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Got me to thinking about an article I read a few years ago in a magazine. The article outlined how the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust was able to raise the funds unnecessary for completing their project. They started a "pint a week" club. The idea was that if you were willing to spend a few dollars on a beer every week then you might be willing to spend a few on replicating a steam locomotive. They had people sign up and promise to give roughly $2.50 a week for the next year. It created a constant flow of income for them and allowed for the project to continue, even in rough times. I've always thought it was a great idea and one that we could be using over here. My organization has toyed with the idea of raising funds in this manner but we've yet to implement it in anyway. I was wondering if anybody out there has used, or is using this idea, and if they've meet with any real success. Also, are there any other unusual ideas that have worked?

Thanks,

Mike Sullivan

Search our forums for the word "pint," and in between various small applications of paint the A1 Trust and its "price of a pint a week" has been swatted around for over a decade here.

The plain fact is that the construction of the loco involved far more than just those pledges; it also included sponsorship arrangements, donations of services, and even long-term bond issues. Adjusted for inflation and rising hop prices, the pint in question now costs the equivalent of $5-6, so the reality is we're talking folks willing to pledge $250-300 a year for years on end. These people exist, just as they're people willing to pledge "the cost of a cup of coffee a day" to listen to NPR or watch PBS. But they're not that easy to find anymore.

One other problem that can arise is that you can't really keep rehashing the same techniques over and over. The A1 "price of a pint a week" was an innovative idea in 1980-whatever, for what was at that time a truly ground-breaking concept--an all-new build. Subsequent proposals--to rebuild a GWR "Castle" chassis into a "Grange", or a new build of a BR "Clan" light 4-6-2, among others--haven't gotten anywhere near the same response.

Consider the first time those of you on Facebook saw posts rallying for votes for a grant proposal like a Pepsi Challenge Grant (which the guys saving the Nicholson, Pa. DL&W depot got, by the way); you eagerly clicked. Now that you're probably seeing those posts once or twice a week (as I am), it gets wearying.

Go to any successful project's fundraisers, and talk to them. In all probability, they had to use every trick in the book, repeatedly. There are times when hiring professional advice along these lines is well worth it; they're "professional" for a reason.

Fundraising ideas are like Star Trek episode ideas... there's absolutely no limit of them, but that doesn't make them good.

You might try inviting the group involved with ATSF 3463 to do a presentation as a joint fundraiser for their project and for your organization. Based on the frequent discussions on RYPN, there seems to be a great deal of interest in the project.

And once in a while try having a special event based around modern railroading, you may be able to get some of the current folks in the industry to help out. Maybe some of them will stick around as volunteers and donors if you show them that you are not totally stuck in a time frame that predates their participation in the industry. Several of the best attended recent programs and seminars hosted by local groups have dealt with very modern technology in the industry, including a seminar by a communications specialist for the local commuter agency who did a particularly fascinating presentation on this usually obscure topic.

The NRHS in their new role as the "Leaders in Preservation" previously announced the intent to hold preservation seminars periodically. Have any of your museums started to work with them toward hosting any seminar sessions as a special event?

Another suggestion - watch for opportunities to advertise in issues of Kalmbach, Carstens and other publishers magazines that have a subject focus that relates to specific items of equipment represented in your collections. This could provide better returns from your advertising than you get from random placement of the ads.

PC

Brother Cook,

Are you not one of the many claiming that railfans are notoriously cheap?

As I recall, Rowland and American Coal Enterprises never sent out a prospectus to the railfan public for ACE--or, for that matter, the AFT, Yellow Ribbon Express, etc. In fact, I personally witnessed him politely rebuff some "slobbering foamers" eager to get in on ACE during a 1981 Chessie Safety Express excursion, saying something to the effect of "we have to raise the big money corporately first before we can even think of going to small investors." And I believe he had a good point. And I would think the folks with the 3463 project have much better "fish to fry" than a bunch of foamers pulling out a few dollars on spec.

