#23: The Business of Zoos and Visitor-Based Institutions with San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Past Board Chair Javade Chaudhri
How arts and culture organizations can use advocacy to drive awareness for your cause and brand, even when you’re not a global, visitor-based organization like the San Diego Zoo.
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TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:00] Aubrey Bergauer: Hi, everyone. Today I am excited to bring you something special that I have not done ever before on this podcast. And this is new and special in two ways, actually, now that I think about it. So if you have followed Any of the promotion for this season, maybe you have, maybe you haven't, but if you've seen it or heard it, you may remember that throughout this season, I am speaking with a few people who really know the business world quite well.
And that is to say some board members. So this is the first of those conversations I'm really excited to share with you. The second way this episode is special is that we get to learn today from someone who knows very well not just the business side of things or business world in general, but specifically knows the business of visitor based institutions.
Some people say exhibit based institutions, and that encompasses a lot of arts and cultural organizations that are not performance based. So that means our museums, botanical gardens, zoos, aquariums, you get the idea. My guest is Javade Chaudhri, who I will fully and properly introduce in a moment. But to give some quick context here.
When we recorded this conversation, he was coming to the end of his term as board chair of the San Diego Zoo. So let me tell you about the organization first a little bit as we get going here. The full and official name is [00:01:30] San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, and that's important because they have two front doors.
The San Diego Zoo, as I have been referring to the organization, but also the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. And I am just wondering who listening to this right now has ever been to either of those locations, either the San Diego Zoo, maybe as a kid or on vacation growing up, or taking your own family there as an adult.
I know I went, I don't know, maybe a handful of years ago now, and I had known of the reputation and yet it still just totally blew me away. And I remember the zoo being, aside from You know, the animals and the things that we normally think of when visiting a zoo, I remember just the grounds being very beautiful.
They had just these very lush gardens, great landscaping, in addition to these wonderful habitats and care for the animals that was just so obvious. Yes, they have a world famous zoo, is the point I'm trying to make. They also have the Safari Park, their other front door, which you'll hear us talk about a little.
And just as important to those two very public facing, customer facing entities, is that they also invest a lot into conservation efforts. not only here in the U. S., but around the globe as well. And we will definitely talk about that in our conversation today. So to put some numbers to all of this so that you can understand the size and scale [00:03:00] of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance as an international nonprofit conservation organization, their annual budget is over 400 million according to their tax returns.
They have thousands of staff and employees and Yes, they are primarily based in San Diego, but they do work around the world. They have eight eco regional hubs, as they call them, around the globe, and that includes everything from the African forest, African savanna, the Amazon region, Amazonia in South America, Asia, Australian forest, even the oceans.
Think Arctic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and even regions here in the U. S. where we have endangered species here as well. The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance integrates wildlife health and care, science and education to develop sustainable conservation solutions. And I would say this work is squarely in the category of culture in a broad sense.
And in our conversation today, we cover a lot of different things. So just to give you the bullet points highlights as we're getting going here. We talk about the global work of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, what it means to help the entire ecosystem, and how they see their role in that. What does it look like to be economically minded in addition to environmentally minded and conservation minded, and how having a business mindset does not fly in the face of their mission driven work.
And Javade [00:04:30] had great thoughts on that. He is pretty candid, I have to say, about what separates organizations doing that well, meaning having a business mindset and being able to execute on that, versus those who in his mind are not executing as well. So we'll hit that for sure. We also talk about a few topics that have become near and dear to my heart in recent years.
The first is company culture, including Including, you guys are going to love this, staff compensation. And every arts administrator listening, no matter where you work, whether you are at a visitor based, exhibit based institution or at a performing arts organization, you guys really are going to love this because he talks about the need to pay competitively.
So you heard it here from a board chair who really believes in this. We also talk about another topic that I learned a lot about as I was researching my book, and that is advocacy. It is more than lobbying. Sometimes people get a little confused. I was for a long time on the definition of advocacy. So think beyond lobbying and trying to convince Congress to do something.
That's part of it. But he really frames it as part of an education process. So you'll hear us explain more about that. And I even have a free download for you on this exact topic, the Arts and Culture Advocacy Cheat Sheet. I'll say more about it later, but here's what you need to know right now. You do not, I repeat, do not have to be a 400 million [00:06:00] organization to engage in advocacy.
And the data show, you all know I love the data, the data show that non profits of all sizes that advocate, outperform their peers. I would say that probably part of why the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has been able to grow so much over the years is because this advocacy work has been central to what they do so consistently.
