In no particular order, here are lots of ideas that you could adopt or adapt to raise money for the EAZA Ape Campaign. Lots of these ideas would be perfect for Ape Week, which will take place around Easter 2011 (18-24 April – dates may vary from zoo to zoo). If you have other ideas please forward them to info@apecampaign.org so that we can let other participants know about them.
Face Painting
The campaign steering group provides templates here. If possible you should use zoo volunteers, interns, or teenage children of employee’s who want to work a little for charity. Just about anyone can paint faces. Creativity is not needed, just copy the template provided. On busier days you might need 3-4 face-painters to avoid long queues. The initial investment will be around €50 for make-up and brushes, but you can make about €25 per worker, per hour. If you paint whole ape faces on the faces, 8-10 children per worker in an hour is realistic. Past experience in the Netherlands shows that parents are prepared to pay between €2 and €3 towards conservation.
It’s not a new idea, but it’s easy to set up, families enjoy it, and success is practically guaranteed. And if the face-painters talk to the children about apes while doing their make-up you can even add an educational element. If your zoo already has face painters, ask them to donate the money from ape faces only towards the campaign, or charge €1 extra for ape faces only.
Button press
Button-/Badge-making
You can order a button-making machine from an online supplier like ButtonBoss. They send material to all over Europe, but shipping costs differ per country and it might be cheaper to look for a local distributor. As with face painting you can ideally use volunteers, interns or student workers to actually make the buttons. The button machines are rather easy to handle, but if you don’t want to explain new volunteers all the time, you could write a very simple instruction. One person can handle the whole process easily. For €100 you can buy a starter set (consists of a machine to make buttons, circle cutter, and 250 sets of material). For more material you can estimate about €140 for 1,000 units.
Button-making
If you sell a button for €2, about €30 per hour is likely if the stall is located in a good position in the zoo. The campaign committee provides some templates. Cutting the paper circles out is quite some work, but can easily combined with working at the table where children make the buttons. Depending on what the button shows, it can promote the campaign very well!
You can provide full colour, ready-to-make buttons, but children also love to colour in and make their own personal button! Our advice is to have both, for the more stressed parents the quicker pre-coloured buttons, for the children who want to work themselves the colour-in button. Let children ‘help’ with pressing down the handle – they love to see how their drawing becomes a proper product!
Preparing for a sponsored cycle at Apenheul
Sponsored run/cycle/etc…
Anyone within your zoo might like to organise a sponsored “race”. You can distinguish between biking, jogging and walking distance, and even think of horseback riding and inline skates. The organisation is all about the planning of the route and the promotion. Participants have to look for their own sponsors within their family and friends – of course colleagues can sponsor as well! It’s not unrealistic to make an average of about €150 per participant.
These kinds of event can be a great team-building action! In the Netherlands, all zoos participating in past EAZA campaigns joined in a Rhino Run, a Maki Marathon and a Kikker Cross (= ‘Frog Cross’) on the same day. The first two years it was a relay (going from one zoo to the next, lasting several days and nights), while in the frog campaign all participants made their way to one zoo in the centre of the country at the same time. Very inspiring!
Tip: You can also do a request to local schools to hold a sponsor run / sponsor activity. Schools are willing to do so, if you come with the idea and the background on time. It’s less work and makes excellent money. To motivate the children and /or as a thank you, you can send an educator, keeper or volunteer to the school to give a presentation on the topic of the Ape Campaign; that’s a big plus concerning the educational factor as well!
Handicrafts made in the zoo
Painting turtle models for the Shellshock campaign
The campaign committee provides templates for ape masks and other handicrafts to be made of paper. So, creativity is not a must! If possible, use for execution zoo’s volunteers, interns, or student workers. In general one person can handle 2 tables (= 16 children maximum at the same time). Initially you should print the things you want to use from the campaign infopack or the Resources section of the website and copy or have them copied on 120g paper. The total investment would be around €30 for children’s’ scissors, and coloring material. If you ask a donation of €1 for the material, about €20 to €30 per hour is doable.
