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
Great news that the Welsh Government has confirmed a six figure grant towards the Snow Leopard project for our client, The National Zoological Society of Wales/ Welsh Mountain Zoo. This brings the fundraising we have led for this specific initiative to over £1/3 of a million so far. The links with Bangor University building well also and good chance of securing the Chinese Ambassador for official opening. Think I will have an extra large gin and tonic this evening!
Grateful to His Excellency Vietnamese Ambassador to the UK, Mr Tran Ngoc An for inviting me to next week’s Vietnam‐UK Network Summer Lunch at the House of Lords and with respect to the Bio Parc Vietnam project. Trade Envoy, Ed Vaizey as keynote speaker.
Pleased that National Zoological Society of Wales, Director Nick Jackson and I are meeting Bangor University Vice Chancellor and Pro-Vice Chancellor Jerry Hunter for lunch in a couple of weeks time to discuss collaborations around the Silk Road project at the Welsh Mountain Zoo.
Be interesting to see the response from the Welsh Exporters Club to my presentation next week on The Silk Road project for the National Zoological Society of Wales.
Wonderful event at Liverpool World Museum and then Everton Flower Fields re National Wildflower Centre/ Eden Project. Especially pleased to meet senior environmental journalist/ author, Michael McCarthy to discover we attended the same university department ( French, U of Liverpool) under the same Professor.
Busy now updating the business plan for Bio-Inspire, the ‘New Zoo’ project for the Liverpool City Region. Wonderful to have a much higher degree of engagement now from Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and John Moores University
Looking forward to renewing acquaintance with David Taylor of David Taylor Partnership, Preston re potential for Bio Quest, Morecambe. David is a Lancashire LEP board member, UCLAN Chancellor and led on the former Biota aquarium project for ZSL
Enjoyed leading the day course in Tallinn Estonia on wildlife fundraising. Great to meet and learn about so many exciting project promoters from all over the world. Looking forward now to being part of the celebration of the National Wildflower Centre ( now under the umbrella of the Eden Project) at Liverpool Museum next week.
Extremely positive and encouraging meeting in Parliament on Wednesday with the new Ambassador for Vietnam re the Bio Parc Vietnam concept. He immediately proposed an in country workshop which we will now work towards
Very good catch up with the Colombian Embassy this week. Prospects look increasingly good for Bio Parc Colombia to be established in Quindio province
15 participants registered now for the 1 day fundraising course I am delivering for the European Zoo Association in Estonia next week. Attenders from Spain, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Croatia, Italy. Germany and Finland at least plus NGOs focused on bears, gorilla, painted dogs, Will look forward as well to seeing old friends at the overall conservation forum and discussing potential for EAZA to do a crowd funding campaign next year.
JRA is a small company that focuses on securing external funding for zoos, aquariums, botanic gardens and similar organisations in the UK and internationally, as well as for in situ conservation projects. We also act on behalf of HE institutions to establish facilities on public biodiversity sites and otherwise build beneficial relationships.
The Bio Parc concept, in partnership with Cornwall’s Eden Project, dialogues with governments of growth economies around the world on the potential to establish high profile financially sustainable attractions affirming/promoting the bio-science, biodiversity, natural and overall environmental offer of the country in question; projection of the very ‘soul and pride’ of the given nation on a global scale in the context of biology & environment.
‘New Zoo’ in the UK is about archetype change across the entire UK zoo landscape; making zoo capital projects of greater and wider relevance to the UK society and so be more ‘fundable’ in the first place.
Happy to talk to anyone without commitment about raising funds, concept development (which should really always come first!) and attracting senior champions as trustees, patrons, mentors and door openers.
“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”.
The ‘Bio Parc’ concept
What is the core concept?
The Bio Parc concept envisages endowing the country in question with a new high-profile, financially sustainable visitor site dedicated to affirming and promoting everything that the environment, biology, bio-science, and nature has meant, and will mean to a given nation (and potentially a wider bio-geographic region).
A bio-parc’s fundamental financial sustainability and appeal to a wide audience will be underpinned by a large paying public’s proven and innate fascination with the living world. It will also however provide a sturdy platform to explore and promote serious political, social, scientific and economic topics important to a variety of the most senior decision makers within and connected to its host country.
So the Bio Parc idea provides a very efficient vehicle to highlight the connection between on the one hand the country’s biology and ecology, and on the other its country’s economic and political future. There can be few more important issues for any society than reconciling environmental imperatives with commercial realities.
A Bio Parc might look to use cultural and affective means to involve and educate a wide public on conservation and environmental issues . This might for instance embrace visual art, music (contemporary and traditional), dance, literature and large scale social programmes.
For a large society perhaps divided along ethnic, religious, economic or other lines, the Bio Parc idea can provide a powerful symbol of shared natural heritage emerging from the past and shared economic prospects beckoning from the future.
Development of the concept/ business plan and ultimate delivery of the project is likely to demand an extremely rich exchange of expertise and skills between the country of choice and the UK, affirming and further developing a growing skein of commercial, cultural and political partnerships, and recognising the future importance of the UK tourist and investor for the economy of the host country.
The expression ‘bio parc’ is of widely used for sites that are fundamentally just ‘zoos’ ( and none the worse for that). And occasionally for bio-science commercial industrial parks. I should make it clear we are using it in a fundamentally different, broader and unique context.
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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