This free download Covers what's legal and what's not legal for nonprofits, so you have the do's and don'ts there. It gives you all the tips beyond just the rules you need to know, and even some ideas of where to start when you're not a giant global institution, but an organization that believes that you have a voice and a role to play in speaking up for the things that you value.
So go to aubreybergauer. com slash 23, that's 2 3, number 2 3 for episode 23, to get this free, easy resource. And last in this episode, we also get real and discuss some challenges facing not just visitor based institutions. But all of arts and culture and specifically to name the challenge is looking at new revenue streams and diversifying the board and staff.
So as you can see, we covered a lot of ground together. I have to say, I am so excited. So grateful for Javad Javade Chaudhri and him generously sharing his time, his wisdom, and his expertise with all of us. I can't wait [00:07:30] for you to hear his take on how the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and all kinds of arts and culture organizations can run it like a business.
Let's go. I'm Aubrey Bergauer and welcome to my podcast. I'm known in the arts world for being customer centric, data obsessed and for growing revenue. The arts are my vehicle to make the change I want to see in this world, like creating places of belonging, pursuing gender and racial equality. Developing high performing teams and leaders and leveraging technology to elevate our work.
I've been called the Steve Jobs of classical music at the Sheryl Sandberg of the symphony. I've held Offstage roles managing millions of dollars in revenue at major institutions and as chief executive of an orchestra where we doubled the size of the audience and nearly quadrupled the donor base. And now I'm here to help you achieve that same goal.
Same kind of success in this podcast. We are sorting through the data inside and outside the arts, applying those findings to our work, leading out with our values and bringing in some expert voices along the way. All to build the vibrant future we know is possible for our institutions and for ourselves as off stage administrators and leaders.
This podcast is about optimizing the business around the art, not sacrificing it. You're listening to the Offstage Mike.
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Again, my guest today is Javade Chaudhri, an international lawyer born in Kenya, now living in Washington, D. C., and working around the world and especially in developing countries. He is passionate about education, wildlife conservation, and the rule of law. In addition to his role on the board of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Javade is also on the board of and active in a number of public interest organizations committed to orderly development of developing countries, committed to education, and committed to equal justice.
Javade, welcome. I'm so glad to be talking with you.
Javade Chaudhri: And I'm delighted to be here.
So I want to start, just so our audience knows, we have some listeners who work at visitor based institutions, but a lot of our listeners are at performing arts institutions. And so I want to start just with some of your story.
How did you originally get involved with the San Diego Zoo? How did you get connected? What led to you joining the board? When was all that? You know, walk us through. What's through? What's the story? You
[00:11:45] Javade Chaudhri: know, it's, it's interesting that in our part of the world that we have what, um, and I think I speak with some degree of knowledge, the very best zoo in the whole world.
So I grew up on what we were pleased to [00:12:00] call the suburbs of Nairobi, Kenya. And I had to chase the zebras off my cricket pitch before we could play. Occasionally a lion would come around and eat an animal right there. You know, we were supposed to be playing, so we moved away. So when I came to North America to go to university, the idea of a zoo was, you know, a zoo, really, because of where I had grown up.
And I spent many years in Washington, which has a pretty A pretty good zoo, I think it's fair to say, but when I came to San Diego in 1999, I quickly realized that the San Diego Zoo was a very, very unique institution. You know, quite apart from the two front gates, as we call them here in San Diego County, which do amazing things, and I can talk about that in a second.
It's really the tip of the iceberg, the vast amount of work that goes on by the San Diego Zoo is all over the world with hundreds of partners that we have on the front lines of conservation. You know, it's something that I think isn't always visible to people. So when I began to appreciate what the San Diego Zoo was, I, you know, quickly wanted to be part of it.
So, you know, happily for me, I joined in, uh, I want to say it was about 2002 or three, and I've been on the board now for many, many years up through today. Wow,
[00:13:21] Aubrey Bergauer: 20 years we're talking. So then when did you assume the role of board chair?
[00:13:26] Javade Chaudhri: Yeah, we have a two year sort of cycles of [00:13:30] board chairs. And so, uh, in fact, I'm coming to a close this month.
I've been the board chair for the last two years, and I've been the vice chair before that for two or three years, I guess it was.
[00:13:41] Aubrey Bergauer: Well, congratulations on Just a really wonderful tenure, it sounds like. So, let me ask, you started to answer this question, and I want to drill down on this, which is, let's talk more about the strengths of San Diego Zoo.
I definitely grew up hearing about it. I grew up in Texas, not even California, and knew of San Diego Zoo as this just leading institution, and then now, as a fellow Californian, have been able to get down there before. So, I want to hear in your words, though, like, what makes you just particularly proud to be connected with this organization?
