From:TheBahamasWeekly.com

Service Organizations
$200,000 to country's national park system
By Media Enterprises
Jun 29, 2017 - 1:59:32 PM

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From left: Peter Andrews of the BNT Advancement Committee; BNT President Janet Johnson; Johnny Ingle, vice president of sales and marketing at Aliv; Anissa Adderley and Norman Lightbourne, marketing executives at Aliv; and BNT Executive Director Eric Carey. Aliv, the country’s second mobile phone company, has pledged $105,000 to support national parks in the Bahamas - $35,000 a year for three years. Other major companies that have pledged funds include Commonwealth Bank, Bahamas Hot Mix, and Baha Mar.

Major business donors have pledged over $200,000 to support management of the country's national park system.
 
The companies were recognised for their donations during a special breakfast meeting at the British Colonial Hilton to launch the Bahamas National Trust’s (BNT) Corporate Partnership Programme.
 
According to BNT President Janet Johnson, “We all benefit from the use of our natural resources, and we all have a shared responsibility to diminish negative impacts on the environment. One way to do this is by supporting the conservation activities of the Bahamas National Trust.”
 
At the breakfast, four major companies were acknowledged for their financial commitments to the BNT. They were Bahamas Hot Mix for $18,000, Aliv for $105,000 (over three years), Commonwealth Bank for $25,000, and Baha Mar for $50,000.

The launch event was sponsored by China Construction America, which owns the landmark British Colonial property.
 
The BNT is a non-governmental, non-profit, membership organisation working to protect Bahamian natural resources through a network of national parks and by promoting environmental stewardship.
 
“We have a statutory mandate to manage the national park system, which includes 32 protected land and sea areas,” according to BNT Development Director Astra Armbrister-Rolle. “We are also mandated to advise the government and the private sector on environmental issues."
 
"This is a huge responsibility,” she said. “In fact, it is a task which the Inter-American Development Bank recently costed at $10 million a year. Currently, our corporate donations total just over $100,000 a year.”
 
In 2016, the BNT had a total income of just over $3.8 million. This sum was made up of a government grant, project support funds from other non-governmental organisations, investment income, proceeds from special events, and private gifts.
 
The BNT’s Corporate Programme offers two levels of engagement - membership options for smaller businesses and partnership options for those that can make broader-scale commitments.
 
Annual corporate membership contributions range from $350 to $2,500. Corporate partnership contributions range from $5,000 annually to $1 million and more.
 
In return, companies benefit from brand recognition, employee engagement, volunteering sessions, media publicity, and free access to special events.



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