From polar bear medical procedures, to expert care for the gardens, to preserving and improving Como’s historic campus, your support made it all happen in 2024.

With her 30th birthday just celebrated, Nan is the grand dame of animal ambassadors at Como Zoo, continuing her reign as the oldest polar bear in North America. And thanks to a series of medical tests and procedures made possible this year with your support for Como Friends, this feisty alpha female is still living her best life in Polar Bear Odyssey with roommates Neil and Kulu.

Animal care is a constant at Como Zoo, but planning a full medical assessment for a polar bear is even more demanding, says senior keeper Allison Jungheim.  Last spring, Nan presented with a short list of potential health problems that keepers and veterinarians decided to investigate. “Because we knew we wanted to get as much information as we could during the short time she’d be under anesthesia, we worked really hard to make sure we had every piece in place,” says Jungheim. During the 90-minute  procedure in July, a dental team took a close look at her teeth, a veterinary team excised a mass on the side of her body, and another shaved a portion of her lower body to diagnose the vulvar dermatitis that was bothering her. 

“We were able to get so much done that there was even time to give her a vaccination, and to collect a blood sample for a polar bear thyroid study they’re coordinating at the Oregon Zoo,” says Jungheim, who also serves as the Association of Zoos and Aquariums coordinator for the North American Polar Bear Species Survival Plan.

Providing state-of-the-art veterinary support to animals like Nan is just one of the things your support for Como Friends helped to make possible in 2024. Here’s a look:  

Greening the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory: For more than a century, Como has inspired the public with gorgeous gardens and floral displays, and now we’re helping highlight the beauty of sustainability. Thanks to contributions to Como Friends, horticulturists at the Conservatory have been introducing drought and heat-tolerant perennials and pollinator-friendly plants throughout Como’s campus. Your support also helps to provide the plant materials and professional expertise behind Como’s five seasonal flower shows, ensuring that the Sunken Garden is always Minnesota’s most beautiful room, no matter the season.

All Ages Animal Care: With tiny new arrivals like Amur tiger cubs Markisa and Maks and willowy nyala newborn Walter, Como Zoo’s keepers and veterinary staff had their hands full helping this year’s zooborns get off to a great start. Thanks to Como’s new on-site veterinary team, made possible in part by your support for Como Friends, the campus also had the resources and expertise to provide specialized care to adolescents like Ivy the giraffe and older animals like Mumford the lion, ensuring that Como Zoo’s animal ambassadors get the cutting edge care they need to thrive at every stage of life. 

Connecting with Conservation: Promoting the value of conservation is Como’s mission, and this year, your gifts helped get the message out far and wide. Whether it’s telling a new story about the oak savanna ecosystem in Como Zoo’s bison habitat, or sending our intrepid education specialists to the Galapagos Islands to participate in field-based conservation and to meet tortoises in the wild, your support helps Como to connect with conservation efforts at home and around the world, while offering environmental education curriculum that teaches visitors about the profound connections between animals, plants and people.

Preserving and Maintaining Como’s Historic Campus: From the iconic Palm Dome to the quiet corners of the Charlotte Partridge Ordway Japanese Garden, nearly every part of Como’s campus has a story to tell. In 2024, your contributions advanced maintenance on high-priority projects to preserve both historic and new assets at Como. Your support helped Como move forward on needed maintenance, from pruning tropical trees, to repaving pathways for better accessibility, to updating the venting that keeps Como’s Orchid Room in bloom.

Free Admission for Fvery Visitor: Como visitors came back in a big way in 2024, and your support made it possible. Now on pace to welcome more than two million visitors by the end of the year, Como’s free admission ensures that everyone in our community has access to the wonders of nature, every day of the year. 

As a Como Friends supporter, you can take credit for all of this and more at Minnesota’s most visited cultural institution. Thank you for helping to make 2024 another year of growth at Como Park Zoo & Conservatory!

Como Friends donors Erin and Matt Wach have made a commitment to investing in the open-door policy that serves nearly 2 million visitors every year

“We were just out of graduate school, unemployed, and coming to Como was like a really great date that we didn’t have to plan for, or worry about,” says Erin. “It was a way to have fun, and feel calm, without facing any financial barriers. I think Como helped us through that time.”

Tell us your own Como story: Did you visit as a kid? What brings you to Como now?

Como Friends supporters often get the chance to take part in sneak peek experiences to learn more about animals and plants. Have you taken advantage of any of those opportunities, and what have you learned in the process?

Many people wait until later in life to make a real financial commitment to the nonprofits they care about. Why have you chosen to make that commitment now as younger people?

What’s your pitch? Why do you think people should support Como Friends on Give to the Max Day?

This year, you can help choose the name of Como Zoo’s new baby nyala, born in September. Vote for your favorite name when you make a Give to the Max Day gift to Como Friends!

Pick your favorite name—Harvey, Stanford, or Walter—and vote by selecting your choice on the donation form. 

Como Brings Conservation to Life

From the first breaths taken by Como Zoo’s new tiger cubs, to the tender care that’s giving extra years to elder animal ambassadors like Nan the polar bear, Como Park Zoo and Conservatory is on a mission to bring the value of conservation to life in every season.

On Give to the Max Day, your generosity helps bring conservation to the forefront every day at Minnesota’s most visited cultural destination. From crucial breeding programs to preserve our planet’s most endangered animals, to sustainable habitats that tell deeper stories about the Earth’s diversity, your support helps Como Park Zoo and Conservatory welcome the next generation to discover the wonders of nature through unforgettable face-to-face encounters, fantastic education programs, and always-free admission.

