Donations

The suite of options cater for most people from the individual to funding organisations to private companies to contribute to the improvement of CASABIO and the sustainability of the Cape environment.

If you would like to get more information on supporting CASABIO please don't hesitate to contact us!

We would like to thank the following organisations and individuals, who have supported us thus far:

Sponsor / Donor	Item / Amount
Global Greengrants Fund	ZAR 27,000 (Setup of the CASABIO NGO)
	ZAR 20,000 (Electronic key to the families of the Cape)
SANBI	ZAR 100,000 (Scan in 20,000 slides for SABIF portal)
National Innovation Competition	ZAR 20,000 (Business Plan)
	10 secateurs
Starke Ayres Gardencenter	7 secateurs
Eden Africa	ZAR 1,000 and support with climbing wall for the Biodiversity Expo 2008
C. Newell	1 Server
D. Gwynne-Evans	1 Desktop for general admin
D. Gwynne-Evans	3 GPS
D. Gwynne-Evans	1 Coolpix 4500 digital camera
REQUIRED	Nikon 5000ED slide scanner
REQUIRED	Desktop for slide scanner
REQUIRED	Flatbed scanner
REQUIRED	Desktop for flatbed scanner
REQUIRED	Hard disk drive
REQUIRED	Raid Hardware
REQUIRED	Laser Printer
REQUIRED	Digital Cameras

As we are currently registering as a section 21 company with NGO and NPO status we will be governed by a number of restrictions – in place to minimize the risk of fiscal abuse, and maximize the funding that goes towards the goals set out by the NGO. These directives are in place to ensure transparency and accountability of funds and ensure that funds are used for the stated purpose. These include:

• Having a board consisting of not less than seven members: All financial interests in the organisation must be stated up front, although remuneration for services may be allowed.
• Remuneration must be in-line with industry standards (employees may not be overpaid or share in the profits).
• An annual audit is mandatory with the audit being passed on to SARS.
• No board member may be paid for his duties as a board member although remuneration of transport and accommodation may be forthcoming.
• Profit of the NGO may be limited to a maximum of 15%. The rest of the funds must come from donations and sponsorship.
• In the event of the organisation winding down, all assets must be forfeited to an appropriate similar organisation.
• No board member may be held financially liable in the case of bankruptcy for more than R1, although a board member may be held liable for misconduct or misappropriation of funds should they be found guilty.
• There must be a minimum of one AGM (annual general meeting) per year. This ensures the continuing functioning and leadership of the organisation.
• Not less than three members of the board must vet all decisions. This ensures unilateral decision making is not possible.
• Amendments to the founding documents may only take place if voted for by more than 2/3rds of the board, and these amendments must be past on to the director general.

As can be seen, CASABIO is a legitimate and registered NGO that has demonstrated its responsible use of funds. However, it has merely received sufficient funding to ensure an adequate setup. Plenty more funding is required in order to maintain the operation, improve the setup and allow the NGO to expand first to the professional botanical community, and then to the public. There are a number of other aspects that can be implemented building onto the database, with arguably far greater environmental implications.

All donors/sponsors will be credited on our website and, for substantial donations, we will also happily put your companies logo and a link to your website on our site. We believe that CASABIO is an extremely exciting and innovative project, the first of its kind in South Africa, and we will be working hard to raise public awareness about the project through articles in the media, public talks and advertising. By associating your name with CASABIO, we believe that you will gain a great deal of public exposure for your company, and that you will demonstrate your commitment to the well-being of Cape Town, its people and its natural environment.

Individuals:

If you are willing to contribute money to the organisation please do so through one of our physical or internet banking options.

Direct Transfer
Account name	CASABIO
Account number	2048104177
Account type	Savings deposit account
Bank name	Nedbank
Branch code	104809
SWIFT code	NEDSZAJJ
Bank address	Nedbank Rondebosch 7700

International organisations:

As international funding is our main source of income, we wish to encourage you to contact us to see how we can fit in with your funding directives. The NGO fits into the following categories: Environmental, technological development; humanitarian and philanthropical; climate change; conservation, Research, Capacity Building, Alien control and management; Image content management.

Partnerships:

We aim to obtain partnership with all major and minor organisations in the botanical and environmental fields. We hope to not share in important botanical and environmental information, but also to create information exchange programs to facilitate conservation. These are the primary organisations we hope will join us: SANBI; CREW; WESSA; Museums; University of Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Western Cape; Cape Nature; WWF; We also wish to collaborate with a number of friend groups: Friends of Silvermine, Newlands Forest, Tygerberg, Rondebosch Common.

Current partners
CALSOFT	Discounted programming of the database
SANBI	Partners for SABIF portal - scanning in slides
JAMJAR	Website design
UCT Botanical Society	Assistance with labour

Internships:

We urgently require voluntary help for the following purposes. As funds become available we will try to provide space, accommodation and resources for your use. Secretary; Personnel manager; data capturer; field photographers; funding liason officers; herbarium and specimen processing; Web manager; Programmer (Java; C++; DELPHI)

Sponsorship:

We are hoping that a number of private companies will come forward to sponsor the organisations and its initiatives. As it is a project that is slated for massive public involvement and exposure we are certain that association with our organisation will facilitate positive publicity of your company. As we are an NPO, sponsorship is tax deductible. Please bear in mind that we are bucking the trend in not accepting sponsorship from operators and companies that we feel are unscrupulous and banking on token sponsorships for their own environmental offset. This lends credibility to those companies that we do accept sponsorship from. We hope to ultimately create a review process by a panel of environmental evaluation experts to determine acceptance of sponsorship.

Equipment Donations:

We urgently require cameras for the spring season coming up. These should be capable of reasonable macro photography and include:

• The coolpix series of cameras
• Digital SLR’s
• Macro Lenses (these can be from non-digital SLR’s)
• Global Positioning Systems (GPSs)
• Transport: vehicles or motorbikes
• Office equipment: fax machines, computers, printers
• Herbarium equipment: cabinets, mounting board, flimsies
• Botanical field equipment