We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Patti Ragan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Patti below.

Patti, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Even though I was a “business owner’ for over 10 years in Miami (a temporary personnel service), I am now a founder and executive director for the past 30 years of a nonprofit organization – a sanctuary for orangutans and chimpanzees (both highly endangered species).
I had no thought of ever doing something like this, but life just unfolded, and I took advantage of opportunities. While running the Miami business, I volunteered for years at Miami’s major zoo as a docent and board member … I also took a sabbatical from the business in 1985 to travel to Indonesian Borneo to volunteer for four months at a wild orangutan rehabilitation site.

A few years later, and only six months after I sold my temp service business, a breeder of orangutans in Miami asked me to care for a 4-week-old infant orangutan (“Pongo”) whose mother could not care for him. The owner/breeder knew about my experience with orangutans in Borneo and that I qualified for a Class 1 Florida Conservation Commission license to provide this temporary care.

Initially, this was only to be for a few months, but when I learned that Pongo was to be sold to a circus trainer, I became more involved in helping to provide him with a more suitable future.

After several years of trying to find him a home in an accredited zoo or a sanctuary (and also by that time volunteering to care for several other infant great apes at a Miami tourist attraction), no place would accept Pongo and the other babies… so I decided to establish a sanctuary for captive great apes who could never go to the wild and who needed an appropriate lifetime home.

What initially started as a care effort for only 5 infant great apes born in captivity, has become a world-class sanctuary that has rescued and given permanent care to 87 great apes (to date). In its 31st year, the Center for Great Apes is now the oldest accredited chimpanzee sanctuary in North America… and the only accredited sanctuary for orangutans in the Americas.

Orangutans and chimpanzees have arrived from entertainment venues, biomed research labs, the exotic pet trade, and roadside attractions. Michael Jackson’s chimpanzee Bubbles (now 40) arrived nearly 20 years ago… and the orangutan Sandra who received legal nonhuman personhood status in a Buenos Aires court of law arrived just 4 years ago. And, the original impetus for this sanctuary, Pongo, is a handsome 33-year-old adult male orangutan.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Growing up in both Miami and Los Angeles as a bi-coastal child of divorced parents living across the country, I loved traveling from the age of 6, often flying alone from Dad in California to Mom in Florida.

After receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Education from Florida State University, I spent my first 6 years out of college as a teacher at a Native American school in the Florida Everglades – the Miccosukee Indian Day School.

Moving then to the U.S. West Coast to work in San Francisco for a couple of years, I traveled from Alaska to Seattle to Hawaii living in each place for several months… and then extended my travels over the years all across North America, Europe, Indonesia (and other SE Asian countries), Russia, and Africa.

However, my mother (wheelchair-bound after being affected by polio and who worked from her home as an accountant), purchased one of her (nearly defunct) accounting clients, Star Temps, an office staffing service. Since she was unable to run the business from her home, I came back to Miami just to help her get the business underway again. I intended to stay only for one year but ended up running it (and owning it) for ten years.

Not having any experience in business, marketing & sales, customer relations, or finance… I learned the business by just doing it. And, I found that intuition and cheerful relationships with staff and clients went a long way to making the company successful.

There were many successes in that business. Under my management, Star Temps won a major national company’s account (with over 85 other Miami temp services applying for their business). In 1987, I was the first woman in over 60 years invited to join the Executive Association of Greater Miami with 100 business members. And in 1987, when Rotary International opened to women, I was also one of the first few women invited to join the 400-member Miami Rotary Club. When a major national company (owned by H&R Block) offered to buy my company, I decided to sell.

During the years of running the temp business, I greatly missed working in a natural environment like the Everglades where I had taught school. So I volunteered during those business years at Miami’s new zoo (Miami MetroZoo) as a docent and also served on the Florida Zoological Society’s Board of Directors. Additionally, I took time off to volunteer with Earthwatch at a killer whale study in the San Juan Islands.. and in Borneo at a wild orangutan research and rehabilitation center for 5 months. These volunteer activities led me to learn more about animal welfare and animal protection efforts… and eventually led me to my current work for the past 34 years with orangutans and chimpanzees.

The business skills I learned with on-the-job training with my temporary staffing service have been invaluable in founding and running the Center for Great Apes’ sanctuary with 70 current primate residents, 42 paid employees, over 60 volunteers, and a $3,200,000 annual budget. The Center for Great Apes has won several awards for sanctuary excellence, nonprofit accomplishment, and has consistently won the highest 4-Star Rating for over a decade from Charity Navigator.

We’d appreciate any insights you can share with us about selling a business.

Yes, I sold my temporary staffing service company to the national company Personnel Pool (owned by H&R Block, Inc.) in 1990.

Several national temp services offered to buy my company in the previous years, (Kelly Girl Servies, Norell Temps, etc.) but offered a very low price. When Personnel Pool called and was interested…. I said immediately that I would not sell it for anything less than (my figure). They agreed immediately because if the solid reputation and income of my company.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

New “clients” for a nonprofit means new members and new donors.

Sources to build our membership and donor numbers have been special fundraising events… media stories on television, and in newspapers and magazines…..special visits to the sanctuary… periodic membership mailings…. monthly eNewsletter updates about the orangutans and chimpanzees… membership drives…. daily social media posts on FB and Instagram…. special programs like “Adopt an Ape” (symbolically)… foundation search websites for grants….. and word of mouth.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.centerforgreatapes.org
• Instagram: centerforgreatapes
• Facebook: Center for Great Apes
• Youtube: CenterForGreatApes

Image Credits
Center for Great Apes, Wauchula, FL