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The organization operated in 2013 on a $1.2 million budget, including restricted funds, with $700,000 spent annually for park operations, and has 1 full-time and 2 part-time employees. The Conservancy is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, governed by a 19-member board of directors, with five members representing the City of Detroit: a seat appointed by the Mayor, one by the City Council, representatives from the Recreation Department and General Services Department, and the manager of Belle Isle in the Recreation Department. By the end of 2011, with assistance from the Cultural Alliance for Southeastern Michigan and the Michigan Nonprofit Association, the four organizations had officially merged into the single Belle Isle Conservancy. The four organizations voted in January 2011 to proceed with a merger. By 2010, planning began for a merger based on feedback from users and advocates, and a desire for stronger leadership. A volunteer driven park user survey was conducted in 2010 – with 2200 respondents. The first stakeholder meetings were held in 2009 to see what advocates wanted for the park. In 2009, the four organizations put a plan in action to form a single organization that could pool all their efforts and ideas into a larger and more effective non-profit dedicated to improvement projects. The non-profit Friends of the Belle Isle Aquarium was formed in 2005 with the goal of restoring Belle Isles historic 100-year-old aquarium.
BELLE ISLE SHELTER 3 UPGRADE
In 2004, the Belle Isle Women's Committee was created and its first project was to upgrade Sunset Point. In 1988, the Belle Isle Botanical Society began raising money for projects to improve the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory. Friends of Belle Isle, a non-profit grassroots environmental organization, was founded in 1972 and was dedicated to the upkeep and preservation of Belle Isle through cleaning and the ridding of invasive species on the island. Four volunteer-based organizations had been largely response for volunteer efforts on Belle Isle.