And thanks to a matching gift from the Como Friends Board of Directors and a generous donor, your gift will be doubled, dollar for dollar, up to $53,200.

Have you heard Mumford the lion chuff and roar at the start of a summer day?  Have you strolled through the elegant new winter-white Holiday Flower Show? What did your kids think of the splashy new SPIRE Sparky Show?

If you’re like most visitors, you made more than one trip to Como in the past year, coming and going with the seasons. An urban oasis that belongs to us all, Como Park Zoo and Conservatory is always the perfect destination for a day brightener–whether you’ve only got time for a Lil Explorers program before a toddler’s nap, or you’ve got the whole day to smell the roses and meet the animals. 

“This was a year when Como’s audience was ready to rediscover Como Zoo and the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory all over again,” says Jackie Sticha, president of Como Friends. More than 1 million visitors made a free reservation to visit Como in 2022, a 20 percent increase since the year before. And thanks to your contributions to Como Friends, nearly every corner of Como saw the benefits of private support, with expanded education programs, accessibility improvements, and equitable access for all. “We also saw an extraordinary level of generosity from our Como Friends donors this year, who see the need that Como fills in our community, and who understand the value of having a free-admission destination that everyone can enjoy.” 

Here’s a look at how Como Friends invested more than $1.8 million of your contributions in special projects, improvements and daily operations at Minnesota’s most visited cultural institution:

Equity: While inflation soared, the price of visiting Como Park Zoo and Conservatory never wavered. One of only a few major metro zoos and botanical gardens in the country that’s still completely free to visitors, Como Park Zoo and Conservatory continues to be one of Minnesota’s most accessible institutions and one of the most visited destinations in the whole state. Not only do your contributions help to keep Como admission-free every day of the year, Como Friends’ support also helps to pay for the improvements that make the campus inviting and accessible for all. From big improvements like the renovation of Como Zoo’s aquatics building, to smaller updates like the new elevators in the Sunken Garden and stroller-friendly doors at Polar Bear Odyssey, your contributions help enhance the experience for all of our visitors. 

Education: Como’s education programs roared back to life in 2022, with fun programs like Lil Explorers, the early childhood program made possible by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment and your contributions to Como Friends. During the summer, over 30,000 more children and adults came to Como than the year before, drawn to fun outdoor experiences like the SPIRE Sparky Show, making waves every day in the fantastic new Como Harbor habitat. During the school year, virtual learning programs like Como Connections have helped deliver engaging conservation curriculum to classrooms around the state, and to kids studying at home. Your support for Como Friends made it possible to do even more for our school partners, expanding free online curriculum for elementary and middle school learners, and welcoming back busloads of field trip groups through Como’s free online reservation system.

Excellence: How do you get three polar bears to play nice together? Where do you get the 10,000 tulip bulbs it takes to put on the Spring Flower show? How do you persuade an orangutan to volunteer to get her flu shot? Como Park Zoo and Conservatory’s exceptional staff of keepers and horticulturists know the answers to all of those questions and more, providing best in class care to animals and plants every day. In 2022, your support for Como Friends helped to elevate everything that happens at Como, from the bulbs and plant material that make the Sunken Garden Minnesota’s most beautiful room, to the behind-the-scenes partnership with the University of Minnesota’s veterinary school, that keeps all of Como Zoo’s animals healthy and curious. Your support also helped to provide for professional development, conservation training, and specialized equipment that helps Como’s keepers and horticulturists do their jobs better, from a new blood pressure and vitals monitor for Como Zoo’s animals, to the portable water tanks that keep all of Como’s gardens looking great.

Thanks to your support for Como Friends, Como Park Zoo and Conservatory has the resources to be the best it can be today—and even better tomorrow!

We look forward to seeing you again at Como in 2023!

Make a donation

“It is our first visit here, and it is an amazing opportunity. We asked how much it was and they said it’s free. And I said, ‘Are you sure?” –Lionnel Djon, Thunder Bay, Ontario

THANKS TO YOUR SUPPORT COMO, IS FREE AND FABULOUS, 365 DAYS A YEAR

Admission is free. Parking is free. Children are free. Adults are free. Como Zoo is free. The Marjorie McNeely Conservatory is free. At Como, free means free.

Como was founded by visionaries and volunteers who foresaw the need for creating a public green space at the heart center of the Twin Cities. More than a century later, that vision has made Como Park Zoo & Conservatory the most visited cultural destination in the state of Minnesota, often welcoming nearly two million children and adults each year. With its historic architecture, significant horticultural collections and state-of-the-art habitats, visiting Como has been a shared memory for more than five generations of Minnesotans.

 But what’s truly unique when compared to other zoos and botanical gardens across the country is Como’s open door policy–free admission that’s made possible, in part, by your contributions to Como Friends. “Over the past 20 years, our successful public/private partnership has helped  protect the free admission this community cares about, and to introduce a whole new generation to the wonders of nature without any barriers to access,” says Jackie Sticha, President of Como Friends, the nonprofit fundraising partner of Como Park Zoo and Conservatory.  

We recently asked a few of Como’s two million annual visitors to talk about why kids need time in nature and what free admission means to them.

“My family and grandkids had the opportunity to spend the day at Como Park Zoo & Conservatory. It was the best day ever!

How wonderful that we could see and do so many things for FREE! We did make a donation. It made me realize how many wouldn’t be there if there was a big entrance and parking fee like so many other places. Everyone has a chance to go. That is so great!!

Thank you so much for giving families this memorable experience.” – Como Visitor