What does the San Diego Zoo do particularly well, in your opinion? Um,
[00:14:19] Javade Chaudhri: I think I can answer that in sort of three or four parts. One is, if you, as you have done, if you go to the zoo, You appreciate that there is a very thoughtful approach to how we look after our animals and, by the way, our flora, too, because we're not only just a zoo, but we also have an amazing collection of, uh, you know, plants and orchids and so on.
And you won't see animals in small cages as you unfortunately do around the world, including in the U. S. So one is just the thought and care that our keepers have in how they look after the animals. The second is if you go out to the safari park in East County, you realize that we have tried to recreate [00:15:00] closely as possible the natural environment of the African savannah, the Asian grasslands, or other ecosystems.
But as I said, going back to, I think, the San Diego Zoo, At least I am so proud of is, there are things we have done with the, let me just take one example because I could go on forever, the Norwegian rangelands in Kenya. You know, we have several projects going on there. It's way up in the north of Kenya, not far from the Somali border.
And we not only are doing amazing work with various animals, including some animal diseases and so on, but we also look after the communities. And you know, I think that's a very important part of what I think we are very thoughtful about. You know, it's all very well to come into an environment and talk to people about how important the animals are and how they are the heritage of the whole world, which of course is true.
But unless you make it worthwhile for those people, To be involved in that conservation ethic, it's not going to work. So in the Northern RA range lands, we have set up with partners. I might add, uh, you know, people making crafts, which we, you and I would buy at the San Diego Zoo or elsewhere in the world.
We have hired people to be rangers and look out for poachers and that sort of a thing. So. We're really helping the entire ecosystem. I think in that sense, the San Diego Zoo has what I would call almost a very practical, creative view to how a good business should be run. I'm getting off on the subject, but you know, [00:16:30] I haven't been representing many a fortune, 500 company now for 40 years.
I see companies that don't really think holistic. They don't think about their communities, the ecosystem they live in, you know, that the whole kind of ESG ethic. Others that do, and I think that makes them successful. And I think in that sense, the San Diego Zoo replicates that model really well. although we are a non
[00:16:54] Aubrey Bergauer: profit.
I appreciate everything you're saying about the zoo. It's, it's just a leading institution for all the reasons you said and more. You were already starting to talk about the business side, and I want to continue in this direction. Tell me more about your professional life. I covered some of these points in your bio, but in your own words, what's your day job?
Share your background, like what you're doing when you're not board chair.
[00:17:17] Javade Chaudhri: I'm on six other non profit boards, you know, trying to do my bit for the world, but like most people growing up in my age, you know, we, we were totally fascinated by science. So I was a biology, biochemistry major in college. I went on to the school of environmental studies.
Because I decided that I, you know, I could do more outside the laboratory than inside. And then, then it became clear to me that many of the great advancements being made in the developing world and the emerging democracies was really by putting thoughtful, Comprehensive projects together, which they do care to the interest of local people, appropriate transfer of technology, a fair [00:18:00] sharing of the benefits and burdens of whether it was a mining project and agribusiness project or manufacturing project.
And so, Most of my work over these years has been a lawyer trying to do these kinds of projects in really all parts of the world so that they, when the projects are finished, they are a fair sharing of the benefits and burdens of that particular economic activity. You know, that includes obviously looking after natural resources and so on.
So that's kind of my, my day job. Having said that, what brought me to San Diego was I came to be the general counsel, the chief legal officer of Gateway, the computer company. And I was there for a number of years until I then became the general counsel of Sempra Energy, and I did that for 10 years. Those are two companies that had the same ethic that I, I believe in.
That's kind of what I've done, whether I've been in private practice, which, which I am now, or when I was in house here in San Diego. You know, I have found as a lawyer, I can make a small difference by doing things right. where people in the old days, there were the robber barons of old who came in and sort of exploited local people and local resources.
And so I guess, uh, my, my elevator speech is I help, you know, developing countries, how not to get ripped off by people like me on the other side of the table. I
[00:19:16] Aubrey Bergauer: love that. So I have to ask, I'm asking every guest on the podcast this season, have you ever said with all of this, business experience, said or thought about any of your nonprofits, you know, we really need to run this place more like [00:19:30] a business.
[00:19:30] Javade Chaudhri: You know, I think that's a very good point. The evolution, and as you can tell, I've been here for a while with the San Diego Zoo. I think, uh, Doug Myers, who was the chief executive for a long time, I think he did a great job over all those years growing the zoo commercially viable, economically sound. And as time went on, including with the enthusiasm of board members, we also became what I'd like to think a leading worldwide conservation organization.