A handicraft corner on a practical spot can give a very comfortable and cozy atmosphere in your zoo. Don’t invent things that take too long to produce for the children; some families seem to be in quite a hurry on their day out! If you invent your own, more sophisticated materials, think about what you’re committing yourself to. Self making of plaster turtles (see photo, right) to colour went well with the public, but making more than 1000 plaster turtles yourself in one season was quite a horror!
Gorilla Collection Box
A life-sized gorilla model with an integrated collection box could be a real success with your visitors. See our Merchandise page for more information on how to order a collection box at a special price from HMJ Design.
Ape Merchandise in your zoo shop
Ape-themed toys and souvenirs are always popular in zoo shops. Maybe you could donate a percentage of the profits from of all ape-themed sales during 2011 to the EAZA Ape Campaign. With some well-placed signage around the zoo you can draw attention to this.
Ravensden has compiled a special Ape Campaign catalogue that you can order from, and there’s a range of campaign key rings available from Ashwood. See the Merchandise page for more information. Campaign participants can also use the official EAZA Ape Campaign logo to create your own merchandise – if you have some good ideas let us know so that we can spread the word.
SMS fundraising
More and more charities (and many EAZA member zoos) are now using SMS messages as a means of collecting donations. Anybody with a mobile phone can send a specified word or message to a particular number resulting in a donation of a set amount. Each mobile network operator has a different approach to this service, but more and more are willing to pass on 100% of the donation amount. Contact your local mobile network operators to explore the options.
Perhaps the national zoo federation in your country could consider establishing a nationwide number to collect SMS donations for the EAZA Ape Campaign?
Ape Artists
Host an exhibition featuring local artists with paintings and prints, perhaps with apes or biodiversity as a common theme. Some of the proceeds from the sale price could be donated to the Ape Campaign. And how about letting the orangutans (for example) paint themselves? Some inspiration from Schoenbrunn Zoo in Vienna, where paintings by orangutans, and even photographs taken by them, have been sold for impressive sums.
Local Museums
Does your local natural history museum have ape artefacts? Would they help out with spreading the news about the campaign with a special display? Perhaps they’d be prepared to include a collection box as well.
Talks by park presenters
If you have presenters employed in your zoo, give specialised talks on the several ape species you hold and collect money in a collection box that the presenter holds during the talk, so that visitors/listeners can donate money towards the campaign – you can find further content for such talks on this website, under the Apes and Threats sections.
Jigsaw Puzzles
Jigsaw puzzles are a popular fundraising product, offering high returns. You should be able to find a supplier that can make them to order in your country. You can have any graphic imaginable recreated into a jigsaw puzzle – if you create them specifically for the EAZA Ape Campaign you can use images from the image library. (But remember that these can only be used directly in association with the campaign.)
“Guess the weight” competition
Have a competition to guess the weight of one of the apes in your zoo and then organise a public weighing as the climax (as long as it doesn’t compromise the animal’s welfare). Visitors could be asked to make a donation for each guess.
Drama workshops – be an(other) ape!
In the holidays you can run a workshop for children which has to be booked and paid for beforehand. You can create a play, make costumes and musical instruments, have drama sessions (eg. Tarzan). You can teach them how to make ape vocalisations themselves, how to walk, nest, play and feed like a non-human ape.
At the end of the workshop the children can parade around the zoo in costume and perform the play in an open space. This way you can raise funds twice over: firstly, the parents will pay for their children to participate in the workshop and secondly you can sell tickets for the final show.
VIP Ape Tours
Have families become special guests for a day: offer VIP guided tours for families, with a special focus on the apes in your collection and donate some of the fee to the campaign.
Organise an Ape Walk
Advertise your event in the local media and in the zoo. Just provide the walkers with a good map on which you can add some facts about apes. You could charge an entry fee of €10 or give them sponsorship forms so that they can raise money from family, friends and colleagues. Make sure that the walk finishes in the zoo, ideally in front of the ape enclosure if you keep apes, where refreshments could be available. Offer each participant a certificate on completion.
