A sizable grant was just given to the Indianapolis Zoo, which plans to use the funds to create a global center to help species survive, according to an article in the Indianapolis Business Journal.
Lilly Endowment, Inc., provided $4m to the zoo, which hopes to open the Global Center for Species Survival (GCSS) next year. The center will have a nine-member team of experts based in Indianapolis, who will work with over 9,000 experts in wildlife around the world. Their efforts will be directed at saving threatened species.
The Indianapolis Zoo and the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Species Survival Commission are partners in the center. The agreement was signed recently in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, during an IUCN meeting. Graphic design can be used to create printed materials for projects like this.
Zoo officials said the center will host international conferences and meetings which will benefit the city economically, as well as helping Indianapolis become “one of the world’s most conservation-literate cities.”
Rob Shumaker, the president of the Indianapolis Zoological Society, said it's not exaggerating to say the GCSS will touch every conservation project of significance, everywhere in the world. He calls the center the institution's “next important step” in its commitment to advancing the conservation of animal species. He added that the center will transform the zoo's ability to make a real difference to the effort in fundamental ways.