And I think with, you know, Doug retiring and now with Paul, we've really accelerated that significantly. I think, you know, Paul, you probably know, You know, he ran the nature movie series at Disney. He has a lot of, you know, practical economic experience. So he's been exactly the right person at this time in our history, building on what, you know, previously had already been done.
And I would have to say, I hope none of my other nonprofit boards are listening. Of the four or five I'm involved with, This is the most economically minded, the most thoughtful about the fact of, you know, what's our P& L look like? How do we keep it robust? But importantly, and, you know, around that core economic issue is the penumbra of the other factors that makes a business successful and makes it a valuable part of a community, a state, or a country.
And, and I think the, the zoo is very mindful of the fact that they are. you know, a part of the 20 plus billion dollar tourism economy of San Diego and [00:21:00] that they have to play their part in the greater economic well being of San Diego. I think that's something the board feels very strongly about and that's certainly something that Paul and his team have, have, you know, executed on, I think,
[00:21:13] Aubrey Bergauer: very well.
I love this so much. So run it like a business. You're in favor.
[00:21:17] Javade Chaudhri: Absolutely. Look, you know, I, I mean, we, we're trying to do the, you know, good works, whether it's conservation, education, and, you know, a bunch of other things. But unless you do it in a sustainable fashion, where you sort of check all the boxes of important values that you believe in, then I think, you know, these things are not going to survive.
To be candid, I've been part of non profits that have essentially gone out of business because they didn't do
[00:21:43] Aubrey Bergauer: that. That's right. So, let's talk about some more of the bright spots connecting to this idea of business. You touch on this a little bit, the team there on staff. One of the chapters in the book is company culture.
I know you care about company culture, developing high performing teams. Is this something that's particular to the San Diego Zoo staff? You mentioned a little bit compared to some of the other nonprofits you served. And maybe part two of that question is what makes that differentiator for this staff?
What makes a strong culture, strong, high performing
[00:22:12] Javade Chaudhri: team? Yeah, I think like many good cultures, they're both sort of the top down approach in terms of the values conveyed by the leadership. And at the same time, the passion of the people at the other end of that chain or that ladder who are actually executing on every day.
So if I start with that [00:22:30] first, you will not find a more passionate group of people than the folks who look after the animals and the facilities. They really believe in the mission. They are absolutely, you know, dedicated to it. So we have, unlike, you know, You know, perhaps a regular business where people are really only there for a paycheck and don't really have any abiding commitment to the cause.
That's exactly the opposite at the San Diego Zoo. So any person you meet on site will convey very quickly to you how passionate they are about what they're doing, what their job is. I think that the other end is if you sort of go up the layers, you know, when, when we meet in board meetings, for example, uh, the team, the leadership team talks a great deal about being the employer of choice.
not just in San Diego, but perhaps in the entire conservation space. You are much more savvy about this than I suspect I am, but that includes how you compensate people, the way you treat them, the way you deal with them if they have a, you know, family emergency or something, and all the other things that want to cause you to stay.
And I think that perspective It is embraced very well by, by our, our leadership team that they, they want to make the zoo a place where people want to stay. And indeed, if you, if you look at the record, there are, you know, I, I see these notices saying so and so is celebrating his or her 35th year at the, at the institution.
And that's not very common,
[00:23:56] Aubrey Bergauer: is it? Amazing. Okay. You're basically saying all the points in my [00:24:00] chapter, so I really love this. I'm like getting really jazzed over here because I talk about in this chapter on company culture, what the research says about every, everything you just said. It's values alignment.
Yes, passion for the mission matters and passion for the work matters, but that alone is not enough. The other things that matter are also compensation packages. As we know, the arts and non profits are infamous for, and many in cases, poor compensation, and you're saying the zoo has really tried to address that.
Psychological safety is another way to put it, like feeling part of the team, all these things. So I just really appreciate how you've named so many things that the research bears out matter to the strength of our, of our community. organizations in addition to our connection to the mission and the day to day work that we're doing.
So, amazing.
[00:24:47] Javade Chaudhri: No, you've said it much more eloquently. I think that all those points you made perfectly are captured by what our institution has been, you know, really trying to do as best as it can and, and I believe successfully, by the way. I want
[00:25:01] Aubrey Bergauer: to pivot a little bit to another strength of the organization that you've touched on a little bit, and that's advocacy.
