  $26,417,690

• 2018 · 990

  Revenue

  $11,814,740

  Expenses

  $13,856,433

  Assets (EOY)

  $27,032,788

• 2017 · 990

  Revenue

  $13,848,809

  Expenses

  $10,680,883

  Assets (EOY)

  $29,288,097

• 2016 · 990

  Revenue

  $12,037,680

  Expenses

  $10,146,825

  Assets (EOY)

  $24,209,495

• 2015 · 990

  Revenue

  $10,693,907

  Expenses

  $10,202,429

  Assets (EOY)

  $21,411,762

• 2014 · 990

  Revenue

  $11,344,723

  Expenses

  $9,251,983

  Assets (EOY)

  $21,564,505

• 2013 · 990

  Revenue

  $9,738,644

  Expenses

  $6,983,806

  Assets (EOY)

  $18,687,813

• 2012 · 990

  Revenue

  — not reported

  Expenses

  $6,448,669

  Assets (EOY)

  $14,534,510

Nonprofiteer parses Forms 990, 990-EZ and 990-PF, in a window of recent tax years. These returns are recorded from the IRS e-file index, so their figures were extracted by that index rather than read from the return here — treat them as a different source from the filings above, not as more of the same record. A dash means the index carries no figure; Form 990-T listings carry none at all. Showing the 10 most recent; the API carries the rest.

Grants made

• RED PANDA NETWORK

  $50,000

  2023 · CONSERVATION PROGRAM

• TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE

  $15,000

  2022 · CONSERVATION PROGRAM

• LION GUARDIANS

  $15,000

  2022 · CONSERVATION PROGRAM

• RED PANDA NETWORK

  $15,000

  2022 · CONSERVATION PROGRAM

• NASHVILLE ZOO

  $10,000

  2022 · CONSERVATION PROGRAM

• OMAHA ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY

  $10,000

  2022 · CONSERVATION PROGRAM

• MINNESOTA ZOO FOUNDATION

  $10,000

  2022 · CONSERVATION PROGRAM

• PACIFIC MARINE MAMMAL RESCUE CENTER

  $10,000

  2022 · CONSERVATION PROGRAM

• SAHARA CONSERVATION FUND

  $10,000

  2022 · CONSERVATION PROGRAM

• WORLD PARROT TRUST

  $10,000

  2022 · CONSERVATION PROGRAM

The 10 largest by cash amount. The API serves every itemized grant.

Where these grants went next →

Grants received

• AWS FOUNDATION INC

  $200,000

  2022 · CAPITAL

• COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER FORT WAYNE INC

  $170,013

  2022 · CHARITABLE SUPPORT

• AWS FOUNDATION INC

  $101,841

  2024 · Capital

• AWS FOUNDATION INC

  $101,175

  2023 · CAPITAL

• COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER FORT WAYNE INC

  $73,852

  2025 · CHARITABLE SUPPORT

• DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING

  $48,550

  2023 · ENVIRONMENTAL AND ANIMALS

• AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC

  $34,763

  2024 · GENERAL SUPPORT

• THE BLACKBAUD GIVING FUND

  $30,662

  2022 · GENERAL SUPPORT

• DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING

  $25,500

  2024 · ENVIRONMENTAL AND ANIMALS

• DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING

  $22,550

  2022 · ENVIRONMENTAL AND ANIMALS

The 10 largest by cash amount. The API serves every itemized grant.

Other IRS files