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

I remember this expression from an American fundraising authority in my first years obsessing on the subject. The idea was very simple: ‘the development process’ is all about  gradually turning outsiders into insiders, a process of inviting affluent, influential, talented and/ or well connected individuals to consider our organisation and our cause to be their [...]

There are some (USA) statistics that seem to show that fundraisers tend to change jobs on average every 18 months.  Clearly this is not helpful in the zoo world,  which must look to long term projects and long term relationships.  So why do they jump ship so often?  The following thoughts are not intended to be [...]

Finding ways to politely, patiently and appropriately ask high net value individuals to support relevant zoo projects is probably an underused avenue in zoos, especially in the UK and Europe. Which is a shame, because RICH PEOPLE HAVE ALL THE MONEY!!! Those charged with developing external funds for zoos have limited time and resources, so [...]

sample gift schedule A gift schedule takes your overall  project funding target and breaks it down into manageable chunks. It should allocate a high percentage of the donations required to a few big gifts, because all research shows that that is where most of your funding is going to come from. It is there to concentrate the [...]

I know this must seem blindingly obvious, but… An important part of external funding ( whether defined as fundraising or development) is simply remembering to properly acknowledge support once received. I have heard of many cases where a gift or a grant or whatever has never been renewed, because the recipient has got so wrapped up [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

So what’s the difference? What route should a given organisation choose when first resourcing some kind of external funding programme and philosophy..? To my mind, ‘fundraising’ is a function logically tucked inside a larger marketing or communications department, and probably not reporting directly to the CEO.  It concerns tactical activities to secure extra resource to [...]

 A doubtless challenging but nonetheless huge source of finance for the right projects lies within grant making foundations based in the USA.  I attach below an article composed with the help of David Wickert of Chapel & York. Please contact David ( see blogroll) if you want further info, and tell him  you came through [...]