Belle Isle Conservancy

“The organization delegated management duties to apparatus solutions who provide accounting and financial management services to belle isle conservancy.”

“The organization sells memberships. Members receive e-newsletters and printed newsletters as well as invitations to special member events and fundraising events.”

“The form 990 is provided to the board of directors for review before it is signed and filed.”

“The organization requires board members to sign conflict of interest forms annually.”

“AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.”

“In the james scott memorial fountain. The tiles were ripped out of the fountain by an erroneous contractor; and the conservancy holds an annual fundraiser party to generate dollars to replace the historic tiles and beautify the historic fountain. The conservancy has also supported the city's effort to renew the national register for historic places designation for belle isle, through documentation, research and public meetings. The belle isle conservancy has acted as a fiduciary for the city of detroit for state historic preservation office grants to restore the nancy brown peace carillon tower which is in disrepair, and to assess the feasibility of reconnecting the belle isle aquarium and anna scripps whitcomb conservatory, as it was originally designed by albert kahn in the early 1900s. Conservancy volunteers constantly monitor the condition of belle isle structures, streetlights, footpath bridges over the canals and other structures and report problems to belle isle conservancy, the city of detroit and the state of michigan department of natural resources.”

“Historic preservation grant to repair the aquarium roof by providing match funding and by paying for the required flood insurance to secure the grant. The belle isle aquarium is run mostly by volunteer effort - a leadership team of 10 core volunteers regularly contribute about 20 hours of volunteer time per week throughout the year. Another 20 volunteers contribute time on a less regular basis and support tours, events, and general aquarium operations. The conservatory also has a crew of dedicated volunteers that docent tours, help maintain the plant collections, and organize event fundraisers for the conservatory. The state of michigan manages the conservatory, but leans on the conservancy volunteers to run the field trip program, lead tours, support scheduling, and supplement the plant collections with additional flowers and plants.”

“Come to the island via corporate volunteer days where the island gets a group of 50+ oeople to dedicate a full day of manual labor to improve the island's aesthetics and natural environment. Over 40,000 daffodils have been planted throughout the park through a volunteer effort and with support from the michigan department of natural resources. Volunteers conduct a frog and toad survey as a way of monitoring the environmental health of the park's ecosystema nd support national efforts to survey and monitor migratory birds. Lastly, the belle isle conservancy's field trip program for fourth graders to visit the aquarium and conservatory educates students about the environment and ecosystems, plant and fish adaptations, and invasive species with the intent of exposing and exciting kids about environmental science and the environmental science and the environmental issues affecting belle isle, the detroit river, and the detroit region.”

“Other program services: are those services that improve belle isle park for the enjoyment of all, but are not specifically covered under historic preservation, aquarium and conservatory, or environmental stewardship( i.e. Regular repairs and maintenance, consulting services, etc.)”