And advocacy, I think, is such a broad word, broad term. Some people think it means only lobbying. That's not true. It's much wider than that. But can you talk about advocacy and how it relates to the San Diego Zoo? What are you all doing on that front? How do you define it? I
[00:25:26] Javade Chaudhri: think you're exactly right.
Having, living in Washington, D. [00:25:30] C., I think I can say that many of us are victim to this idea that advocacy is trying to convince some congressperson to do X or Y. And I think you're quite right that that's, That's really a very small piece of the spectrum of what one should do when you're advocating. I think at one level it's really education.
It's explaining to all your constituencies, whether by the way the little kids who one day are going to grow up and be part of the voting public or opinion makers, is to educate people about the importance of what we do. The fact that we, um, what we do is not just limited to these two wonderful locations in San Diego.
But really having an impact all over the world. So that's kind of one part of that education process. The second is, you know, without trying to get somebody to pass a particular law, it's talking to policy makers, you know, it's, it's people here in San Diego, it's, it's the zoo, it's the, excuse me, it's the mayor's office, it's people up in Sacramento, it's people in Washington.
About the long term importance of conservation, and so that's really almost more a, again, an education process rather than, you know, which I see a great deal of in Washington, which is somebody just trying to get, you know, something done in the short term that has a direct, for example, financial benefit to, you know, that community.
Politicians district. I think we come in at much more three dimensional way. You know, if you talk to our management team, you know, they're often going to major, you know, conservation [00:27:00] organization events around the world to perpetuate that commitment to conservation. And by the way, learn at the same time, obviously, because these are opportunities for us to get smarter.
It's not like we know
[00:27:11] Aubrey Bergauer: everything. Yeah, I really appreciate that humility component. So, okay, so follow up question to that then is, there's research I write about in this chapter on advocacy. It's a later chapter in the book, but the research comes actually out of your D. C. neck of the woods, comes from Georgetown.
Leslie Crutchfield there, her research found that non profits, across all non profits, so not just cultural organizations, but across all non profits, those that advocate, whether on a national level or a local level, but is if advocacy is a part of their ongoing work, they outperform their peers. And I want to just put you on the spot and ask you like, clearly you see that as a shining beacon of success at the San Diego, but compare that to the other nonprofits you serve or even other zoos.
When as you look at the landscape across the country, do you see this play out? Is this true that advocacy organizations that advocate outperform their peers?
[00:28:05] Javade Chaudhri: I would agree with you. You know, I, I think again, if one can be humble about this, I think we could probably do better, but I think you're absolutely right by actually, I know nonprofits that are just sort of, you know, minding the store and partly perhaps it's a, it's a budgetary thing.
They're just trying to get through the year with, you know, Meeting payroll and so on. And they don't really look beyond their immediate environment. And I [00:28:30] think in that sense, the San Diego Zoo is very different. You know, when we go to, as I mentioned, various international conventions like CITES, we're there both to convey empirical research, ways in which we do things, learn how other people do things.
And I think that visibility
[00:28:47] Aubrey Bergauer: helps us. Yeah. So interesting. And I appreciate what you said about just the challenge organizations face of, you know, we're so head down trying to do all the things and balance the budget and the day to day. And if that makes advocacy a challenge, cause it requires you to lift your eyes up.
It's sometimes longer term planning envisioning to get results. So I appreciate your take on the challenge. It is to make advocacy a priority. So speaking of challenges. We have to go there. Not every organization is perfect. The whole book is about addressing the challenges we face at cultural organizations.
So an area of challenge you've mentioned before is new revenue streams. I'm wondering, can you share more about your thoughts on this? What makes that a challenge for the San Diego Zoo or for visitor based institutions on the whole?
[00:29:33] Javade Chaudhri: Sure. So if you, you know, broadly look at, uh, Which you can see from our public filings, how our revenue is, you know, works.
There are, there are gate receipts, right? People coming to the zoo or the park. And then the money they spend, you know, buying cuddly toys, t shirts, etc. Then there's all the people who give, who make contributions because they believe either in a particular environmental cause. Or more broadly. And then there are some [00:30:00] people, and actually this is my particular hardcore interest, is education.
For example, we bring in a whole bunch of teachers from small towns in the Midwest, and we bring them to San Diego for a week. And we teach them how to go about teaching wildlife conservation in their schools. We give them the tools, we give them the expertise. So we have these tranches of contributors.
But in addition You know, I think this is really one thing that the zoo staff is very good at. We have always thought about other ways to generate revenue. One is just to do what we're doing now better, but the other is to see if there are ways in which, for example, we, we've had a project going on called biomimicry, which the idea is.
