The AZA Conservation Grants Fund (CGF) supports the cooperative conservation and education initiatives of AZA and its members and partners. Since 1991, the CGF has provided more than $8 million to over 400 projects worldwide. We thank all donors, and particularly the Disney Conservation Fund, for their generous support of the CGF. View the full list of contributors here.

You can help! Please donate online to the Conservation Grants Fund and help us support projects like these next year. 

2022 Awards

Auditors, Birds & Coffee: The ABC's of Increasing Songbird Conservation Capacity through Blended Learning
Ruth Bennett, PhD and Kristin Hill, Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute 
$25,000

Biologging for Conservation – Using Heart Rate Monitoring to Understand how Environmental Change Affects Jaguars 
Nucharin Songsasen, PhD, Rosana Moraes, PhD, Peter Leimgruber, PhD, and Jared Stabach, PhD, Smithsonian National Zoological Park and Conservation Biology Institute
Timothy Laske, PhD, Medtronic, Inc 
Ronaldo Morato, PhD, Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade
$22,700

Developing a Training Workshop for Safe Handling of Sharks and Rays for the Aquarium and Research Community
Hans Walters, New York Aquarium, Wildlife Conservation Society
Lisa Hoopes, PhD, Georgia Aquarium
Linda Penfold, PhD, South-East Zoo Alliance for Reproduction & Conservation
$28,050

Improving Red Wolf Sperm Cryo-resistance: Characterization and Effect of Seminal Plasma Proteins
Jennifer Nagashima, PhD and Nucharin Songsasen, PhD, Smithsonian National Zoological Park and Conservation Biology Institute
$19,740

Is Poisoning the Major Threat to Scavenging Raptors in Northern Kenya?
Darcy Ogada, PhD, The Peregrine Fund 
$35,850

Mitigating Chimpanzee-Human Conflict in Kibale National Park, Uganda
Kevin Langergraber, PhD, John Mitani, PhD, Sam Angedakin, and Salmah Djombera, Ngogo Chimpanzee Project
Corinne Kendall, PhD, North Carolina Zoo
$13,000

Saving African Penguins in Namibia - Halifax Island Project
Jess Phillips, The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore
Nicola Stander and Katta Ludyna, PhD, Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB)
$29,392

Saving the Vaquita: Using Diffusion of Innovation Models to Further Sustainable Fishing in the Upper Gulf of California
James Danoff-Burg, PhD, The Living Desert
Estelle Sandhaus, PhD, Santa Barbara Zoological Gardens
David Bader, Marine Mammal Care Center
$24,600

Short-tailed Chinchilla Conservation Project
Guillermo Cubillos, Zoológico Nacional de Chile
Daniel Hilliard, PhD, Zoo Conservation Outreach Group (ZCOG)
Seth Stapleton, PhD, Minnesota Zoo
Ignacio Collin Vidal, Zoológico Nacional de Chile
Pablo Valladares, PhD, Universidad de Tarapacá
$21,100