Above and Beyond

Grant Healey, vice president of development at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, says one of the key challenges of fundraising at a zoo or other visitor attraction is that there often is no record of or information on general attendees.

“When you’re selling tickets, you’re trying to run people through so you don’t have long lines, and the process becomes very cumbersome if you try to get personal information on these people,” he says, adding that one of the benefits of having members is that it creates a file of regular zoo visitors who can be contacted through direct mail.