That there is a lot of intellectual property created at the San Diego Zoo by virtue of some of the research that we have done. And it could be that some of it is applicable to some company. It could be that there is a way in which butterflies flutter, which can give somebody information on how they might design a particular product.
So, in other words, research we're doing here in San Diego at the Zoo And it's applicability to the great, you know, vast variety of industry and commerce that that exists out there. I can give you a bunch of other examples, but that's very much the idea of innovative new ways in which to generate revenue.
Consistent, by the way, with our fundamental mission is very much part of something [00:31:30] that we're thinking about all the time. Do you
[00:31:32] Aubrey Bergauer: mind sharing, I'm just curious, what, as a percentage breakdown, ticket sales or gate sales versus contributed revenue versus retail? What's, I mean, as those are the three primary buckets, do you know percentage
[00:31:45] Javade Chaudhri: wise?
I know that we have numbers that combine attendance with, if you, let's say you come to the zoo, on average, how much do you spend? And I don't have those numbers off the top of my head, but the way to think of it is you might buy annual membership. So which means you could come there 10 times or you come there just twice.
But when you're there, you have some meals, you buy some t shirts, you buy some animals, you take some special tours and so on. So those are broken down by the very smart business minded people who run the zoo. Our day to day programs. Round numbers, and I could be off on this, is all of that contributes 60 percent and then the 40 percent are our contributions that we get from individuals and foundations and Fish and Wildlife might give us a contract like they did to help with reintroducing birds going extinct in the Hawaiian islands, you know, that kind of a thing.
The thing also to keep in mind with people making contributions and so on is they can vary from year to year. So for example, you know, one year, and I think this is all in the public arena. We did very well because the Dr. Seuss Foundation gave us a wonderful grant, which was unusually large, but we don't get those every year.
Yeah.
[00:32:53] Aubrey Bergauer: That's helpful context to hear all that because it's almost opposite for performing arts organizations. We have, it used to be about [00:33:00] 50, 50 contributed versus earned income over the years. That's really shifted. And now it's 40 percent earned income, 30 percent earned income ticket sales, including season subscriptions, which would be the equivalent of your memberships.
And more and more and more we're having to rely on fundraising to fill that delta. So is that trend true for you all too? More and more fundraising needing to happen every year? Well, actually
[00:33:20] Javade Chaudhri: it's the opposite. I used to be on the board of the La Jolla Music Society for many years and what you describe, I think for the symphony, for example, it's true for an organization, although I haven't seen their numbers recently.
You know, we regrettably, we all recognize that there are fewer people who want to go to opera or even perhaps the symphony, both. in small cities and big ones. But the great thing with the San Diego Zoo is the number of people coming to our facilities continues to grow. We are somewhere between five and six million people annually.
Think about that, right? So even though kids come free in October and there are discounted special arrangements to make sure that we make it possible, for example, for military families or for people who want have less in the way of, you know, financial resources to be able to come. A lot of those kinds of programs, again, consistent with who we are.
But nevertheless, the fact is more and more people come every year. They spend money on special tours sometimes. Contrary to performing art, musical type organizations, we continue to have a significant chunk of our revenue come from people coming to our facilities. Oh, that
[00:34:26] Aubrey Bergauer: sounds nice. to have greater earned [00:34:30] income.
That's a holy grail for so many of us in the performing arts. So, okay, on this topic of people, though, I want to move to another challenge, people being visitors. You have identified another challenge as diversity in the audience, diversity in the visitorship, and that is definitely true for performing arts organizations as well.
I guess let me ask first, what is the typical audience breakdown for the zoo visitor base?
[00:34:54] Javade Chaudhri: What I can tell you is the average person coming to the zoo, there are the people who are in the immediate Southern California area who, like I did for the 15 years that I was living in La Jolla, we had season tickets, if you will, we had, you know, we bought the membership for the So then, you know, if you look at who those people are, they tend to be the mix of what San Diego County is.
I think one of the things that the team has done really well is, we've really focused on military families. And we have recognized that sometimes they may not have the financial resources, perhaps civilians have. So we've made it a point to get involved the military. We have special military days. We have free days for them.
I think there are a number of efforts to try to diversify the people who come to the San Diego Zoo, but I don't have statistics that I can give you. Point two right off the bat.
[00:35:42] Aubrey Bergauer: Is this a topic of discussion more broadly among zoos in the country, do you know? It's a huge topic of discussion in the performing arts, that's why I'm pushing on this.
