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The Story of our Fundraising Efforts as of September 1, 2007
The story of the campaign to save this building to date is an interesting example of a small non-profit working with limited resources and thinking of new and creative ways to raise a large sum of money for a project that falls outside of most corporate giving policies and grant guidelines. The fact that an organization, with a staff of two, only one of which is full time, has been able to raise over $150,000 towards this project, while continuing to keep a museum open and run a small, independent non-profit is a testament to the support of one-room schools. The project has now grown to include 600 donors in over 30 different communities and 10 different states.
Over the course of the past 4 years, the Mount Prospect Historical Society has sent two letters and three post cards to every single address in Mount Prospect to create a community wide awareness of the project.
To refine the campaign, MPHS worked with the data gathering company, Info USA to compile a list of everyone in Mount Prospect who had an annual income over $200,000. MPHS then recruited volunteers to hand write letters to each of those households. They also sent hand written letters to a list of community leaders, former elected officials, including those who had moved away, and everyone whose home had ever been on the MPHS Housewalk, Garden walk and Home Renovation tour. In the end more than 300 handwritten letters were mailed, some of which were followed up with hand written notes.
Through searching on-line directories, the Mount Prospect Historical Society compiled a database of all the people listed in Illinois with the last names of the four founding families in Mount Prospect: Busse, Wille, Meyn and Moehling. We wrote each family a separate letter; mail merged these letters with the databases and included a specially designed donation form for each family which showed pictures of their ancestors and the Central School. Since the Busse and Wille families are most closely related to the school, we also sent a letter to all of them in Wisconsin, Indian, and Michigan.
In keeping with expanding this campaign outside Mount Prospect’s boarders, MPHS sent a letter to every Historical Society in the state of Illinois explaining the project and asking for support. While this may seem like a fool’s errand, it received a surprising number of donations and statements of support, certainly making it worthwhile.
The Historical Society created a database of national celebrities and well known authors and then mail merged this database with a letter explaining project and asking them to contribute by signing a well designed card with a picture of the Central School on it. This campaign had a really good response and the Historical Society collected signed cards from every one from Kiefer Sutherland to Bill Cosby and from David Sedaris to Dale Earnhardt Jr. These cards were then auctioned off to help the school.
Seeing as much of this work has relied on mining information available on the internet and a hallmark of the campaign was attention to design, it is only fitting that the Central School has its own web page: www.yourcentralschool.org. The Historical Society paid particular attention to the make sure the web site look professional and eye catching. With history, activities and links to all the organizations associated with the school it is an interesting site to look around. The press page offers an easy place for newspapers and reporters to go for pictures of the school and promotional images along with a catalog of old press releases. With a link to PayPall, it is also possible to donate to the school on-line.
Through persistent work with members of the press, the Central School campaign has been featured on WGN radio, NPR, and three other local radio stations. Articles on the school are at least a monthly occurrence in the three local papers, but have also appeared in the Chicago Tribune and the Daily Herald. The school was even featured on CNN on the Comcast Local Newsmakers section.
The Mount Prospect Historical Society worked with the municipal government to get a list of every business registered in Mount Prospect and sent them all letters asking for their financial support. To more precisely target larger regional businesses MPHS researched larger businesses and put together customized informational packets which included a short DVD with an explanation of project and a short oral history documentary talking about one-room schools. After these packets were sent out, they were followed up with personal phone calls.
The Historical Society has applied for and won competitive grants. These have included everything from a small technology grant from AT and T to a preservation grant from Landmarks Illinois to a grant from the local municipal government to help with the cost of moving the utility lines.
Locally, the Historical Society has worked with many other groups. School children did extra chores around the house to raise money for the school; the Lions Club donated the funds from their farmers market. The Library, the Park District, the Rotary, Scout Groups, Questers, the Woman’s Club, the Junior Woman’s Club and more have all contributed and worked on fundraising events.
Leaving no stone unturned, The Mount Prospect Historical Society has also done bake sales, gone to the farmers markets, held skating parties, and sold Christmas ornaments. MPHS collected old school chairs and school desks and invited local celebrities and artists to decorate them, displayed them around town and then auctioned them off.
While these programs worked, there were of course the attempts that did not. One thought, that seemed like it could work, was to contact all the companies that owned billboards near Mount Prospect and ask them to donate a billboard for a month as a part of their corporate giving policy and as a tax write off. While there were a number of responses from the regional offices and Clear Channel Communications considered the proposal, no billboard was ever actually offered. There was an attempt to pitch a story to a national magazine and possibly get picked up as a community interest story. Although releases were sent to close to 100 different magazines, from Martha Stewart Living to Newsweek, the story was never picked up. A few magazines did respond and the Central School was listed on the web pages of a couple architectural and city planning magazines, but there was never an actual print story, although that doesn’t mean someone else might not be more successful. There were also local projects that didn’t work out. The Historical Society and the Public Library hosted a talk by an archeologist on the interesting artifacts that can be found when excavating the sites of one-room schools, but this did not peak local interest and there was a very small turn out.
The Mount Prospect Historical Society has been creative in the ways out reach and although there were some programs that did not work out, they have had some great success. This campaign has been a very grass, with the vast majority of donations being under $100 and raising $150,000 through $20 checks takes some creativity. With unlimited time the Mount Prospect Historical Society would come up with new ways to approach people and different groups to target, but time is running out. Hopefully the funds needed for this project will be raised and all that this school represents and all the creativity that has gone into the campaign to save it and all the support from school children to other historical societies, to national celebrities to individual donors from Massachusetts to California will not be lost.
Moving a building is a big project and the Historical Society is learning more and more about the process everyday. So the supporters of the schoolhouse project know where we are, this is a brief update on the process. So far, we have selected and either have contracts with or are working out contracts with: a building mover, an excavation company, a company to pour the foundation, an architect, a construction manager, and a lawyer. We are in discussions with a carpenter and three of the four utility companies we will have to deal with. We have worked with the Public Works Department to move the only tree that was an obstacle. We have sat down with the Building Department for the initial phase the permit process and have discussed the village utilities with Public Works. We still need to work with IDOT for permits to cross state roads. Complete the architectural drawings, do an environmental phase 1 study, have a consultation with an asbestos abatement contractor, and do material testing for the foundation, which will allow us to finish the permit process with the Village Building department. This is a large and complex process and we want to make sure we do the entire project at the highest standards, so it can seem slow at times, but we are making great progress.