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.