Protect What Matters Most
While unrestricted donations are always our top priority, these special Hope List giving opportunities are options for donors who are interested in a larger contribution between $5,000 and $100,000 and wish to restrict their gift toward a special priority need. These opportunities offer a meaningful way to align your gift with the DLC’s high priority needs and inspiring programs we hope to fund in the coming year. Your generosity today ensures our mission thrives tomorrow.
Scroll down to view all giving opportunities, or select a specific category to skip to that section of the list:
We are in the process of updating these hope list items for November and December. Check back again in early November for new opportunities!
Animal Care and Wellbeing
Animal Care Technician apprenticeship position
This program offers recent college graduates the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the professional care of critically endangered lemurs. This year, the position is especially critical as the DLC has had to reduce its full-time animal care staff by two positions due to Duke’s budget constraints. Funding needed: $48,500
Motorola R7 handheld radios
These radios allow our staff to communicate quickly and effectively from anywhere on the Lemur Center’s 100-acre campus, including the forested areas. They are essential to maintaining the safety of both lemurs and staff. Funding needed: $45,000 total or $7,500 for five radios.
New computers for animal care team
Computers are critical to our operations, and we have multiple computers that are well beyond their lifespan and need to be replaced. Our curators and technicians use these devices for all animal health and wellbeing recordkeeping, including diets, behavioral observation, social introductions, weights, and medical exams. Funding needed: $15,500
Professional development opportunities
Support our team’s continued growth by funding attendance at professional conferences and workshops. These opportunities help staff stay current with advances in lemur medicine and research and enhance the care we provide every day. Funding needed: $18,000
Madagascar Conservation
Women’s Professional Development
Support women’s clubs to develop hard and soft skills with which they can develop entrepreneurship, like marketing and financial literacy, needlework and weaving, soap making, and more! These community-driven new directions address gender inequality in conservation and development. Funding needed: $27,000
Public outreach
There are numerous times throughout the year when the DLC co-hosts outreach programs reaching thousands of people, including World Lemur Day and World Environment Day. We lead exhibitions, partner with talent groups and musicians to sponsor performances, and more. Our evaluations show that there are positive responses by people of all ages and backgrounds, proving education can be fun! Funding needed: $30,000
A free-ranging Coquerel’s sifaka at Lemuria Land (Nosy Be, Madagascar) during a site visit in 2024.
Facilities and Maintenance
Welcome and visitor center signage
Our current welcome signage is outdated and in need of updates. New directional signs along Lemur Lane and at key touchpoints—parking areas, check-in, and the tour path entrance—will create a more seamless, welcoming arrival. A free-standing sign at Lemur Landing will also enhance visibility and align with upcoming accessibility improvements. Funding needed: $5,000
Museum of Natural History
Dust Collector
The Duke Lemur Center is home to one of only two fossil preparation labs in North Carolina. We go into the field to collect fossils, but the hard work of getting ancient lemurs ready for study really happens in the lab, where we remove the surrounding rock—a delicate process that generates a lot of dust. We train undergraduate students and volunteers to help in the fossil lab, and as we bring in more people, we generate more dust. Funding needed: $11,300
Specimen Cabinets for Fossil Collections
The DLC Museum of Natural History houses one of the largest collections of Madagascar fossils in North America—an irreplaceable archive that helps scientists around the world understand the island’s dramatic ecological history. These fossils tell the story of species lost to human and climate pressures, including gorilla-sized lemurs and towering, flightless birds. Today, their modern relatives face similar threats. But this vital collection is at risk. Currently stored in outdated wooden drawers, the fossils are exposed to damaging temperature and humidity fluctuations. Drawers stick, specimens shift, and fragile pieces are deteriorating.
