The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas National Trust (BNT) is “seriously concerned” and “desperate” for much-needed funding, its executive director said yesterday, expressing confidence nonetheless that it could raise sufficient.

Eric Carey told Tribune Business that the Government’s continuation of its annual $1 million subvention was “absolutely critical”, noting that this made up one-third of the organisation’s income.

“Fund raising is always a challenge. Money is always a challenge with the National Trust. We never have a surplus,” Mr Carey said.

“We are grateful for the government support; without it we would really be in extreme financial stress, serious financial pressure, and we would have to release staff. If we let staff go we can’t do our programmes.

“We’re in the process of engaging a director of fundraising to be the architect of our fundraising programmes. We’re very confident that there is sufficient funding available here in the Bahamas through corporations as well as wealthy individuals who love to come here and fish, enjoy nature, people who have homes here and love the Bahamas.”

Mr Carey added: “It takes a long time to find the right person, and the whole process of identifying the right people and convincing them to give you money takes much longer.

“It’s about relationships, and sometimes it could take two years from meeting someone to getting a major gift, and that’s two years of dialogue and stewardship.”

Mr Carey said the non-profit conservation agency, which manages 27 national parks, was seriously concerned over the funding pace. “We’re seriously concerned, we’re desperate,” he said.

“We believe that with government money coming in a couple of weeks, we should get through the next six months, but beyond that we have to find significant resources to run the organisation.

“In the Budget they have allocated the continuation of the $1 million subvention that we have gotten for the past several years. That’s critical; it’s one-third of our income. We will get another $500,000 from the Government in July, and that should take us sufficiently to when we start raising money.”

Mr Carey, stressing the need for the BNT to grow its local membership. He had previously told Tribune Business that it was aiming to raise $32 million to finance its latest five-year plan.

“We have to raise money. We have to bring in more resources, but the resources are there in the country and also outside of the country for people who believe in our work and the average Bahamian,” said Mr Carey.

“We need to reach more Bahamians. What we do is really important. I think we really haven’t let Bahamians know just how important what we do is to their sustainability. We are doing a lot more public relations, letting people know what we do, but we just need to have that translate into income.”