Case Study: Chicago Zoological Society boosts digital giving and event management with iDonate

Chicago Zoological Society boosts digital giving 10x with iDonate

The Chicago Zoological Society, which operates the Brookfield Zoo, faced a critical fundraising challenge when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the zoo to close, eliminating revenue from ticket sales and memberships while daily animal care costs remained at $41,000. They needed to quickly and clearly communicate this urgent financial need to their audience and provide an easy way for them to donate. They turned to the vendor iDonate for its digital giving form and campaign management services.

Using iDonate, the Chicago Zoological Society rapidly built and updated embeddable donation forms and unique campaign landing pages to support a transparent fundraising appeal. This solution allowed them to successfully track their campaign's performance and also manage a safe, ticketed re-opening event for major donors. The results were significant, with the iDonate platform helping them achieve a 10x increase in digital giving, a 20x increase in the number of gifts, and a 22x increase in new donors in the first six months of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.

Chicago Zoological Society