Photographs & Family Portraits
If your institution already offers the opportunity of having your picture taken, include a new ape related photo frame and donate funds raised towards the campaign. The EAZA Ape Campaign resource pack will include the raw artwork to create a large panel through which visiting families can have their photo taken with the full range of apes.
-Athons
There are many ways of running an ‘-athon’. How about hosting a ‘Climbathon’, ‘Dance-like-an-Ape-Athon’ or ‘Tell-Ape-Stories-Athon’…? The idea is to get sponsorship for how ever many units of the ‘athon’ you complete – laps, kilometres, words, etc. There is quite a lot of organisation involved in putting together the sponsorship sheets etc, so it is worth looking around for a functioning system to replicate, rather than starting from scratch. The profit returned from -athons is generally very good as there is a significant fun element for the kids in competing with each other.
Evening lectures
This one might be more suitable for adults. Do you have any local experts on ape species? What about hosting a special evening lecture series with the proceeds going to the campaign? If you include some basic refreshments it should be possible to charge a little more.
Keeper for a day
If you already run a “keeper-for-a-day” scheme why not consider running some special ape-themed days and donate some of the fee to the EAZA Ape Campaign.
Auctions
Auctions can be utilised for fundraising at fetes, trivia nights and parties or they can even be made into a whole night of its own. Try to find local ‘stars’ through talking to your local schools or by using contacts you already have from previous collaborations and get them to help you raise funds through an ‘ape themed’ auction.
Adopt an ape
In addition to your normal adoption scheme, add one for the ape species. Include the campaign’s logo on the adoption plates you have displayed and send a set amount from each adoption donation towards the campaign.
Photo Competition
Why not hold an ape-themed photography competition, with photos of the apes in your collection taken by visitors? You could advertise it in the area of your ape exhibits, getting a local business to sponsor a nice prize, or maybe even offer a VIP behind-the-scenes zoo tour for the winner. Charge a set amount (€5?) for each photograph entered. We could even publish the winning photo on the Campaign website.
Sell bananas!
Set a target of selling X number of bananas for the apes…maybe 9,999. If you buy them in bulk and sell them for €1 on busy days you should be able to raise significant funds for the campaign. Maybe a local wholesaler will even give a discount on the cost price; although preferably you should try to source Fair Trade bananas, so don’t push too hard for that discount!
Climbing for apes
If your zoo has a ropes and runways aerial play facility (e.g. from the Go Ape! company in the UK), host some special Ape Campaign evenings where additional donations are made to the EAZA Ape Campaign. Your educators and keepers could teach the kids about how the apes move around, and maybe some face painting could add extra authenticity!
Sell plaster casts
Sell plaster cast of a knuckle print of a chimpanzee, gorilla, or bonobo, or hand- or foot imprint of an ape. Once you have the model, making replicas is not too much of a fuss.
Sell durian candy
Durian is one of the favourite fruits of orangutans. Although the candies smell lovely, most people find they taste terrible… children usually find them a lot of fun! You can probably find them in Asian food stores in your city, costing just a few euro for a huge bag full of candy.
Sell browse branches
Great apes in zoos normally get branches as browse food. When they are finished ripping off the bark, one can often still see the marks of their teeth on the branch. Children love those branches and the idea that a great ape really had that piece in his huge hands… So why not sell little parts of the branches in aid of the campaign? Beware, to prevent chance for zoonosis, it is advisable to put the branches in a freezer and lay them in boiling water first.
Collection boxes
Small collection box with perspex top
Next to – or as an alternative to – the gorilla-model donation box you can put little donation boxes on the counter of the restaurant, where people throw in their change money. The box in the picture might be a good example. The box can be made of trespa plates, with the top plate being Perspex. On the back there is a flap with a small lock, for easy emptying.
Ape evening in a local restaurant
It might be worth checking whether anybody working at your zoo has connections with a local restaurant. A sponsored evening at such a restaurant can be an excellent way to make money for the campaign! Of course the meals may have an ‘ape-touch’, for example the king-size green salad can be named after the silverback in your zoo.