I can tell you that our specific NRHS Chapter's board of directors would have my head if I suggested for the slightest millisecond that the Chapter invest any of its money into a project like the 3463, even if it were being done across town from us. We're railfans and historians, not venture capitalists.

Brother Mitchell,

I was thinking of the 3463 organization in terms of a special event at a museum rather than the monthly "chapter" meeting, and yes, I took the time to contact them, and they indicated that they do have an interest in presenting programs.

I would agree that the chapter meeting route is a waste of time since so few chapters get the word on the monthly meeting outside their immediate membership. And programs that tell a story do not fit very well with business meetings that can run much longer than planned.

PC

Having seen enthusiastic crowds trip, stumble, and fall, as did the "Save the 470" group, here in Maine, I'm convinced the only way to get a specific locomotive project going forward to completion is to have an individual or duo, well dressed, well informed, complete with support materials including photographs, well-defined intentions and projections for return, detailed lists of who will perform the necessary work they're paying for, and the commitment to travel and talk to company owners, financial officers, television, radio, and newspaper reporters, public groups, schools, retirees, scout troops, -the whole smash.

You sell "company days" and outings for donations at one level, brass plaques for another, post platform advertisements for other levels, framed thank you photos for yet others. You get signed pledges and checks in hand. The days of "Mom and Pop" funding with brownie bakes and coins in the can are long gone. Two million bucks is not going to fall from the sky, especially with the perception of an economy that is dry. The other thing that bothers me is the way people toss the word "million" around like they perceive what it is. A "million" is a heck of a big number!

For the two G5s groups, Oyster Bay Rail Road Museum (#35) and Rail Road Museum of Long Island (#39), defining regions to press such an undertaking would include not only Long Island, but Manhattan, Philadelphia, as much of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania as possible. Request time to promote your objectives before hobby conventions, board meetings of companies that provide railroad services, manufacturers of support services, etc. In short, a well researched, active, practiced, team is required. You draw from your organization or hire a fund raising organization.

Okay, "NNN's", shoot me down.

In my extremely humble opinion (amid this august company) I believe the 'model' for a modern steam project ought to be that followed by the Duke of Gloucester people, not the A1 Trust.

I do understand that some of what they were able to achieve took advantage of industrial infrastructure and expertise in Britain which no longer exists, or can be tapped as tellingly, nowadays. On the other hand, there are much greater worldwide resources in many engineering areas, and (again in my opinion) networks of people capable of tapping them, if approached correctly.

I would suggest that an organization that could restore a locomotive so thoroughly cut-up -- and furthermore, restore it with what was basically a shoestring budget -- then proceed to research its problems as built, correct them, and set up an effective approach to running the 'perfected' product, is worth investigating, and perhaps emulating in its relevant effective respects...


RME

Mr. Mitchell,



The idea behind this thread was to ask if anybody out there, presently in the field of Preservation, had used this specific fund raising idea and to what level of success they experienced. I agree that basing your fundraising efforts on this idea alone would be a waste of time. However, I do believe that this idea, as antiquated as it may be, would be a very important and useful part of any fund raising portfolio. I submit at this time the phrase that "what once was old is new again". My question of, "Does this work and how well?" though, still remains unanswered.



Secondly, I don't believe that alienating yourself as an organization from the individual who can give a few dollars a week is a good idea. The Organization in question may have "better fish to fry", but I bet they'd admit that every little bit counts, and that's the discussion we are having here.



Third, I don't know Mr. Rowland from Adam, but I do know that Mr. Rowland's projects are so massive, they're the kind that require investment on a matching scale. I'm talking about funding the restoration of a passenger car, box car, steam locomotive, etc. That cost can, and is, frequently spread across the masses in order to raise the necessary funds for each individual restoration.



Mr. Glueck,

I agree that a million is a very big number, but when spread across thousands it becomes much easier to raise. I think that if any one project is in need of a large sum of money, it can be raised among the many that think the project is worth investment.

Right or wrong, agree or disagree, these are my opinions and I approve this reply.

Mike S.