John Regan Associates is a small company that ‘obsesses’ on the acquisition of external funding for zoos, aquariums, botanic gardens and similar organisations in the UK and across Europe, as well as for in situ conservation projects. More about JRA
Enjoyed London lunch with Jim O’Neil on Thursday, just before he travelled up to Leeds to announce first report issued by the Northern Powerhouse Partnership. In reiterating his support for the ‘New Zoo’ initiative and its strong relevance to the Northern Powerhouse, Jim provided all kinds of advice and provided multiple high level further intros. Chat triangulated well with recent conversation with Andy Burnham and forthcoming Tatton meeting with George Osborne.
Interesting set of meetings in Norfolk on Friday with a LEP Board Member, Jeanette Wheeler and then with former LEP Chair, Andy Wood re funding for the Germinal project at Banham
Glad to hear from friend and colleague Stefano at Wolverhampton University that a possible cooperation with a regional nature site may be moving forward. The offer of a mixed used facility at such site with a university partner embedded ( = the ‘New Zoo’ concept) fits very well indeed with future political ( and therefore funding) enthusiasm.
Looking forward to meeting with Oxford Innovation tomorrow at their Stockport Offices ( thanks to original introduction by Sir Michael Lyons). The potential for innovation centres or ‘incubation facilities” to be associated with the various projects we are associated with ( either here in the UK in ‘New Zoo’ or in the various ‘bio parc’ ideas around the world) has been growing over the last years and is quite intriguing.
Glad to have secured an interview with Andy Burnham MP for next week. Got to know Andy a little over the years, and he has always been supportive of the zoo sector. He is of course the Labour candidate for Manchester’s Metro Mayor elections for May ( and so very likely the city region’s first elected Mayor). Will update him and seek advice on ‘New Zoo’ overall, but especially the northern projects.
My alma mater Chester Zoo has just announced 2016 figure to be just short of 1.9 million! Quite astonishing. A report earlier show that the zoo had made an annual contribution of £50 million to the North West Economy. Proof positive of the return to the public purse of an investment into a forward looking zoo site
Did quite a lot of work over last few days on a concept for a biologically themed visitor site in Cuba which I hope may win some initial interest from a particular philanthropic source. Fingers crossed!
Looking forward to lunch with Jim O’Neill (former Treasury Minister) in early February. Lord O’Neill was a supporter of ‘New Zoo’ in office, and has kindly continued that interest now that he has left Government. Remarkable how such figures are sometimes able to help in a more direct and practical way once the restraints of office have been removed. Also like chatting to him about South Manchester where we both grew up at same time!
Good to have secured meeting with former Chancellor George Osborne re the ‘New Zoo’ projects and its relevance to the Northern Powerhouse agenda. Will also look to discuss the Bio Parc projects in Colombia, Cyprus and elsewhere
Good meeting at Bangor University yesterday with the North Wales Economic Ambition Board re capital funding for the £6 million ‘Here Be Dragons!’ project at the Welsh Mountain Zoo
JRA is a small company that ‘obsesses’ on securing external funding for zoos, aquariums, botanic gardens and similar organisations in the UK and across Europe, as well as for in situ conservation projects.
Currently much of our work revolves around ‘New Zoo’ http://www.newzoo.org.uk
This is an ambitious UK wide programme to evolve new models and new conceptions as to what zoos, wildlife parks, public aquaria etc can offer to society. This involves securing capital grants for 5 x projects at 5 sites spread across the UK.
We often operate on a sector wide basis (in both the UK and Europe) in terms of ‘funding advocacy’ to improve the overall ‘fundability’ of zoos, botanic gardens, and their like. JRA put together the Manifesto for Zoos in 2005 and more recently an Economic Impact Assessment for the UK
JRA brings together funding specialists, economists, curatorial experts, science educators, researchers, writers , conservation scientists and other relevant practitioners, as a given project may require.
So how can we help you? Well pretty much by “getting you money”…!
“John Regan is a most tenacious person in lobbying for external funding of zoo activities that have a bearing on society. He is able to access influencers and champions at the highest levels. With these connections and his wide knowledge base he has been impressively successful in securing funding for capital projects in zoos. John is one of those persons who have been able to convince decision makers, that zoos matter.”
