John Regan Associates - External funding for zoos, botanical gardens & aquaria

John Regan Associates Blog

Celebrities supporting zoo conservation…?

February 28th, 2011

Recent conversations threw up this subject.  I know many sites have not found this. especially easy. I sympathise.  I have some success, but it is really hard work, and takes a lot of both effort and strategy. However I think it is often worth it.  In addition to  (.. sometimes) being perfectly nice people, high [...]

Networking to help zoos’ funding prospects

February 15th, 2011

A while ago, I had lunch with someone I had not seen much since University. As I tried to explain the bizzare package of things I do for zoos and similar organisations, and how this involved making contact with all sorts of different people,  she expressed surprise. She could not understand how the socially inept, rather stand offish [...]

What have zoos and science fiction got in common…?

February 12th, 2011

A bit of a self indulgent post this one, as it this is ultimately just about bringing together two of my personal interests. One of my greatest disappointments though at Chester revolved around a potential anthology of science fiction stories to raise money for Asian Elephant conservation. I was delighted when leading UK Stephen Baxter  ) [...]

What should zoos be called? How do organisations’ titles subtly affect external image and funding potential?

February 10th, 2011

The word ‘zoo’ is  a great word!  It is short, exciting (makes you think of ‘zoom’…), visually and typographically distinct. If an advertising  copywriter were tasked to come up with a name for some new product  from scratch ( …a kind of shampoo, a new form of insurance policy, a thing for getting stones out [...]

Bank robbing for zoos…?

February 6th, 2011

Or, ‘Why not just ask for the money?’ Fundraisers are  fond of a story about John Dillinger, who, when asked “Why he robbed banks…?“, replied “Because that is where the money is” (…except, it wasn’t Dillinger, but Willy Sutton,  relatively unknown in Europe, ). The point is that many fundraising programme ignore the possibility of [...]

Being rejected: what kind of ‘no’ is it?

February 1st, 2011

You will need to handle a number of rejections before you succeed.  When you get a ‘no, respect this, but try to establish’ what kind of no’ it is: No, not ever..? No, not now..? No, not this particular project…? No, not at this price..? On the basis of the response, you can begin to [...]