Predictors of animal sponsorship to support zoo‐based conservation activities

DOARKS, THOMAS; Arbuckle, Kevin

doi:10.1111/csp2.13173

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Predictors of animal sponsorship to support zoo‐based conservation activities

THOMAS DOARKS, Kevin Arbuckle

Conservation Science and Practice, Volume: 6, Issue: 8

Swansea University Authors: THOMAS DOARKS, Kevin Arbuckle

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DOI (Published version): 10.1111/csp2.13173

Abstract

Public donations are an important form of fundraising for zoos and are used to support conservation activities. Understanding what influences zoo animal sponsorship by the public is crucial if zoos are to optimize strategies for increasing income from sponsors. Using sponsorship data obtained from s...

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Published in:	Conservation Science and Practice
ISSN:	2578-4854 2578-4854
Published:	Wiley 2024
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URI:	https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa67155
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spelling	v2 67155 2024-07-19 Predictors of animal sponsorship to support zoo‐based conservation activities da911160a99cfc84aeb754ef575e34d8 THOMAS DOARKS THOMAS DOARKS true false d1775d20b12e430869cc7be5d7d4a27e 0000-0002-9171-5874 Kevin Arbuckle Kevin Arbuckle true false 2024-07-19 Public donations are an important form of fundraising for zoos and are used to support conservation activities. Understanding what influences zoo animal sponsorship by the public is crucial if zoos are to optimize strategies for increasing income from sponsors. Using sponsorship data obtained from seven diverse zoos within the UK, we used a phylogenetically informed approach to investigate predictors of the number of sponsors a species receives. We found no support for an effect of body mass, conservation status, solitary versus group housing, phylogenetic distance from humans, daily activity patterns, or the diet of the species on the number of sponsors a species attracts. However, we found strong phylogenetic signal, suggesting that particular groups of animals attract disproportionate sponsorship attention (but the specific species within these groups is of limited importance). Moreover, we found support for species with common names that are found toward the start of the alphabet having more sponsors. This is likely driven by the common practice of listing species that can be sponsored in alphabetical order when presenting them to potential sponsors (with people being more likely to choose species near the start of a list). Interestingly, the lack of effect of body mass, phylogenetic distance, and conservation status contrast with previous work on non-zoo conservation preferences, suggesting possible differences between motivations of zoo and non-zoo conservation donors, or between animal sponsorship and other forms of conservation involvement. We suggest two strategies for maximizing sponsorship for zoo animals. If zoos manage sponsorship income as a collective pool then allowing sponsorship of a range of species within particularly well-sponsored animal groups should improve uptake. Alternatively, if zoos allocate sponsorship income to the specific species sponsored, then funding may be effectively diverted to priority species simply by altering the order of lists of animals which can be sponsored. Journal Article Conservation Science and Practice 6 8 Wiley 2578-4854 2578-4854 body size, conservation status, ecological traits, ex situ conservation, fundraising, humanpreferences, phylogenetic patterns, zoo biology 12 8 2024 2024-08-12 10.1111/csp2.13173 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) Swansea University 2024-08-12T17:25:53.4293081 2024-07-19T10:15:34.9575917 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences THOMAS DOARKS 1 Kevin Arbuckle 0000-0002-9171-5874 2 67155__30930__0e8ce866d22641818b7ef1b67488e165.pdf predictors of animal sponsorship to support zoo‐based conservation activities.pdf 2024-07-19T10:18:20.9760203 Output 3010593 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title	Predictors of animal sponsorship to support zoo‐based conservation activities
spellingShingle	Predictors of animal sponsorship to support zoo‐based conservation activities THOMAS DOARKS Kevin Arbuckle
title_short	Predictors of animal sponsorship to support zoo‐based conservation activities
title_full	Predictors of animal sponsorship to support zoo‐based conservation activities
title_fullStr	Predictors of animal sponsorship to support zoo‐based conservation activities
title_full_unstemmed	Predictors of animal sponsorship to support zoo‐based conservation activities
title_sort	Predictors of animal sponsorship to support zoo‐based conservation activities
author_id_str_mv	da911160a99cfc84aeb754ef575e34d8 d1775d20b12e430869cc7be5d7d4a27e
author_id_fullname_str_mv	da911160a99cfc84aeb754ef575e34d8_*_THOMAS DOARKS d1775d20b12e430869cc7be5d7d4a27e_*_Kevin Arbuckle
author	THOMAS DOARKS Kevin Arbuckle
author2	THOMAS DOARKS Kevin Arbuckle
format	Journal article
container_title	Conservation Science and Practice
container_volume	6
container_issue	8
publishDate	2024
institution	Swansea University
issn	2578-4854 2578-4854
doi_str_mv	10.1111/csp2.13173
publisher	Wiley
college_str	Faculty of Science and Engineering
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description	Public donations are an important form of fundraising for zoos and are used to support conservation activities. Understanding what influences zoo animal sponsorship by the public is crucial if zoos are to optimize strategies for increasing income from sponsors. Using sponsorship data obtained from seven diverse zoos within the UK, we used a phylogenetically informed approach to investigate predictors of the number of sponsors a species receives. We found no support for an effect of body mass, conservation status, solitary versus group housing, phylogenetic distance from humans, daily activity patterns, or the diet of the species on the number of sponsors a species attracts. However, we found strong phylogenetic signal, suggesting that particular groups of animals attract disproportionate sponsorship attention (but the specific species within these groups is of limited importance). Moreover, we found support for species with common names that are found toward the start of the alphabet having more sponsors. This is likely driven by the common practice of listing species that can be sponsored in alphabetical order when presenting them to potential sponsors (with people being more likely to choose species near the start of a list). Interestingly, the lack of effect of body mass, phylogenetic distance, and conservation status contrast with previous work on non-zoo conservation preferences, suggesting possible differences between motivations of zoo and non-zoo conservation donors, or between animal sponsorship and other forms of conservation involvement. We suggest two strategies for maximizing sponsorship for zoo animals. If zoos manage sponsorship income as a collective pool then allowing sponsorship of a range of species within particularly well-sponsored animal groups should improve uptake. Alternatively, if zoos allocate sponsorship income to the specific species sponsored, then funding may be effectively diverted to priority species simply by altering the order of lists of animals which can be sponsored.
published_date	2024-08-12T17:25:52Z
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Predictors of animal sponsorship to support zoo‐based conservation activities

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