“In assisting zoos with identifying European and other funding opportunities for their education and conservation projects, John Regan provides a unique service. John is not only very experienced when it comes to the business and funding side of zoological operations, but he is also very capable of finding connections between what we do (or want to do) and the programs and thinking at EU and government levels. It also helps that he is a nice guy to work with.”
“John’s work has been quite complete covering the main issues of the work assigned. He has been quite helpful not only during the project, but also afterwards with more details about the issues. He really knows about the business.”
“John provided European Zoos with advice on fundraising and marketing. I found him very helpful and competent and his advice was excellent. He is a great guy to work with.”
“John is a very amiable person, which almost ‘masks’ his sharp intellect. He grasps your ‘subject’ very quickly and gives feed back fast and fully. He also provides answers and comments whenever you ask, no matter what erratic questions it may be. A great person to have by your side.”
“Here at the Eden Project we’ve been very fortunate to have known and worked with John over a number of years. John mixes his impressive knowledge of EU and UK funding with an amazing network of contacts to present us with some exciting opportunities. His ability to spot a gap or find the right angle to lever in funding or build new relationships with like minded organisations is incredibly beneficial to us and we hope to continue to work with John for many years to come”.
“Space for Giants was delighted by JRA’s support for the recent launch of our UK fundraising programme at the House of Lords just prior to Christmas. This event was hugely successful and completely oversubscribed, attended by giants of the political, philanthropic, media, business, academic and conservation world. We have immediately secured several large donations from generous supporters and are in the process of negotiating several further”.
“John is a highly accomplished fund raiser with a particular range of experience and skills that make him ideally suited to working with Zoos and Aquariums. He has an excellent track record of raising significant levels of funding for capital projects and I would recommend him highly if this was one of your organisations objectives.”
“This is to record, briefly, BirdLife’s appreciation of the work that John Regan Associates did with us to raise funds for conservation of Tsitongambarika Forest in Madagascar. JRA staff had strong contact networks, worked effectively on complex logical frameworks and narrative proposals, ensured deadlines were met, responded promptly to correspondence and handled complex multi-institutional partnerships with great professionalism. The project is proceeding as I write thanks to approaches made by JRA to one of the foundations they had themselves identified.
Many thanks for the important role you played. I would not hesitate to recommend JRA to others in a similar position to ourselves”.
How Skansen won its € 4 million Download
The sponsor’s perspective: interview with Sir Nick Scheele (former President of Ford Worldwide and Executive Chairman of Jaguar Cars) who negotiated the $3 million deal with John Regan Download Interview
Lena Linden interview 4 Download interview
Interviews with 3 successful fundraising zoo directors from around the world External investment in zoo sites interviews with successful zoo directors around the world (2)
Coutts Million Pound Report: Coutts Million pound donors report (2)
Going Global: A review of international development funding by UK trusts and foundations Download going global
The top 500 companies in the South of England D59top500
New list of very high level donors to causes in Australia Major Australian philanthropists
Annual report for 2010 on donations over £1 million in UK Coutts million pound donors report 2010
This is a transcript of a 2011 debate in the UK parliament on the value of zoos in regional economic development Download
Economic Impact Analysis for BIAZA. Go to BIAZA website to download
Record of parliamentary debate on role of zoos in economic development Download record
Eurodisney uk 2012-03-14 twenty year review of economic and social impact Download
Zoos and Economic Development Download Zoos and Economic Development PDF
The EU and Europe’s Zoos Download The EU and Europe’s Zoos PDF
10 steps to successful financial sponsorship for conservation organisations, zoos, natural history sites and aquariums Download 10 Steps
Capital Funding Campaigns for zoos and aquariums Download Capital Funding Campaigns PDF
10 steps to successful sponsorship for zoos, natural history sites and aquariums in the UK Download 10 Steps PDF
How to secure major sponsorship Download How to secure major sponsorship PDF
Money for European zoos and aquaria from the United States Download Money for European zoos from the United States PDF
BIAZA 2004 Marwell presentation – verbal notes to accompany Powerpoint BIAZA Marwell PDF
Some things clients have said about us Download Endorsements
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