I don't know about
[00:35:52] Javade Chaudhri: all the zoos, you know, I think there's a recognition for us at least at the San Diego Zoo. The communities we live in, the diverse nature of [00:36:00] The America of today and I think even more so the America of tomorrow requires us to see if we can engage all elements of the society. And, you know, one could argue that, and I know performing arts are doing a good job with this, including the aforementioned San Diego or the La Jolla Music Society, that in addition to the classical music, Concerts that they used to traditionally have, they now also have jazz and dance and so on.
You know, if I analogize that to the San Diego zoo, you know, the great thing about conservation is it affects everybody wherever you live in, whoever you are. So, in some ways it's easier for us to, To seek to diversify our programs, but some of that includes, for example, if you see some of our public service, uh, announcements and programs, you know, they're in Spanish.
Also, in addition to being in English, some of our leading spokespersons are bilingual, and by the way, you, you probably know this, but in addition to the six million or so people who come to visit the facilities. We touch billions of people through our radio programs. Uh, there are programs that are piped into hospitals and so on.
So our, you know, just, just as I mentioned with our conservation work around the world, the visibility of the San Diego Zoo can be seen in hospital wards in Atlanta and all over the country.
[00:37:18] Aubrey Bergauer: Amazing. Is there talk about You said so well talking about just making the zoo a place for all different kinds of people in San Diego, and my question, because I talk [00:37:30] about this in the book too, so many times cultural organizations, we try to solve these issues of diversity through programming, which is not a bad answer.
I just think it's not a complete answer. Where I'm going with this is, I think it's diversifying the people who are making decisions, diversifying the staff, diversifying the board. And I'm wondering, is that a topic of discussion for you all?
[00:37:51] Javade Chaudhri: Absolutely. Starting with me, I qualify as a person, third generation East African, you know, diversity, of course, is multifaceted.
So we have tried to have organized process of just like, you know, and I do this kind of work for You know, large for profit companies, you have sort of a grid of the necessary skills you need on the board, the necessary kind of diversity, which would be good for the organization. And then we're trying to see how we fulfill that.
So there are, you know, lots of really interesting people, many of them from right here in San Diego, but from also around the country, we are very mindful of the fact that. that we need to have both gender diversity, ethnic diversity, and perhaps above all, different perspectives and skill sets. It's not a perfect process because we're a board of only 12 people and you can't necessarily at any given time meet the exact goals that you have, but I think, I think we do
[00:38:44] Aubrey Bergauer: pretty well.
A board of only 12. Okay, wait, that's so different than these arts organizations. We've, our boards are massive and the bigger the institution, some of these boards like back at Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, I think we'd You know, 40 board members, 50. So that's so interesting. Only [00:39:00] 12. I didn't see this coming.
[00:39:01] Javade Chaudhri: I can speak to that as follows. Um, I have been in boards that are like you described, very large. And unfortunately what happens is that there is less accountability and responsibility. And oftentimes the people who come feel that their main obligation is maybe to write a check. And if when possible show up at a board meeting.
So that's one thing that's very different at the San Diego Zoo. You know, as chairman, I can tell you, I would probably spend several hours every week because we have, you know, we have an audit committee, a governance and nominating committee. There's like 12 different things. Some are pure board committees, some are board and staff committees.
So there's, there's a lot of work that goes on, but the object, unlike many other non profits with the San Diego Zoo's board, is that you're really A working board, much like the board of a Fortune 500 company.
[00:39:57] Aubrey Bergauer: That is so interesting to me. Okay, I have to do another episode where I bring you on and we talk about board governance and board structure because this really, I so identify and just align with what you're saying.
How do we maximize what this group of people is contributing beyond writing a check? So I really don't know. I really love what you're saying there. Okay, I have to jump back and underscore one more thing you said. This is, uh, when you're talking about materials and information in English and in Spanish, that is in the book as well, that there is research about that of even, it's research that originated in California, actually, about the Latinx experience [00:40:30] and how even when Hispanics and Latinos speak English, just seeing or hearing something in their, native language just makes them feel seen and want to engage with the organization in a more meaningful way.
So really just wanted to underscore that that's amazing you all are doing that. So I could ask you a million more questions, but we're coming to the end of our time together. So let me ask you this, Javade, if you could just Just paint the picture and vision a little bit of the future of the San Diego Zoo.
You're coming to the end of your board term. What does that look like? What would, if you could like send your best wishes, best vision for the organization, I don't know what that looks like 10 years from now, 20 years from now, what, what would be your dream? For one
[00:41:10] Javade Chaudhri: thing, we're on a great path, you know, which isn't always true for most organizations.
