Woodland Park Zoo is pleased to announce $900,000 in new grants awarded to zoos and aquariums that foster empathy for wildlife in communities across the United States. In partnership with Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, Woodland Park Zoo serves as a grantmaking intermediary, and the grants are distributed through the zoo’s Advancing Empathy Grant Program.

Accredited organizations with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) are innovating how they help zoo and aquarium guests build connections with animals and inspire participation in wildlife conservation. The Advancing Empathy Grant Program supports this work. In its fifth year, this funding round has expanded beyond its original seven-state region to support 32 field-leading organizations across 18 states, including 11 states new to the program.

“This year’s funding expansion to new parts of the country is building a broader footprint for our work and is expanding positive outcomes for people and wildlife,” said Dr. Marta Burnet, Director of Advancing Empathy at Woodland Park Zoo. “By supporting organizations working across a wider range of audiences and approaches, we are starting to see new perspectives and ideas that build on what the Network has already been developing. These projects aren’t just one-offs. They are generating insights and tools that can be applied across the zoo and aquarium community.”

This year, 13 funded projects span urban, rural, and desert communities and ecosystems, from a mix of new and existing partner organizations in the Advancing Conservation through Empathy for Wildlife (ACE for Wildlife®) Network. This diversity of projects expands opportunities for learning, innovation, and shared practice across the zoo and aquarium field.  
 
Many grantees will explore how zoos and aquariums can strengthen community connection through empathy for wildlife work, from youth engagement in hands-on conservation and environmental learning to projects that directly involve underserved and underrepresented populations. In Michigan, Detroit Zoo’s longstanding restorative horticulture program is providing a unique opportunity for justice system-involved youth to build responsibility, healing, and connection to nature through hands-on gardening and ecological learning experiences. Grant funding will support the development of evaluation and curriculum resources that can help strengthen the program and inform similar efforts across the zoo and aquarium field.

“The Detroit Zoological Society is proud to expand our longstanding humane education work through the ACE for Wildlife Network and its growing community of empathy-driven professionals,” said Taylor Mock and Evin Luehr, Senior Humane Education Specialists at Detroit Zoo. “Through the support of the Advancing Empathy Grant Program, we are expanding opportunities for youth to engage in creative, community-centered conservation experiences that foster connection, belonging, and care for the natural world. Resources from the Advancing Empathy Grant Program will also help us evaluate and strengthen these approaches so they can become shareable tools and models for zoos and aquariums across the field.”

Many grant-funded projects pair direct audience engagement with long-term capacity building through training, curriculum development, interpretive planning, and evaluation tools designed for replication and sharing. This work is often enabled by projects that embed empathy into institutional practice and culture, from guest interactions to organizational strategy.

At Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines, IA, staff will receive training in empathy-centered programmatic and signage interpretation to boost their guest engagement skills. These same staff will go beyond practical application in operations to also help develop a new empathy-informed interpretive plan for the Zoo’s Discovery Center. This universally accessible and visible space sets the stage for guests’ day of learning and engagement on site.  
 
“Embedding an empathy-for-wildlife approach within our institution is an opportunity for our staff to grow their capacities. Through Advancing Empathy grant funding, we are not only increasing our ability to engage more guests more deeply – we are also inviting our staff to see their roles more holistically in the impact they can make. We are extremely excited to be able to inspire peer zoos around the country by sharing what we learn through this project about how to effectively empower staff to as they develop strategy and interpretive signage and programs,” said Christine Eckles, CVA, Chief Engagement Officer at Blank Park Zoo.

Project sites in the current grant round include Arizona Center for Nature Conservation in Phoenix, Arizona; Oakland Zoo in Oakland, California; San Diego Wildlife Alliance in San Diego, California; Jacksonville Zoo & Botanical Gardens in Jacksonville, Florida; Lincoln Park Zoological Society in Chicago, Illinois; Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines, Iowa; Detroit Zoological Society in Detroit, Michigan; Saint Louis Zoo in Saint Louis, Missouri; Wildlife Conservation Society – Bronx Zoo in New York, New York; Roosevelt Park Zoo in Minot, North Dakota; Akron Zoo in Akron, Ohio; Oklahoma City Zoological Trust in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City, Utah.

A major goal of the Advancing Empathy Grant Program is to enable zoos and aquariums to move further and faster in expanding the reach and impact of empathy for wildlife initiatives. Lessons learned and new tools and resources produced by grantees are distributed through the ACE for Wildlife Network, free to join at aceforwildife.org.
 
Professionals who are interested in learning more about empathy’s connection to wildlife conservation are invited to explore the ACE for Wildlife Network’s online introduction to empathy at introduction.aceforwildlife.org.