Tommy Frist is making the largest donation the Nashville Zoo has ever seen, a $5 million gift that guarantees a matching grant from Metro. But the HCA chairman and philanthropist behind the Frist Center for the Visual Arts has a message for Nashvillians: If they really want a world-class zoo, they'll have to pay for it.
“As far as I'm concerned, this is a challenge grant,” Frist says. “It's a challenge to other people in the community to step up and agree that this is important enough to give money to as well. The zoo still needs millions of dollars more for endowment, and that has to come from elsewhere in the community.
“The concern I have is that once people hear that Frist is behind something, they think it's taken care of. That's definitely not the case with the zoo.”
Frist's pledge, along with another $1.5 million that has been raised in the last few months and the city's $5 million match, gives the zoo a fair chance to create one of the finest attractions of its kind in the country. But zoo officials are quick to say that Nashville has a long way to go. The zoo still hopes to raise another $10 million in endowment. The idea is to invest the endowment, using its income to help fund the zoo's ongoing operational costs.
Beyond that, the zoo's staff and 36-member board have developed a master plan for the facility—estimated to cost $160 million and to take about 15 years to complete. Zoo supporters hope that the cost of those capital improvements will be bankrolled through a combination of private money and matching public dollars.
“When you're trying to raise this kind of money, you have to draw from every sector of the community,” says Kim Carpenter Drake, the zoo's director of external affairs. “Five percent of Nashville can't build Nashville's Zoo. Nashville has to build Nashville's Zoo.”
For the time being, the private and public donations have enabled the zoo to move ahead with a series of capital improvements. It will open two new exhibits in May featuring African antelopes, known as bongos, and small African mammals called meerkats. Another planned exhibit is the “Bamboo trail,” featuring six different animal species all living in a bamboo ecosystem, plus a large indoor animal commissary that will mean accreditation from the American Zoo and Aquarium Association.
If all goes as planned, the zoo also will break ground this fall on a massive indoor/outdoor exhibit called the “Pantanal,” which will feature dozens more species. “The Pantanal is the largest wetland in the world and one of the major ecosystems in South America,” Drake says. “That exhibit will be a major undertaking and a major step forward for the zoo. But our ability to get that exhibit underway is greatly dependent upon fund raising.”
To generate support and enthusiasm, the zoo is expanding outreach programs, such as summer day camps for children and admission-free visits. Meanwhile, the zoo is expanding its spring social event, known as the “Animal Affair.” “Our goal for the Animal Affair is that it does as much for the zoo as the Swan Ball does for Cheekwood,” says Jennifer Frist, zoo board member and chairman of the Animal Affair committee.
The Frist pledge is by no means the zoo's first large donation. Since moving to its current site at the former Grassmere property, there have been a dozen six-figure donations. Those large gifts include $1 million from Sandy Brooks, $1 million from the Frist Foundation, $1 million from John Ingram and $3 million from Robin Ingram Patton. “I got the glamorous job of building the sewer systems,” Patton quips.
Frist, whose family foundation has already given $25.7 million to the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, says he supports the zoo for a number of reasons. “A zoo is a wonderful family-oriented attraction that is also educational,” he says. “It's designed to reach the community at-large instead of a small niche within the community. And I really got excited about it when I was on the chamber and I learned what it could mean for the city's economic development. Many people will travel to Nashville if we have a first-class zoo.”
Frist also believes a great zoo would indirectly help corporate recruitment. “I sit out here at HCA, and we bring people here from all over the country. Some like the opera, some like football, some like hockey and some like the visual arts. And I'll bet a lot of them would love it if we had a world-class zoo.”
