Advancing Empathy Grant Program Insights

Woodland Park Zoo’s Advancing Empathy (AE) Initiative, launched in 2019, supports AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums in fostering empathy for wildlife. The Advancing Empathy Grant Program provides funding to eligible organizations to plan, build, and expand practices that create lasting impacts on empathy-based programming. These reports were developed for the Advancing Empathy team to better understand the impacts, lessons learned, and emerging themes across individual grant rounds and the overall grant portfolio. The Round 1–3 report captures insights from projects implemented between 2020 and 2023, while the Round 4 report reflects learnings from 2024 grantee projects.