With your support, we can replace these aging cabinets with industry-standard, gasket-sealed steel units that protect the fossils from environmental stress and ensure safe, easy access for researchers. This upgrade will safeguard decades of future discovery—advancing conservation science and helping protect Madagascar’s remaining biodiversity before it’s too late. Funding needed: $45,204
Scientific Discovery
Field work studying primate hibernation in Madagascar
By studying wild populations of fat-tailed dwarf lemurs in Madagascar, we gain valuable insights into natural patterns of primate hibernation energetics and body temperature regulation. This fieldwork complements and provides biological relevance to the hibernation research conducted at the DLC. Ultimately, this research offers valuable clues about the potential for inducing hibernation-like states in humans for medical or space exploration purposes. The project cost includes funding for: a Malagasy Research Manager to manage the DLC’s field station in Anjajavy, Madagascar and oversee a PhD student’s research; a monthly stipend to support a Malagasy PhD student; respirometry equipment and supplies; temperature-sensing collars; and travel expenses. Funding needed: $46,400
Mouse lemur aging and age-related cognitive decline research
The mouse lemur offers a natural system in which cognitive aging and neurodegeneration emerge spontaneously and heterogeneously, mirroring the patterns and diversity observed in human populations. This variability presents a unique opportunity to non-invasively investigate cognitive decline and resilience, as well as to identify early behavioral and biological markers predictive of Alzheimer’s disease and other related dementias, in a nonhuman primate model. This funding will support a DLC Postdoctoral Associate’s research, including supplemental stipend, funding for work study undergraduate students, conference travel, research expenses, and publication fees. Funding needed: $50,000-$90,000 (depending on the fellowship award, if received).
Paleontology Fieldwork in Madagascar
We have leads on unexplored cave localities in northwestern Madagascar that likely preserve the remains of giant, extinct lemurs. This area is especially exciting because it’s in the middle of an ancient wildlife corridor. Fossils from the area would help us understand the rate of giant lemur extinction in the region. Before we can propose an extensive expedition, we need a small group of researchers to visit the area with Malagasy paleontologists. We need to meet with the local community to establish a collaborative framework for the project and investigate site logistics. This pilot project requires travel to Madagascar, off-road vehicle rental, support for local collaborators, and radiocarbon dating of specimens. Funding needed: $19,000
Field work in Wyoming searching for the first lemurs
The story of lemurs begins not in Madagascar, but in the ancient landscapes of Wyoming. Each summer, the DLC Museum of Natural History supports a team of paleontologists, including students, as they search for fossils of early primates and their ancient neighbors—rhinos, horses, carnivores, and reptiles. These expeditions help us understand how primates once thrived in North America, why they vanished here, and how they survived in Africa and Madagascar. It’s a puzzle that reveals the roots of lemur diversity and extinction.
Your support will fund field transport, 4×4 vehicle rental, camping gear, fossil shipments, and advanced scanning—bringing critical pieces of this story to light. Together, we can uncover the past to protect the future. Funding needed: $12,000
Research Laboratory Equipment
- Table-top Clean Bench: A sterile workspace for PCR work with a compact desktop footprint. Funding needed: $5,000
- Ultracold (-800C) freezer: Critical for replacing one of the DLC’s aged freezers. These freezers are important for the preservation of invaluable biological samples collected during veterinary procedures and made available for scientific research (genomics, immunology, endocrinology, metabolomics, etc.). Funding needed: $15,000
Public Outreach and Education
Opportunities may be added soon.
Veterinary Medicine
New priorities for this list are pending… stay tuned!
Additional Giving Options
General fund gifts are our top priority right now. These flexible, unrestricted gifts sustain the essentials: staff salaries, facility upkeep, and vital equipment.
For information about gifts of $100,000 or more, please visit our Major and Principal Gifts page.
For a summary of all of our giving opportunities, including stock gifts, corporate sponsorships, legacy gifts, and naming opportunities, please visit our Giving Options page.
Contact
The Duke Lemur Center is always happy to discuss our current priority needs and options for your gift to make a significant impact. Please contact our development officer, Mary Paisley, at mary.paisley@duke.edu or (919) 401-7252.