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Jurassic Coast Business Partners Sharing a journey through time.... Coast World Heritage Site

Better known as the Jurassic Coast, the and East Coast World Heritage Site is ’s first and only natural World Heritage Site, up there in the same league as the Great Barrier Reef, the Grand Canyon and the Galapagos Islands.

World Heritage Sites are unique places of The Jurassic Coast area attracts at least five “outstanding universal value” selected by million tourist visits each year, a key driver of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific economic activity in the area and an and Cultural Organisation) important source of jobs

The Jurassic Coast covers 95 miles of stunning The World Heritage Site is looked after by coastline in Dorset and with rocks the Jurassic Coast Partnership, a wide range recording 185 million years of the Earth’s of local and national bodies, both public and history private; activities are coordinated by a small professional Jurassic Coast Team, working World Heritage status was achieved in 2001 closely with the Partnership’s charitable arm, because our coastline gives a unique insight the Jurassic Coast Trust into the Earth Sciences, a geological walk through time spanning the , Jurassic World Heritage Sites are for ever, and are a and periods global responsibility.

The Trust’s role is to raise funds to support education about and conservation of the World Heritage Site and this is where we need the help of Jurassic Coast Business Partners.

2 Jurassic Coast Business Partners

Jurassic Coast Business Partners are local businesses who share our vision and passion for the Jurassic Coast. They actively support its management and conservation by raising The Vision funds for the Jurassic Coast Trust to use in funding ongoing and new projects in “World Heritage status will inspire people education, conservation and the arts. to celebrate, enjoy, value and learn about the Dorset and East Devon Coast, and to Partner businesses, by supporting projects in the local community, benefit from association with the World safeguard it for future generations in the Heritage Site; the method of fundraising should be simple to carry out and administer, effective in promoting best possible condition. your business and shouldn’t affect your bottom line. Fundraising will generally fall into one of two categories: “We wish to ensure World Heritage status becomes a vibrant strand of the life of Visitor Giving Corporate Giving Dorset and East Devon, and the wider south west, benefitting local people, visitors and A win-win method of fundraising where When you decide to support Jurassic Coast the environment throughout the area”. visitors are invited to put something back to Trust projects through regular donations. support an area they love, and businesses get both positive publicity and the chance to im- prove the visitor experience, helping to safeguard their economic future

Some options for Visitor Giving are discussed later.

100% of the funds you raise will go directly to the Jurassic Coast Trust.

3 Why get your business involved? There are good, solid business reasons for becoming a Jurassic Coast Business Partner. People are increasingly attracted to businesses with a strong ethical approach. Membership of the Business Partner Scheme brings benefits in marketing your business, and in the service you can offer your customers. Marketing Benefits Service Benefits

Full page about and links to your Free training of your staff about the business on the Jurassic Coast website. Jurassic Coast improves motivation and With more than 1000 visits per day you will customer service be introduced to many new contacts Regular updates on events and projects along On the Jurassic Coast website you can also the coast through the Jurassic Post newsletter choose to display how much you have raised makes the visitor experience more involving and for our projects, and the types of projects you rewarding have supported You can choose to sell the popular official Being a Jurassic Coast Business Partner Jurassic Coast publications or products as an underlines your commitment to sustainable additional service to visitors. and responsible tourism and support of your local community

Use of the well-established Jurassic Coast Tax Status Business Partner logo on your premises, your website and other publicity material Charitable donations are not liable for any tax or VAT payment; you just have to make “Tourists in the 21st century are likely to New ideas through networking with like- it clear to customers that they are making a base their choices in travel and tourism on minded businesses at twice-yearly events. voluntary donation. environmental protection and social responsibility” British Tourism Framework Review

4 What are you agreeing to do? When you become a Jurassic Coast Business Partner we ask you to:

support our vision for the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site and to be an advocate for our stunning, globally significant coastline

promote the Jurassic Coast on your website and other visitor information, using text and images which we can supply

raise money to support projects along the coast funded by the Jurassic Coast Trust, using a method you feel best suits your business. We’ll discuss fundraising methods and targets with you when the partnership is set up. Some ideas are given next on methods which have proved successful

commit to short, motivating free training sessions about the Jurassic Coast for your staff at least once every three years

display your Jurassic Coast Business Partner badge with pride

5 Some ideas on raising funds The fundraising method you choose will depend on the type of business you operate, and on what you and your customers feel comfortable with. Tourism businesses most often use a Visitor Giving scheme to connect visitors more closely with the area they love. Successful methods, used here and elsewhere, include: Accommodation Attractions, Tour & Providers Event Organisers