But we have, you know, been on a journey over the last three or four decades, and I think all headed to the right place. And so I think we have to keep it going. Uh, the Safari Park, we're building this new elephant exhibit, and it's got, you know, water features so that elephants, as they want to do, like the elephant on my, I'm going to show you my phone.
Oh,
[00:41:36] Aubrey Bergauer: yeah. Oh, my gosh. For everybody who is listening to this podcast, it's a picture of this beautiful big elephant. Wow. You know,
[00:41:42] Javade Chaudhri: we have never sat on our laurels, if you will. We're always trying to improve the facilities. But the other thing to, you know, finish off the answer to your question is we are doing wonderful things around the world.
We are bringing species back to the wild that were nearly gone [00:42:00] extinct. One particular project, which you may have heard about is The northern white rhino has effectively gone extinct, but we have, uh, if you've heard about our frozen zoo, at our frozen zoo, we have the DNA of thousands of animals, including animals that have gone extinct.
And we have been working towards the science along with some other people in the world, I might add, to do in a responsible, ethical way. To essentially bring animals back from being extinct. I hope that if you and I were having this discussion, even a short time frame in the scheme of things, ten years from now, we would have continued on the path of playing an important role in worldwide conservation.
Wildlife conservation while educating a diverse mix of people in the U. S. and beyond who see our facilities or who watch our movies and videos. This is something one can only do with partners on the ground in these countries where we are working with wildlife. as well as partners amongst the other zoos of the country.
And a footnote I might add, which you may be aware of, is we have produced over, for example, 100 southern white rhinos at the Safari Park. Naturally, we don't keep them all there. We spread them out amongst other zoos. So something that we do very well is we, we understand and look at the genetic diversity of our collections and of other collections around the country.
And we exchange animals to keep that rich genetic diversity robust, which is important for the future. [00:43:30] All this done in an economically sensible way, or that's the takeaway.
[00:43:34] Aubrey Bergauer: Javed, I have to say, San Diego Zoo is an industry leader for a reason, for many, many reasons, as you have just so generously shared with us.
And I just want to say thank you for your time. Thank you for your work over more than two decades now with the organization and just for being able to share that with us today. It's just really been a pleasure to have you on. Hey, Offstagers. I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Javad Chaudhri as much as I did.
One of the things I keep thinking about that the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance does so well is their advocacy work and how it's helped them have a global reach. Now every arts organization or cultural organization does not need to have a global reach. I don't believe that, but every arts or cultural organization does benefit to do advocacy work of some kind, even in the smallest, most attainable ways.
And as I mentioned in this episode, this is research based. The data show that non profits that advocate Outperform the ones that don't, hands down. This is a newer area for me that I've been really excited by because there in my mind is so much opportunity here. To be clear, by outperform, I mean organizations that have advocacy as some part of their work.
Do things like raise more money and serve more people and have more people engaged in and with our [00:45:00] work. So seriously, like so much opportunity here. I explain why all this is in my book, but what I want to focus on now and here is that advocacy does not have to be intimidating. For me, it was an intimidating word, an intimidating thing for a really long time.
And I think that's because I didn't fully understand it. And I thought it meant I had to be paying visits to my elected officials or. Shaking hands with people I don't know or and I'm comfortable with or something. I don't know. It just I didn't I didn't really understand and Now I've done the research for you and have learned more and I want to share it with you So you do not have to be in the dark like I was I made the arts and culture advocacy cheat sheet Which has tips and all the rules you need to know on advocacy.
It is available for you now on my website Go to www. aubreybergauer. com slash 23. That's two three for this episode number, episode 23 right now and get it. My goal and hope here is that just reading it down will give you a quick understanding plus some very easy ideas that you can keep in your brain for things that you or your organization can do.
So hear me say easy is the key word here. And these are things that. Don't necessarily take a lot of time or money, but start to help you really reap the benefits the research shows are there. It also covers what's legal and what's not for nonprofits, so you have that handy too. Again, visit my website, aubreybergauer.
com slash 23 to get your arts and culture advocacy cheat [00:46:30] sheet right now. That's all for today, folks. Thanks so much for listening, and if you like what you heard here, hit that button to follow or subscribe to this podcast. If you're new, welcome. I am so glad you made it. And if you've been listening for a while, I love so much that you are getting value from this.
So if that's you, please take just two seconds to leave a quick one tap rating. Full on review isn't even required if you're short on time. To all of you once more, thanks again. I'll see you next time right here on the Offstage Mic. The Offstage Mic was produced by me, Aubrey Bergauer, and edited by Novo Music, an audio production company of all women audio engineers and musicians.
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