4.5.1 Friends of the Gardens

Background

The Gardens recognises that there is a need for strong community involvement in its activities and that many people wish to actively support its work by contributing their time and effort. It has actively and successfully encouraged the development of a support group: the Friends of the Australian National Botanic Gardens Inc., which was established in 1990 and incorporated in 1992. The Friends is a non-profit community-based organisation that aims to increase community awareness of the functions of the Gardens, to promote the Gardens' objectives and its continued development, to serve as a link between the Gardens and the community, to encourage community use and enjoyment of the Gardens, and to raise money for the Gardens' purposes.

The Gardens continues to support the Friends in a number of their endeavours, providing space in the Information Centre to promote them and providing office space for their officers and support for the production of their newsletter. The Executive Director of the Gardens and the liaison officer are ex-officio members of the Friends Council and the Friends also invite the staff of the Gardens to elect one committee member to represent the views of staff on the Council.

Management prescriptions

Objective

The objective is to maintain active links with the community by supporting the Friends of the Gardens.

Implementation

The Gardens will continue to foster good relations with the Friends, to provide office space, to support the production of their newsletter, and to cooperate in the staging of special events. It will work closely with the Friends to increase and broaden their membership, both locally and nationally, especially taking into account the large potential for involvement of the retired community in the Jervis Bay region.

The Gardens will continue to appoint a liaison officer to facilitate cooperative arrangements between the Friends and the Gardens' management, and encourage staff involvement in Friends' activities.