Our Work
Supporting the people and organizations doing the work that matters
Across the Exumas, there are groups and organizations building a stronger community and healthier environment. Friends of Exuma exists to make sure they can keep going.
How We Work
Friends of Exuma does not run programs of its own; we find the people and organizations already doing the work, and we make sure they can keep doing it. When you support Friends of Exuma, your donation goes into our Community or Harbour Fund. From there, we award grants to a roster of trusted partners: to support their operations and specific goals each partner is striving towards. Every partner reports back, so when you give, you can see exactly what your donation supported.
Four Areas of Focus
Every partner Friends of Exuma supports works in one of four areas. Together they cover what it takes for an island community to thrive.
Youth Development
On a Family Island, opportunity is not handed out evenly. A child’s path can hinge on whether one program has the funding to open its doors this year. Friends of Exuma supports the educators and mentors who make sure it does, from early reading instruction and after-school tutoring to a working high school farm.
Cultural Preservation
Bahamian culture is colorful. It is a brass band marching at the Independence ceremony, a mural going up behind a community building, a young artist seeing their work hung for the first time. Friends of Exuma supports the spaces and programs where Exuma’s creativity is taught, practiced, and passed down, so the next generation inherits it whole.
Conservation
Exuma’s economy, its food, and its way of life all rest on the same thing: a healthy environment. Through the Harbour Fund, Friends of Exuma gives conservation practitioners the long-term, reliable support they need to protect the reefs, seagrass, and harbours that everything else depends on.
Sustainable Living
Some needs do not fit neatly into a category. A church hall that doubles as a shelter. A women’s group building skills and confidence. When something matters to the community and no one else is positioned to help, Friends of Exuma can move quickly to help the community members already stepping up.
Our Partners
Past Partners
Support Our Work
Your gift goes to work across all four areas, behind every partner Friends of Exuma works with. Give once, or give monthly and become the steady support a small organization can build on.
