Methods

A list of current AZA-accredited facilities was downloaded in September 2020 from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ website. This study focuses on facilities that are federally recognized as non-profits, or 501(c)(3)s, as their financial information is publicly accessible on 990 forms via the IRS. Each facility was researched to determine its status as a non-profit. Facilities were organized into four categories: non-profit, public, for-profit, and international. Organizations classified as 501(c)(3)s have a publicly available Employer Identification Number (EIN) that can be found using the IRS’s Tax-Exempt Organization Search Tool.
If the tax records listed 0 employees, the organization was determined to be support for an accredited facility, and that facility was categorized as public. For example, several facilities have a “Friends of the Zoo” 501(c)(3) that operates to provide financial support to the facility but does not manage employees. Facilities with a supporting non-profit were not included in this study, as their tax forms did not show all financial data. Some federally recognized 501(c)(3) facilities operate as a public-private partnership and receive most of their financial support from the city or town. A public-private partnership allows a government agency and a private company or organization to work together. The study did not include these facilities because their tax forms did not show all their financial data. International facilities were also not included, as they do not have public tax records in the US.
Of the 241 AZA-accredited facilities in September 2020, 120 were determined to be 501(c)(3)s eligible for this study. Each facility’s website was researched to determine if they have an established internship program and if they offer compensation to their interns. If no information was found, facilities were contacted via email. Out of the 120 facilities eligible for the study, 108 had an established internship program, 8 had no internship program, and 4 had no information about an internship program or did not respond to an email inquiry. Several facilities operate as one non-profit with multiple accredited locations. Therefore, the 120 facilities were condensed into 98 501(c)(3)s.
The EIN of each institution was run through the IRS’s Tax-Exempt Organization search to download the facilities’ 2018 990 forms. At the time of research, some facilities did not have a 2019 form available to download. Information from the Summary (Part 1), Compensation of Highest-Paid Employees (Part VII), Statement of Revenue (Part VIII), and Statement of Functional Expenses (Part IX) was recorded. Specific information was collected to determine how much money was received from Contributions, Gifts, and Grants (lines 1a, 1d, 1e, 1f, & 1g), Fundraising Events (line 1c), Membership Dues (line 1b), Program Service Revenue (line 2), and other sources.
The amount of money spent on Grants (lines 1-3), Salaries, Wages, Employee Benefits and Compensation (lines 5-10), Fees for Services (lines 11a-g), Advertising (line 12), Office Expenses (line 13), Occupancy (line 16), and other expenses were also recorded. Fees for services include legal, accounting, lobbying, and professional fundraising service fees. Occupancy includes items like rent, mortgage payments, and property taxes. While there are other categories in Part IX, they were left blank on the majority of tax forms. The categories chosen account for areas where the greatest amount of money was spent. Data were compiled in an excel spreadsheet.
Each revenue source and expense were calculated into a percentage of overall revenue or expenses. The average salary of employees was calculated by dividing the overall amount spent on salaries and wages (Part I, line 15) by the number of employees (Part 1, line 5). The highest salary listed in Part VII was recorded, along with the employee’s title.
Facilities were split into two main categories - ‘Compensated Intern Program’ and ‘Uncompensated Intern Program.’ If a facility offered compensation as an hourly wage or stipend, it was marked as a ‘Compensated Intern Program.’
Average percentages of total revenue and expenses for both program types were compared with an independent-samples t-test to determine if there was a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) in each category. The averages of total revenue, net income, and employee salaries were also compared with an independent-samples t-test. Both descriptive and inferential statistics are presented in the results section.
Facilities classified as non-profit or public with Compensated Intern Programs were contacted to answer a brief questionnaire or participate in an interview based on a set of questions. These questions were used to determine how facilities successfully built their compensated intern program, their funding, and how other facilities could use these strategies to develop their own program.