Thinking about constructing or revitalizing a Civil War exhibit for your museum in the upcoming year? The fourth fiscal quarter is a perfect time to partner with funding entities to make your exhibit a reality! Here’s five fundraising tips to explore based on the experience of Civil War Patterns’ owner:
- Stand out by not asking for donations, but rather requesting to develop “marketing partnerships” with community businesses. The reasoning is that businesses tend to have larger budgets dedicated to marketing, rather than charitable giving. This can work best when engaging businesses that are competitive in your community. Have a detailed plan with a budget, and schedule a time for a staff member, board member, or connected volunteer to meet with a business prospect’s decision holder. An example of a marketing partnership could be that a business provides funds for the cost of the exhibit in exchange for marketing impressions by having their business name and logo on the exhibit, in addition to associated print materials and digital content. Consider asking big for the cost of the entire exhibit, but you could also seek marketing partnerships with multiple businesses for an exhibit.
- If using multiple funding partners, a tiered system of marketing partnerships can work well. Essentially, each tier would correlate with a funding amount. The higher the amount, the more marketing impressions would be provided by the museum or historic site. An example would be a $5,000 partnership would obviously provide the partner with more marketing impressions than a business contributing $500.
- A tiered approach can also work if requesting donations from museum members and other stakeholders. Each donation category can have a creative name applied to it, and then the list of donors is included with the exhibit.
- When mailing donation requests with a tiered system, in addition to a simple donation form, be sure to include a self-addressed and *stamped* envelope to make it easier for the potential donor to simply enclose a check and drop it in the mail.
- Identify museum or historic site volunteers who sew and ask if they would be interested in supporting the planned museum exhibit by constructing garments from Civil War Patterns’ historically accurate patterns. To make the cost of your reproduction uniforms even more affordable, the period correct smaller sizes of garment patterns we offer require the least amount of fabric—and pair well with smaller sized mannequins that can be easily purchased online.
For additional support with planning and creating your Civil War exhibit, please feel welcome to email info@civilwarpatterns.com to connect with Civil War Patterns!