DCNA’s funders

National Postcode Lottery
Having received start up funding as an IUCN NL ‘Special Project’ from the National Postcode Lottery in 2005, DCNA became a full beneficiary of the Lottery in February 2009. The announcement was made at their Goed Geld Gala where DCNA was awarded Euro 500,000 in non-earmarked funding. DCNA is one of only 64 charitible organisations to receive annual funding from the National Postcode Lottery. DCNA allocated 40% of this money to capitalizing its Trust Fund and the remainder is used for fundraising, communication and to support capacity building of the parks.

Each year the National Postcode Lottery offers beneficiaries the opportunity to apply for ‘Special Project Funding’ and every year hundreds of applications are submitted. Competition for funding is fierce. In 2009 DCNA submitted a Special Project for the purchase of the Emilio Wilson Estate, which would allow the creation of the first terrestrial protected area on St Maarten.

A copy of DCNA’s 2009 Special Project application is available as a download.

Dutch Ministry of the Interior (BZK)
In 2007 Minister Alexander Pechtold took the unprecedented step of awarding the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance a ten year long grant of Euro 1 million per year in order to provide start up capital for DCNA Trust Fund. Once it is fully capitalized the Trust Fund will cover the operational running costs for one marine park and one land park on each island of the Dutch Caribbean. Annually Euro 750,000 is placed directly into DCNA’s Trust Fund and the remaining funds are used both to support fundraising, communication and capacity building as well as funding DCNA’s Secretariat.

By way of reporting DCNA and the parks submit copies of their Annual Reports, Financial Reports and audit statements to the Ministry as well as copies of their annual action plans and budgets for the year ahead. The grant is administered via IUCN NL who verify the completeness and accuracy of the reporting and are at liberty to perform checks and audits as necessary.

A copy of the official notification of the grant in the Staatcourant is available as a download.

Prince Bernhard Nature Fund (PBNF)
The Prince Bernhard Nature Fund Nature granted $34,500 for the development of a series of Guide Books for the protected areas of the Dutch Caribbean. Work commenced in 2006 and the first Guide Book, the Guide to the Statia National Marine Park was completed in 2006. The next guide book, which is already under development is a Guide to the Washington Slagbaai National Park. The idea is ultimately to develop guide books for each of the parks in the Dutch Caribbean.

Stichting DOEN
Stichting DOEN have been particularly generous in their donations to Dutch Caribbean Parks over the years most especially to the parks on Bonaire and Saba. Stichting DOEN’s goal is to provide start up funding for new projects with the idea that the projects themselves become self sufficient over time. Since the Parks in the Dutch Caribbean have all been long established, they no longer fit Stichting DOEN’s target for funding. After long negotiation in 2008 DCNA submitted a joint funding proposal requesting three years of project funding to support the protected areas on Saba, Statia and St Maarten who were unable to meet their operational costs are were desperately in need of funds to buy essential capital equipment. Stichting DOEN generously awarded Euro 600,000. Happily only the first year of funding was received as in February 2009 DCNA became a National Postcode Lottery beneficiary and Stichting DOEN may not provide funding to beneficiaries.

The Travel Foundation Nederland (TTFN)
DCNA was approached by TTFN in 2007 to see if they could support any of the Dutch Caribbean’s tourism related projects as this new foundation was interested in co-funding work, which would ensure sustainable use of the islands’ natural resources. TTFN then generously agreed to co-fund DCNA’s Dive Staff Training course. This has been developed to train dive industry staff so that they have a clear understanding about the natural environment, the need for conservation, the rules and regulations on their island as well as the skills they need to better manage the divers and snorkelers in their care. This ambitious programme has been developed and will be pilot tested on Bonaire before being adapted for use on each island.

Vogelbescherming
In 2007 Vogelbescherming Nederland very generously ran a fund raising campaign amongst their membership to raise funds to kick start bird conservation work in the Dutch Caribbean. As a result of this in 2008 Vogelbescherming were able to pledge over US$ 100,000 to bird conservation work. DCNA ran workshops bringing together local and international experts to develop a solid programme which will build bird conservation capacity on the islands and allow the parks to include bird monitoring in their ongoing programme.

Wereld Natuur Fonds (WWF NL)
In 2009 WWF NL responded to a request by DCNA for help and support in building awareness about the beauty and fragility of nature in the Dutch Caribbean and particularly on the BES islands (Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba) as they become part of the Netherlands. They kindly granted Euro 10,000 so that DCNA can build support and impress on decision makers in the Netherlands the need to make adequate provisions for nature and nature conservation throughout an ongoing process of constitutional change.