Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens

In a move designed to ensure a robust future for the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens, the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association (GLAZA), the Zoo’s non-profit partner for the last fifty years, has agreed to fund and direct an annual $2 million marketing and public relations program for the Zoo, it was announced by GLAZA President Connie Morgan.  The broadening of the long-successful relationship between the Zoo and GLAZA, scheduled to begin July 1, 2013, is designed to increase the Zoo’s audience and public awareness of the wide variety of animals and the quality programs and wildlife conservation efforts underway at this cultural gem in Griffith Park.

"In an era of declining City funding, this expanded partnership will greatly assist the Zoo in reaching new audiences," says Morgan.  "GLAZA will invest in raising the Zoo's visibility in the competitive Los Angeles marketplace, bringing more people to the Zoo and helping to guarantee it continues to flourish over the long-term."

According to Los Angeles Zoo Director John Lewis, “This agreement will nearly triple the annual resources available for marketing the Zoo thereby exposing many more people to the Zoo's mission and programs.  More money and more mission at no cost to the City."

The private, non-profit Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association (GLAZA), founded in 1963, funds exhibits, plant and animal species conservation, capital projects, and education and community outreach programs at the Los Angeles Zoo, an international leader in the preservation of endangered species and a conservation center for the care and study of wildlife.  GLAZA also builds and invests endowment funds and already operates six essential departments on behalf of the Zoo, including development, publications, membership, volunteers, special events and oversight of the Zoo's food/retail concessions.

Other projects recently funded by GLAZA are the popular Tom Mankiewicz Conservation Carousel, which generates income for the Zoo that is projected to provide hundreds of thousands of dollars of support in the coming years; and the World of Birds facility, currently undergoing a major renovation funded through GLAZA, which will benefit the Zoo's collection and result in a greatly improved educational, entertaining visitor experience.

There are 73,000 GLAZA member households representing more than 300,000 adults and children, the largest membership base of a cultural organization in Los Angeles, and a volunteer corps of over 800.