88/ 100
WarmTier 2Enriched
Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo
Connecticut's only zoo: a ticketed, AZA-accredited visitor attraction in Bridgeport, owned and operated by the nonprofit Connecticut Zoological Society.
Research snapshot2026-08-2125 cited sources · 4/6 modules complete Open PDF Report
ICP score88/1002026-08-21 · Recalibrated from underlying evidence; exact local CTM inventory and customer status remain unverified.
2024 owned visitors219,574Calendar year 2024 · Organization-level attendance reported in the IRS filing.
2024 revenue$5.27MFiscal year 2024 · Filed nonprofit revenue; down 10.6% from 2023.
City FY2026 first-half attendance96,313FY2026 first six months · Zoo-specific City service indicator; not a full-year value.
Connecticut visitors72.2M2025 · Market proxy - not owned zoo footfall.
Visual evidence profile
What supports the opportunity
Source composition and verified operating momentum at a glance.
Evidence mix25 cited sources
Six-segment module readiness strip
Verified growth trendTotal revenue
Revenue was broadly stable in 2022-2023 before falling 10.6% in 2024; budget capacity should be qualified rather than assumed.
Visual intelligence map
Research coverage
Each branch maps directly to a required module in the plugin’s canonical report schema.
Why this lead fits CTM
High visitor intent, active projects, financial capacity, named buyer access, and online ticketing support a strong Tier 2 fit. Recent attendance pressure and unverified CTM inventory keep the lead below hot-ready status.
Fit reasons
The zoo is a ticketed visitor attraction with owned visitation, daily operations, and online ticketing.
Current capital and program triggers create campaign-ready moments across 2026-2027.
A named Development & Marketing director and an executive sponsor are publicly identifiable through first-party sources.
CTM publicly serves visitor environments in the Northeast and offers brochure, digital, print, and design routes suited to in-market attraction discovery, subject to confirmed local inventory.
Risks and unknowns
Bridgeport's like-for-like attendance series declined from 303,000 in FY2023 to 172,047 in FY2025; the underlying drivers are not established in the checked sources.
2024 revenue fell while expenses increased, creating a need to qualify budget source, channel tradeoffs, and approval path before proposal development.
Exact service geography, inventory, cadence, customer suppression, and campaign-level audience delivery remain unverified.
Evidence modules
Lead intelligence structure
Each module uses a view tailored to its canonical evidence type—reports, momentum, channels, leaders, roles, or demand.
01Analyzed reportsThe 2024 Form 990 and Bridgeport's FY2027 adopted budget jointly provide current financial capacity, program reach, operating support, service indicators, and a multi-horizon development roadmap.Complete
Reported Performance13 verified metrics
Total revenue$5.27M2024 · Down 10.6% versus 2023.
Total expenses$4.82M2024 · Up 23.5% versus 2023.
Net assets$22.87M2024 · Up 3.5% versus 2023.
Program-service revenue$2.65M2024 · Approximately 50% of total revenue.
Owned visitors219,574Calendar year 2024 · Organization-reported program reach.
Youth education participants40,500Calendar year 2024 · Approximate organization-reported program reach.
Reviewed Reports2 records
IRS Form 990 · Calendar year 2024Connecticut Zoological Society Inc - 2024 Form 990
The filing establishes the legal operator's scale, revenue mix, visitor-program reach, staffing, and balance-sheet position.
Government budget and performance report · FY2027, with FY2022-FY2026 service indicatorsCity of Bridgeport Adopted General Fund Budget 2026-2027
The budget supplies an official operational roadmap, current project status, staffing, subsidy, appropriation, and like-for-like service indicators for the Zoo/Carousel division.
Program-service revenue was $2.65 million, approximately half of total revenue; contributions were $1.94 million.
The filing reports 107 employees, 240 volunteers, 219,574 visitors, and approximately 40,500 youth education participants.
Program spending represented about 77.7% of total expenses.
Additional Evidence18 items
Additional Metrics
Employees1072024 · Payroll headcount reported in filing data.
Volunteers2402024 · Volunteer count reported in filing data.
City Zoo/Carousel appropriation$1.764MFY2027 adopted · Covers the municipal Zoo/Carousel division; not the nonprofit's full budget.
State zoo subsidy$330KFY2027 adopted · Budgeted at the same level as FY2026.
City-reported zoo attendance172,047FY2025 actual · Latest full-year actual in the City series.
