will share resources and expertise and undertake joint capital fund raising projects.

And the new body has already succeeded in attracting $50,000 for its objectives.

Ultimately, the group will expand into the health education and prevention arena although its current focus will be on fundraising.

Keith Hollis, chairman of the Bermuda Health Alliance said he believed Bermuda has reached an historic milestone with the formation of the Alliance which will be a "strong focussed and motivated'' body.

The Alliance is composed of the Hospital Auxiliary, Friends of Hospice, the Heart Foundation, the Diabetes Association, the Resident's Family Council and the Bermuda Hospitals Board.

Overtures will be made to other charities in the future to expand the Alliance.

Each member has to submit a formal business plan to the board of directors who will examine them.

Once the plan is accepted, a feasibility study will be conducted to gauge public support.

The final stage in the process will be for the plans to be brought together and presented in a co-coordinated manner as one large project that the Alliance will advance on behalf of its membership.

"There are many health care charities out there who have been working a long time,'' he said. "They have been doing a great job. What we are trying to do is to create cohesion so that there is not a duplication of effort.

"This will allow us to get our voice together better.'' Mr. Hollis said his organisation has surveyed major donors who have expressed support for health care charities generally.

However he said they were unified in their wish to see better organisation and accountability among the charities.

"As charities we all recognise that we do have a deep responsibility to be accountable for what we do with the public's money,'' he added.

Mr. Hollis said that the Alliance will start a joint fund raising project so that the best and latest medical facilities and equipment can be purchased.

But he said steps will be taken to ensure that each charity in the Alliance maintains it own identity.

"Each one will still have their own agenda, board of directors, bank accounts and thrust and direction,'' he said, "but we will be pooling our resources and talents so that we can do an even better job.

"We believe that the synergism of coming together as a team means that the end result will be greater than the sum of the individual parts.'' A comprehensive fundraising campaign will be launched later this year and Mr.

Hollis said that based on two donations -- $40,000 from the Junior Service League and $10,000 from the Hospital's Auxiliary -- he is confident that the Alliance will get public support.

He said the idea for the Alliance was germinated three years ago when the Bermuda Hospital's Board commissioned a study into the fundraising methods of charities associated with health care.

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