Executive Summary of AZA's Partnership with ecoAmerica
AZA accredits institutions that have achieved rigorous standards for animal care, wildlife conservation and science, and public education. With over 200 accredited member institutions that collectively serve an annual audience larger than all major sporting events combined. AZA and its member institutions actively work to conserve wildlife and natural habitats through leadership in wildlife science, research with animals and their habitats, development of technology and animal welfare practices, training and technology transfer, public education, and the direct involvement in, and support of, field-based conservation initiatives. Through these efforts, AZA provides valuable information and services to governments and non-governmental organizations, scientists, land managers, decision-makers, and a large, national, public audience to facilitate conservation outcomes.
ecoAmerica is an environmental non-profit organization that uses psychographic research, strategic partnerships and engagement marketing to shift personal and civic choices of environmentally agnostic Americans. ecoAmerica starts with people, identifies their underlying concerns, and develops programs to engage them in environmental and climate disruption solutions with measurable results. By harnessing an understanding of peoples’ attitudes and developing successful programs, ecoAmerica creates partnerships that reach out to new audiences and creates lasting behavior changes that benefit project partners and the environment.
AZA and ecoAmerica recognize that, through working closely together on specific projects, they can benefit wildlife conservation by significantly increasing public understanding of, and involvement in, global climate disruption solutions. This partnership focuses on engaging people in creating climate policy-change, and AZA’s large, national audience represents the public voice that can make solving climate disruption a national priority.
Goals
- Develop the concept of and plan a joint initiative on global climate change that builds on AZA’s established strength in connecting large numbers of people to wildlife and habitats and engage this national audience in caring about and taking action for climate change outcomes.
- Engage all AZA and external stakeholders in developing the plan and embracing specific facets of the implementation related to their core capabilities.
- Enlist AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums in facilitating a collective leadership role in implementing the plan by directly engaging Americans in climate change solutions.
- Develop a synergistic brand and marketing program to educate AZA visitors on climate.
- Launch a multi-year, multi-faceted communications initiative, based on quantitative understanding of the full matrix of audiences, which builds an affinity for nature through AZA zoos and aquariums and related organizations and also by bringing the brand into homes & communities in ways that integrate with the zoo- and aquarium-based elements of the program.
- Partner with corporations and NGOs as appropriate to extend the brand into the market and to achieve the program goal of people taking action for climate change outcomes.