Education attendance136,805FY2025 actual · Latest full-year actual in the City series.
City-funded positions12FY2027 budget · Municipal Zoo/Carousel positions.
Additional Signals
The filing describes a conservation mission centered on learning, care, and action for threatened flora, fauna, and supporting living systems.
The 2024 operating surplus narrowed to $456,146 from $1.999 million in 2023 as revenue declined and expenses increased.
The City adopted a $1.764 million FY2027 Zoo/Carousel appropriation and a $330,000 State of Connecticut zoo subsidy.
The FY2027 personnel summary holds 12 positions and identifies one unfunded Senior Zookeeper line; this is a budget structure, not proof of an open vacancy.
The City reports full accreditation achieved without conditions in September 2025 and targets the next accreditation cycle in 2029.
Complete Red Panda Playground in Q3-Q4 2026, establish Zoo-For-All access, renovate the carousel building, and complete the Goral habitat.
Open a tiger habitat in 2027 and continue greenhouse, arboretum, entrance, parking, and grounds-expansion planning.
Complete strategic planning during 2026 after acquiring proposals from five providers.
Tiger-habitat funding and construction documents were still being finalized; parking expansion showed no progress and was deferred to a future capital request.
Research Boundaries
The former first-party 2024 annual-report file endpoint was no longer accessible during this run, so no claims were taken from its search preview.
The Form 990, City budget, and live sponsorship page use different reporting periods and scopes; only like-for-like values are trended.
02Growth signalsFinancial capacity remains substantial and net assets continue to rise, but 2024 revenue and FY2025 City-reported attendance weakened. The 2026-2027 project pipeline supplies real campaign triggers while also carrying funding and delivery risk.Complete
Red Panda Playground construction is underway with completion targeted for Q3-Q4 2026.
The FY2027 roadmap targets a tiger-habitat opening in 2027, a new Zoo-For-All access program, carousel upgrades, and continued entrance/retail enhancement.
The Rainforest Building reopened after a first phase in June 2025, and new titi monkeys debuted there in July 2026.
Community Corner operates on weekends from Memorial Day through Labor Day in 2026, adding a recurring local-partnership layer to the visitor experience.
Additional Evidence6 items
Additional Signals
The strongest pilot window is a bounded 2026-2027 test tied to a specific new experience or event, not an always-on generic awareness campaign.
Position the pilot as a measurable response to attendance pressure and project launches; do not promise that visitor out-of-home media will reverse the decline.
Attendance and revenue pressure may constrain discretionary media, while some capital projects still depend on funding, construction documents, or reprioritization.
The City estimated 300,000 FY2026 visitors, but only 96,313 were recorded at the six-month point; the estimate is a target, not an actual result.
Research Boundaries
No causal explanation for the FY2025 attendance decline was accepted from checked sources.
Capital milestones are management/government targets and may change; they are not treated as completed until a later source confirms delivery.
03Social activityLinkedIn provides a usable but limited public fingerprint: 1,472 followers and eight visible updates sampled, centered on events, animal arrivals, education, grants, and local partnerships. Meta and YouTube channels could not be sampled without platform access.Partial
Additional Evidence2 items
Research Boundaries
LinkedIn relative-age labels do not establish exact post dates, and visible engagement counts were not consistently exposed; no post-rate or engagement median is claimed.
Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube content requires a fresh platform-native check before outreach; official-link confirmation alone does not establish activity or reach.
04C-suite activityDr. Jim Wharton has served as CEO since September 2024 and publicly frames the next phase around visitor experience, conservation, education, community reach, and new animal experiences. Ashley Volkens is the named Development & Marketing route for a commercial conversation.Complete
CEODr. Jim Wharton
Connect arrival-stage visibility to one current visitor-experience trigger and one measurable ticketing action; position the test as additive to digital and community access, not as a guaranteed attendance fix.
Decision PathPublic buying signals
Gregg Dancho retired after more than 45 years and became Director Emeritus; Dr. Jim Wharton assumed the CEO role on September 3, 2024.
Scale conservation, education, community programs, and visitor-experience quality while completing strategic planning and the active habitat roadmap.
Wharton is the likely executive sponsor for a pilot tied to attendance recovery, access, visitor experience, or a major 2026-2027 launch; the marketing owner should lead initial qualification.