Accommodation providers can invite customers For attraction, tour or event organisers, addi- to make a small voluntary contribution, typical- tion of a small levy to the price of a ticket, en- ly £1 or £2 per booking, which is added to their try fee or guidebook is an ideal way to receive bill either during booking or to the final invoice small donations (say 10p to £1) Merchandise Experience shows that over 90% of customers Sell the Trust’s excellent range of books and happily support such an “opt-out” contribu- Retailers, Restaurants postcards to your visitors, providing a useful tion model when the projects supported by service as well as raising funds. Check out the their donations are explained to them, or even & Cafes range at: www.jurassiccoasttrust.org/store/ better visited by them. A similar model can be Retailers, restaurants and cafes are well- used by holiday home owners Stock our new ammonite pin-badges, suited to “sponsored product” fundraising, available to visitors on a suggested where donations are made from sale of £1 donation basis to let them show particular products, eg 5p on an ice-cream, Experience shows that “opt-in” their love for and identification with P.S. 10p for a cup of tea or a pint of beer. You donations, where guests tick an opt-in box our wonderful coastline . rather than asking for the donation to be can use your imagination freely on this type taken off their bill, have a much lower of donation. success rate than the 90% of opt-out, typically around 5%. We’ll work with you to make sure that your fundraising choice is low-maintenance, with minimal cost to your business. We will also agree a simple invoicing process and give you an annual certificate to say how much has been raised. That’s how simple it is.

6 What’s the cash used for? Money raised through the Jurassic Coast Business Partner Scheme will be used to fund on-going and new projects in education and conservation along the coast, for example: Supporting

The hugely successful Our current priority is to support educational Big Jurassic Classroom projects particularly those that enable children project provides small grants to experience the coast first hand. Today’s to help schools in Dorset young people are tomorrow’s custodians of the and East Devon explore World Heritage Site with a natural passion for and learn about the coast. and dinosaurs. We will also support: Projects include funding fieldtrips to the coast family events such as the and making a Jurassic Festival garden in the school grounds improvements to coastal Visitor Centres and Museums, like those at The Fund will support the , , Beer, A Head Teacher enthused “...a brilliant purchase, preparation and curation of fossils and chance to support their curriculum work in from the Jurassic Coast, keeping them on science, history and geography and a fantastic display as near as possible to where they fossil conservation follow-up to their work last year on a film to were found. encourage visitors Practical conservation to support the to our Jurassic coast, like beach-cleaning projects Coast to look The annual 4-day Lyme Regis Fossil Festival after our is a fabulous mix of hands-on science and educational publications, further beaches”. quirky arts events. Particpation of the -Na increasing our popular range of books tional History Museum, the event’s anchor body, guarantees a top-class show. A full list of projects is on the website at www.jurassiccoast.org

At least 80% of all money raised goes directly to support projects. The remainder is used to cover the costs of the Business Partner Scheme and to contribute to the runnng costs of the Jurassic Coast Trust.

7 Who’s already involved? Several leading local businesses have been early, much-valued Jurassic Coast Business Partners and supporters of education and conservation projects over the past few years. What’s the next step? If we’ve convinced you of the value for Leisure Holidays own and manage five successful holiday parks in your business and the wider community West Dorset. By encouraging visitors to make a small donation on top of the cost of the stay they have raised more than £30,000 in five years to fund of joining our Jurassic Coast Business Jurassic Coast projects. Partner Scheme, here’s what you should do next...

Sealife Tower, part of the market-leading Merlin Entertainments Group, started supporting us in 2012, choosing as a fundraising model a donation of a Fill in the attached form and e-mail it percentage of each guidebook sold to visitors to the Tower. to [email protected]. We will then call you to begin working on the details of the partnership, leading to a simple membership The privately owned Lulworth Estate is a long term supporter of the agreement Jurassic Coast. Holiday Park, also part of the Estate raised nearly £2,000 in 2012 mainly through Visitor Giving - a £1 contribution The Jurassic Coast Business Partner per booking. Scheme is a collaboration between the Jurassic Coast Team and the Trust, so your day-to-day contact will be with Devon Cliffs Holiday Park one of the Team or a Trustee Devon Cliffs Holiday In Sandy Bay, , part of the Haven Group, have recently become a Business Partner, and will raise money through various events and activities. The main contact is Sam Rose, Jurassic Coast Team Leader (sam@jurassic coast.org); for general enquiries please use [email protected], Each of these businesses chose to support our work using a or call us on 01305 224132. fundraising model which suited their own business needs. email: [email protected] Tel: 01305 224132 www.jurassiccoast.org

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