Zoo launches bid to boost its private fund-raising effort

Under the new strategy, the zoo is expanding its board of directors to include more members with business and philanthropic expertise in an effort to improve fund-raising. Zoo New England also plans to seek corporate sponsorships for exhibits, or the zoo as a whole, to generate more private dollars. The nonprofit now relies on the state for half its $11 million annual budget.

“The point is to help us to become much more financially independent to raise more money, earn more revenue, and bring a great zoo to the Commonwealth,’’ said John Linehan, chief executive of Zoo New England.

Linehan said the effort, first reported in the Boston Business Journal, would expand the board to 30 members, from 10, and reduce the number picked by elected officials. Previously, the governor appointed the board members. Under the new plan, two would be picked by the governor and another by the mayor of Boston, freeing Zoo New England to handpick members with the energy, expertise, and commitment to see the zoo transformed.

The Franklin Park and Stone zoos house 1,800 exotic animals and attract more than 500,000 schoolchildren, parents, and nature lovers to various exhibits yearly. Thirty-five percent of the zoos’ revenue comes from visitors’ memberships, donations, admissions and rentals, zoo officials say. Fifteen percent are from fund-raising and the rest from the state, which Linehan wants trimmed to 25 percent.

Linehan said that the future of the zoo rests on the community’s backing and the zoo’s ability to build a strong core of people who can solicit private money — a model that he said is successfully used at many nonprofit zoos around the country.

In addition to the restructuring, zoo leaders are also banking on the idea that new attractions will lure more people to the zoos, such as the giant ant eater exhibit this spring at Franklin Park. The popular Butterfly Landing exhibit will make a return in June after a hiatus, and Birds of Prey, a free flight show, will resume at Stone Zoo in June.

Officials hope the July release of “The Zookeeper,’’ a comedy starring Kevin James that was filmed at the Franklin Park Zoo will put the zoo on a national stage and give it a bump in visitors. Zoo New England is already getting $700,000 from the movie’s producers for allowing filming, Linehan said.

The zoo is also planning promotional events to keep it in the public eye, such as a public baby naming contest that ends this month for the third child of its famous gorilla Kiki. The expected birth of a giraffe could also generate public interest, Linehan said.

In 2009, zoo leaders, reeling from a string of budget cuts, were threatening to close the zoo, lay off workers, and euthanize animals after Governor Deval Patrick, in the middle of a recession, slashed zoo aid from $6.5 million to $2.5 million. The Legislature later restored some of the aid.

Later that year, Patrick and zoo officials joined together to come up with ways to salvage zoo operations and keep the zoos open and thriving again.

Joined by lawmakers and other officials, they established a working group that fall whose members conceived the idea for the board restructuring and corporate sponsorship. They got legislative approval last year.

“The genesis of this strategy has been the fiscal crisis,’’ said Representative Jason Lewis, who represents Stoneham, where Stone Hill zoo is located. “What’s exciting about this is that out of that crisis has come an opportunity to build a world-class facility in the Boston area.’’

Meghan Irons can be reached at mirons@globe.com.