Additional Evidence1 items
Research Boundaries
Public sources establish current titles and selected statements, not internal budget authority or procurement thresholds; role ownership must be rechecked before outreach.
05Hiring activityThe zoo maintains a first-party careers page and an official ADP route, but the ATS did not expose role-level listings in the public research client. No current paid-opening count is claimed.Partial
0Visible RolesPublic openings connected to this lead
No current opening was verified.
Public talent language spans animal care, education, horticulture, visitor services, and support functions, while internships also cover conservation plus administration, marketing, and special events.
The FY2027 City budget holds 12 Zoo/Carousel positions and shows one unfunded Senior Zookeeper line, but this is not evidence of a posted vacancy.
Additional Evidence3 items
Research Boundaries
The ADP page returned a supported-browser message; absence of visible listings is not evidence of zero hiring.
The internship page still labels summer applications as open although its February 9 deadline has passed; it was treated as stale and not counted as a current opening.
Refresh the ATS within 14 days of any outreach and record exact titles, dates, locations, and job URLs if listings become visible.
06Visitor activityThe lead has defensible owned attendance and education measures, plus a current City performance series. Connecticut's expanding visitor economy is a favorable market proxy, not the zoo's footfall.Complete
Demand & DistributionOwned metrics remain distinct from market proxies
Zoo visitors219,574Calendar year 2024 · Owned first-party program count reported in the organization's IRS filing.
Youth education participants40,500Calendar year 2024 · Approximate owned first-party program count reported in the organization's IRS filing.
City-reported zoo attendance172,047FY2025 actual · Government-reported zoo-specific service indicator; not directly comparable with calendar-year filing data.
City-reported first-half attendance96,313FY2026 first six months · Partial-year actual; not annualized in this report.
Connecticut visitor volume72.2M2025 · Market proxy - not owned footfall; up 3.1% year over year.
Connecticut hotel occupancy growth+4.3%January-June 2026 · Market proxy - not owned footfall; STR-based statewide growth versus prior year.
The zoo operates daily, while the current calendar emphasizes summer and early-fall demand through animal programs, weekend Community Corner, and September-October ticketed fundraisers.
Community Corner runs Saturdays and Sundays from Memorial Day through Labor Day, creating a repeated summer activation window.
No current organization-level visitor-origin mix was found in the accepted sources; statewide visitor growth is context, not a substitute for origin data.
Use ticketing analytics or a campaign-specific survey to distinguish local residents, day-trippers, and overnight visitors before scaling media geography.
Additional Evidence5 items
Additional Signals
The official site supports online tickets, creating a trackable action after in-market discovery.
Connecticut visitor volume and hotel occupancy were growing entering the zoo's 2026 project cycle, supporting a gateway-market test while remaining indirect demand evidence.
CTM publicly distributes visitor media in hotels, visitor centers, airports, attractions, recreation hubs, and transportation corridors; exact Bridgeport-area placements require internal confirmation.
Research Boundaries
The 219,574 calendar-year filing count, City fiscal-year series, and unperioded 300,000 average-attendance marketing claim use different scopes. No blended or growth comparison is made across them.
State visitation and hotel occupancy are market proxies and must never be presented as zoo-owned attendance.
The proportionate opportunity is a short, measurable arrival-stage pilot tied to one current exhibit, access, or event trigger and routed first through Development & Marketing. It should test incremental visitor discovery, not promise attendance recovery.
Recommended solution
Evaluate brochure or rack-card distribution in confirmed Bridgeport/Fairfield County visitor environments, using refreshed visitor-facing creative and a unique ticket landing page. Add digital screens or design support only where current inventory and budget are verified.
Pilot hypothesis
A route-bounded campaign around the Red Panda Playground, Zoo-For-All launch, tiger-habitat anticipation, or a defined seasonal event may convert nearby visitors and active locals into measurable ticket interest.
Measurement plan
Use a market-specific QR code and UTM-tagged landing page connected to the existing online ticket path; report scans, qualified sessions, ticket-starts, and completed purchases where analytics permit.
Track distribution quantity, location, replenishment, and creative version alongside digital actions; do not infer bookings from brochure pickup alone.
Establish a pre-pilot baseline by comparable weekday/weekend and event window, and segment resident-access offers from paid visitor acquisition.
Scale only after human review confirms current-customer suppression, local inventory, budget, a named approver, and acceptable incremental cost per qualified visit or ticket action.