BIG PICTURE PHILANTHROPY - JOELLEN DOORNBOS ENDOWS SAFE PROGRAM - MARY ELLEN COLLINS
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JULY 2021
A publication of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums
Big Picture Philanthropy
JoEllen Doornbos Endows SAFE Program
CLOSE TO HOME A CONSERVATION BY THE NUMBERS
Community Based Conservation MEDICINE APPROACH Supporting Teachers
Survives the Pandemic Crocodile Conservation in Cuba and Students in 2020
July 2021
Features
20 26 32
Big Picture Philanthropy Close to Home: A Conservation
JoEllen Doornbos Community Based Medicine Approach:
recently contributed an Conservation Survives Crocodile Conservation
unprecedented $1 million gift the Pandemic in Cuba
to endow the SAFE program. When the COVID-19 The critically endangered
She credits her years of pandemic hit in March 2020, Cuban crocodile is an
experience with the Phoenix members of the Association emblem of the Zapata swamp
Zoo with broadening her of Zoos and Aquariums were and of Cuban pride. Within
interest in and knowledge faced with a big question: the swamp ecosystem,
of the natural world and Without the use of their best crocodiles are top predators
sees her support of SAFE as “tool,” i.e. the institution and ecosystem engineers,
a natural outgrowth of her itself, could they sustain playing a key role in the
commitment to the Zoo in her visibility and keep local determination of the health of
own community. audiences engaged? an environment.
BY MARY ELLEN COLLINS BY CATHIE GANDEL BY KELVIN ALVAREZ,
JAMIE PALMER, AND
LAUREN AUGUSTINE
July 2021 | www.aza.org 1
Doornbos
JoEllen and Philip
o
© Phoenix Zo
Big Picture
BY MARY ELLEN COLLINS
JOELLEN
DOORNBOS
ENDOWS
SAFE PROGRAM
20 www.aza.org | July 2021
o
© Phoenix Zo
Like many imaginative children, JoEllen Doornbos
envisioned having a wild animal as a pet. Parental
wisdom squelched that idea, but JoEllen’s affinity for
creatures great and small eventually manifested itself
as a love of her hometown zoo and an impressive
commitment to help species around the world.
July 2021 | www.aza.org 21
The couple contributed $1 million to that Center;
and later gave $1 million to build the education and
program facility which also bears their name—the
Doornbos Discovery Amphitheatre. In 2000 and 2010,
the Zoo recognized their generosity by awarding them the
prestigious Oryx Society Award to “honor magnanimous,
lifetime contribution to The ACNC/Phoenix Zoo.”
“The Phoenix Zoo has been a second home for
JoEllen and Phil Doornbos. Their lead gifts to our capital
campaigns have been catalysts, inspiring others to join
them in moving our progress forward. We are profoundly
grateful for their support,” said Bert Castro, president and
chief executive officer of the Arizona Center for Nature
Conservation/Phoenix Zoo and the chair of the Association
of Zoos and Aquariums’ board of directors.
Philip Doornbos passed away in 2019, but JoEllen
continues to support many programs and areas at the Zoo,
and typically focuses on wherever the need is greatest.
She fulfilled another childhood dream—traveling to
Africa—through trips organized by the Zoo. And she
loves visiting the Zoo, especially for evening events and
special programs.
“I find the Zoo at night to be especially peaceful, and
rowing up in Tempe, Ariz., she when I enter the day’s stress just melts away. The night
remembers when the Phoenix Zoo lighting is softer and you can hear sounds different from
in Phoenix, Ariz., first opened. daytime. Being in the natural setting of the Zoo just makes
“I loved animals and always me feel closer to nature,” said Doornbos.
thought I would love to JoEllen credits her years of experience with the Zoo
volunteer there,” said Doornbos. with broadening her interest in and knowledge of the
She realized that dream natural world. She joined AZA as an individual member in
when she became a trail guide in 2005 and began to attend conferences and meetings.
