Consultants recommend Cameron Park Zoo pursue nonprofit governance, master plan and operational changes

City and zoo officials presented findings from a governance study that evaluated whether Cameron Park Zoo should shift governance from municipal operation to nonprofit oversight.

"In the privatization model ... the zoo is most likely to turn a surplus of about $2,500,000," said Zachary Winfield, senior vice president at Canopy Strategic Partners, which the city and the Cameron Park Zoological and Botanical Society jointly commissioned for the study. Winfield added both models in the analysis assumed a continued annual city operating subsidy in the range of $3,000,000.

Nut graf: The consultants ran two primary operating models — a baseline that assumed current municipal governance and a privatized model under nonprofit management — and concluded that, given their assumptions (a master plan, modest staff increases to meet accreditation and a continued city subsidy), privatization was likely to produce a better financial outcome over the modeling period. The…