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.