Conservation Donations at the Exhibit, Not the Exit

At the sea turtle rehabilitation pool, a keeper is explaining how this turtle came in: tangled in fishing line, underweight, with a flipper that may never fully recover. A child asks whether the turtle gets to go home. Everyone at the glass would help if they could, right now.

Nothing at the pool lets them. The donation box is by the exit, an hour and a gift shop away. The web address on the panel asks them to remember it later, when the turtle is no longer in front of them.

This guide is for the development or visitor-engagement lead who wants the ask where the feeling is. It covers what to put on a page behind a Marker at the habitat, how to say what a gift does, and how to keep that page as current as the program.

Why the ask usually happens in the wrong place

• The box is by the exit. It collects from people who are already leaving, three exhibits after the animal that moved them.
• Round-ups ask about spare change. Programs like the Oklahoma City Zoo's Round Up for Conservation ask at admission and in the gift shop whether a guest would like to round a purchase up to the next dollar. It's an easy yes, but it's a question about a purchase, not about the otter they just watched.
• The panel can't keep up. A panel printed when the pup was born still calls it a newborn six months later.
• "Support our mission" doesn't say what a gift does. Someone who has just watched one animal wants to help that animal, or its species in the wild.

What goes on the page at the habitat

A NearField Marker is a three-inch Marker with an NFC chip inside and a QR code printed on its face. A visitor taps or scans it and a web page, called an Experience, opens, with no app to install. You build the page from blocks and can change it from a phone or a computer. Build a conservation ask in this order:

1. A Heading with the animal's name and the program's.
2. A short Text block: why this animal is here, what's happening to its species in the wild, and what your team does about it. Three or four sentences, not the annual report.
3. A photo, gallery or short video from the work itself: the release, the nest survey, the camera trap.
4. One sentence that says what a gift made here does.
5. The Donate block. Gifts go through your organization's own Stripe account, and NearField doesn't hold the funds. The help centre explains how payments are set up.
6. An Accordion with the species facts and the longer program story, for visitors who want more.

For short-lived news, like a pup's first swim or a release date, add a Promo Box near the top and delete it when it's over. If you run a symbolic adoption program, a Button under the Donate block can link to it. And because every page carries the Inclusion Bar, a visitor can read the story in any of 20 languages, enlarge the text, or, if you've chosen a voice, hear it read aloud.

Say what a gift does

Write the line above the Donate block the way your program officer would explain it across a table:

• Name the program, not the institution. "Gifts made at this pool go to sea turtle rescue and release" tells a visitor where the money goes. "Support the zoo" doesn't.
• Say which fund it reaches. Agree with your finance team whether gifts made at the habitat go to this program or to your conservation fund, and say so plainly.
• Use a number only if it's real. If your program knows what a day of care or a season of nest monitoring costs, use that figure from your own budget, never a round number someone guessed.
• Say what happens next. The release date, the next survey, when this page will be updated.

If the gift funds field conservation, AZA's field conservation page defines the term as work that contributes directly to species surviving in the wild over the long term. It also reports that in 2025, 235 AZA-accredited and certified related facilities reported spending approximately $372.4 million on conservation efforts impacting nearly 1,200 species and subspecies in 139 countries. That work happens a long way from the rail your visitor is leaning on. The page at the habitat is where you can show it to them.

If the species in front of them is part of an AZA SAFE program, say so, and say what your institution does in it. A visitor who learns that this animal's relatives are being counted, tagged or released in the wild is looking at the reason to give.

Keep it as current as the program

A printed panel says what was true the day it was printed. The page behind the Marker says what's true this morning:

• The otter pup gets a name. Change the heading and add the photo the same day.
• The turtle is released. Show the release, say where it went, and move the ask to the next patient.
• The goal is met. Thank the people who gave, say what their gifts paid for, and move on to the next need.
• The program moves on. Point the same Marker at a different page. The Marker stays where it is.

Open the page on your phone or computer, make the change and save. The next visitor who taps sees the new version, and there's nothing to reprint. Give each page one owner, and agree what triggers an update: a birth, a release, a field report.

Where to put the Markers

• The rehab pool or animal hospital window, where visitors watch care happen.
• The habitat of a species your field program works on, or one in a SAFE program.
• The keeper talk spot. When the talk ends, the keeper can point to the Marker, and the people who were moved can give before they walk on.

The Marker is UV-resistant and rated for outdoor mounting, and its mounting adhesive is included, so it goes on a post outdoors as easily as a rail indoors. Several Markers can open the same page, so one program's page can sit behind the pool, the talk spot and an underwater viewing window. Every Marker carries NFC and a QR code, and NFC vs. QR codes covers how the two compare.

What it costs to start

Building is free, with no card needed, and your 14-day trial starts when your page goes live. The first three Markers are $49 with shipping included, and they work without a paid plan. Every Marker after that is $29, and shipping is still included. Enterprise, at $299 a month, has no cap on Experiences or Markers.

Start with one habitat

Pick the habitat where people already stop longest and where your team has a real program story. Build its page, put one Marker beside it, then stand there with your phone and read it the way a visitor would. Then do the next one.

The zoo & aquarium template has the species page, conservation callout and donation ask already laid out. NFC for zoos and NFC for aquariums cover the rest of the site, from feeding times to touch tanks, and the nonprofit donation template suits an ask in the lobby or at a gala.