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Campaign for Conservation and Community
Learn all about the recipient of the 2006 Indianapolis Prize - Dr. George Archibald of the International Crane Foundation.
 The Indianapolis Prize was part of the Indianapolis Zoo's Campaign for Conservation and Community. The different elements of this $31 million dollar campaign, successfully completed in 2006, support the Zoo's mission to inspire local and global communities to celebrate, protect, and preserve our natural world through conservation, education, and research, and to provide an enriching and wondrous environment for our visitors and the animals in our care. The Indianapolis Zoo is much more than its physical campus, and we incorporate field conservation, research, educational outreach, and support of other conservation organizations.
 The Zoo offers visitors unique and enlightening insights and experiences while at the same time conducting essential conservation research. Over the next ten years, the Zoo will achieve these objectives by investing in new, nationally significant projects, enhancing its current offerings and upgrading its infrastructure. This collective effort will raise the Zoo’s profile both as a destination and as a key player in world conservation efforts. It will attract an expanding universe of guests from a broader area, and it will boost the Zoo’s long-term sustainability, as well as the region’s economy and quality of life. In short, it will help to increase the Zoo’s impact on individuals, the community, Indiana, and the world.
Phase One of the Campaign funded these projects.
• Conservation and endowment development. In January 2003, the Zoo announced an $8 million endowment gift for the creation of the Polly H. Hix Institute for Research and Conservation, envisioned as a means for ensuring that the Zoo has the human, facility and financial resources needed to undertake internationally significant research and conservation projects.
• One-of-a-kind dolphin experiences. This has been achieved in three ways: the world’s first completely submerged dolphin-viewing experience, a 30-foot-diameter acrylic-domed underwater room in the main performance pool of the Dolphin Adventure Gallery; a completely redesigned performance arena that captures the essence of a coastal wharf town; and, the Midwest’s only human-dolphin interaction program, which gives small groups of guests the opportunity to have in-water experiences with the dolphins.
 • Dramatic improvements and upgrades to the World of Waters complex and conversion into the new Oceans presented by Old National Bank exhibit. Oceans features new exhibits, including a walk-through entrance aquarium, a fantastic shark touch tank, walk-around pedestal tanks, along with improvements to the basic infrastructure. With innovative and interactive programming woven throughout the exhibits, visitors to the new "Oceans" will be engaged, enlightened and entertained at an entirely new level.
The Indianapolis Zoo has many gift opportunities available. For more information, please contact our Institutional Advancement department at (317) 630-2703.
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