her early thirties, the start of a “I’ve become much more conservation minded,” she
decades-long relationship with said. “I’ve learned a lot—and that has become my priority—
the institution. She has spent 28 to preserve not just the animals, but the whole land. I love
years as a member of the Auxiliary, the elephants. I think they’re the most intelligent, fantastic
Zoo’s oldest volunteer fundraising organization; and has animals and I really don’t want to lose them. I also love
also served on the Board of Directors. JoEllen is a tireless wolves. I think they have a reputation that’s undeserved,
advocate, chairing signature fundraising events including and I really want to see them succeed. That’s where
Rendez-Zoo and Zoofari; and she gives generously to a conservation comes in.”
wide range of projects. Although she supports many local Her interest in the wellbeing of animals in managed
organizations, the Zoo is her priority. care and in the wild has included extending her financial
One contribution of which she is most proud was support to include AZA, after learning about SAFE: Saving
made with her husband, Philip—helping to design Animals from Extinction from Castro.
the Philip and JoEllen Doornbos Volunteer and “Since Bert came to our Zoo, I know everything he has
Administrative Center, which opened in 2015 and was done and brought to us,” she said. “And he told me that
part of a $22 million campaign. one of the main things he wants to see succeed was the
“One of the reasons I wanted to fund that part of the SAFE program. I started reading about SAFE and thought
capital campaign was because I started as a volunteer … this is really something I want to support.” She recently
and we were working out of one room with no meeting contributed an unprecedented $1 million gift to endow the
space,” said Doornbos. SAFE program.
22 www.aza.org | July 2021
Left: Opening of the
Doornbos Discovery
Amphitheater; Lorraine
Frias, Vice President of
Development, JoEllen
Doornbos, and Bert
Castro, President and
CEO, Phoenix Zoo
Right:
Phoenix Zoo Auxiliary
© Phoenix Zoo © Phoenix Zoo
© Phoenix Zoo
Asian elephant
July 2021 | www.aza.org 23
o
© Phoenix Zo
“The JoEllen Doornbos Endowment is a gift that will has, it shows a long-term trust in SAFE and is a huge boost
keep on giving, fueling a sustainable SAFE Grant Program, that adds credibility and reinforces what the program
and supporting AZA members in perpetuity,” said Dan Ashe, does. There are so many animals to save, and the AZA
president and chief executive officer of AZA. “In its two-year community is seeking to make a difference. She is a part of
history, this program has fueled more than $1.1 million in that partnership, and we are so grateful.”
member-sponsored conservation, with $360,000 in SAFE Doornbos sees her support of SAFE and AZA as a
grants and nearly $780,000 in partner matching funds. SAFE natural outgrowth of her commitment to the Zoo in her
is working to join and multiply the exceptional talents of own community.
AZA members, their partners, and visionary philanthropists “My number one priority is the Zoo, and we are
like JoEllen Doornbos, creating the scale that is increasingly members of AZA. It’s just another arm. It’s all connected,”
important to conservation success. Thanks to JoEllen’s she said.
generosity, SAFE is now even-better positioned to support Her attitude not only epitomizes the necessary
member-driven conservation for the long term.” collaborative nature of our work and our profession; it is
Twenty-nine SAFE species programs are currently also an inspiring example of how one person’s generosity
designated, and more are being proposed all the time. and a big-picture perspective can make a difference at home
“We’re ahead of where we expected to be in the growth and in countries around the globe.
of SAFE,” said Shelly Grow, vice president, conversation and
science at AZA. “When you come in as a partner, as JoEllen Mary Ellen Collins is a writer based in St. Petersburg, Fla.
24 www.aza.org | July 2021
Fennec fox
Zoo
© David Wagner, Phoenix
o
ner, Phoenix Zo
© David Wag
Golden eagle
Doornbos Discovery Amphitheatre
© Phoenix Zoo
July 2021 | www.aza.org 25
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