MEMO To: Board of Directors From
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
MEMO To: Board of Directors From: Patrick Madden, Executive Director Date: March 6, 2017 Subject: December - March Staff Update OVERVIEW In addition to the preparations for the upcoming capital campaign presentation, there are a number of interesting outreach efforts underway: Remembering Vietnam - Thank you to all of our board members who have helped us meet Larry O’Brien’s challenge! This was a big boost toward meeting our overall fundraising goal. In February, Patrick and Chris presented the Vietnam exhibition and initiative to The Military Coalition. This is a group of 30 military and veterans groups. There was broad interest and positive response to the content of the show and our research to help spread the word. These groups represent millions of veterans and military families. We hope this is a terrific start to these partnerships over the course of the exhibition. The Vietnam Honorary Committee has become a very useful tool for engaging high profile individuals, Members of Congress, and institutions who care deeply about this topic. The full list of the current committee is below. Government Historians/Journalists Senator Max Cleland (Ret) Michael Beschloss Congressman Paul Cook (CA-08) Ken Burns Senator Tammy Duckworth (IL) Joseph L. Galloway Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02) Dr. Ronald Spector Congresswoman Kay Granger (TX-12) Mark Updegrove Honorable Chuck Hagel Congressman Sam Johnson (TX-03) Institutions Senator Bob Kerrey (Ret) Association of the United States Army Senator John McCain (AZ) Rolling Thunder® Inc. National Honorable Colin L. Powell Veterans of Foreign Wars Senator Larry Pressler (Ret) Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Honorable Tom Ridge Vietnam Veterans of America Senator Charles S. Robb (Ret) Honorable Eric K. Shinseki Military Maj Elizabeth Allen, PhD, RN, ANC, Ret Cdr Everett Alvarez, Jr., USN, Ret LTG Dana Atkins, USAF, Ret Military cont’d Sgt Maj Donna A. Lowery, USA, Ret Gen Charles G. Boyd, USAF, Ret Gen Barry McCaffrey, USA, Ret MG Patrick Henry Brady, USA, Ret Harold “Hal” Moore, Jr., LTG, USA (In Capt David A. Christian, USA, Ret Memoriam) Adm Thomas B. Fargo, USN, Ret Gen Richard B. Myers, USAF, Ret Col Wesley L. Fox, USMC, Ret Adm Robert J. Natter, USN, Ret 1LT Diane Carlson Evans, RN, ANC, Ret Capt J. Charles Plumb, USN, Ret Col Stuart A. Herrington, USA, Ret LTC Jennifer N. Pritzker, USA, Ret MG James T. Jackson, USA, Ret Gen Gordon R. Sullivan, USA, Ret Gen James L. Jones, USMC, Ret LTC James H. Willbanks, PhD, USA, Ret LTG Claude M. Kicklighter, USA, Ret Gen Tony Zinni, USMC, Ret Many of these individuals will attend events, participate as speakers on public programs, and more broadly be ambassadors for the Archives and this exhibition. Ronald Reagan Presidential Library - The director of the RRPL approached NAF about assisting the library with its Situation Room Experience. This “experience” is a hands-on activity in the RRPL museum that uses physical artifacts from the White House Situation Room in combination with a real-world crisis: the president has been shot. The activity - designed for students and school groups - has enjoyed tremendous success and appeal from schools. The RRPL would like NAF to serve as a fiscal agent for the development of some new elements for the experience. NAF would receive an administrative fee for its help. If this collaboration goes smoothly, there could be the possibility of moving $1.5-$2.5M to NAF as an endowment for this project and some funds for related activities the library is still developing. This partnership will be discussed during the meeting. History Leaders Coalition - Patrick has been representing NAF in group of history museums and historic sites that are looking to develop a public awareness campaign for history institutions. He attended planning meetings at the NY Historical Society and the National Museum of American History. Following those meetings, NAF was asked to serve on the group’s Steering Committee with Monticello, NY Historical Society, National Museum of American History, the Heinz Center, and Atlanta History Center. There is a group of about 30 other organizations that make up a broader executive committee for the project. One of the main questions the group is discussing is focused on the 250th anniversary of the country: What is our “history moonshot” for 2026? How do we want the public to think about and value history institutions and their holdings when we get to the anniversary. This coalition is very much at the beginning stages, however it has the potential to raise NAF’s profile as we consider our national capital campaign. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - Patrick visited with staff from the Gates Foundation, the Gates Archive, and the private family office of Melinda Gates. The meetings provided a broad overview of NAF’s activities and priorities. From the initial feedback, there is an interest in working with NAF on the upcoming women’s rights exhibition. Social Capital Conference - Jordan and Patrick attended this DC-based conference on nonprofit sponsorship and corporate philanthropy. In addition to the networking among peers the conference provided a range of examples, best practices, and addressed the changing strategies needed for engaging corporations. FUNDRAISING Digitization In late February, NARA publically launched the Remembering WWI app on iTunes, created with funds received via our first grant from the anonymous donor. It can be found here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/remembering-wwi/id1153610517?mt=8. Thanks to these funds, NARA was able to preserve, digitize, and add to the catalog thousands of photos and film assets from WWI and WWII over the past three years. Working with input from groups of teachers, coders, and others, NARA staff and contractor Historypin (https://www.historypin.org) created this new resource for students, educators, and the general public interested in a compiled treasure trove of WWI materials which can be organized by location, battle, timeline, and more. NARA has also begun initial work on the digitization of Treasure Vault materials which is being enabled by the second $1.65M grant from the anonymous donor. With a conservator and digitization specialists in place, staff will soon chart an overall plan for the preservation and digitization of an array of the varied records within this special Vault. Corporate Council The Corporate Council program is the sole vehicle through which NAF can engage local or national corporations outside of specific exhibits or smaller programmatic themes. We feel it is crucial to keep this avenue open to encourage continued engagement with NAF, even if the annual exhibit or program subjects do not appeal to or fit into the priorities of a company at a given time. In corporate meetings this year, staff has offered a menu of opportunities - from exhibit sponsorship to July 4th, the Gala or Corporate Council - rather than pitch Corporate Council exclusively. This approach has helped us to better identify the programs and benefits that resonate with potential donors, allowing us to course-correct in real time, and resulting in increased awareness of and interest in other programming or exhibit-specific opportunities. The overall strategy is always to put ourselves in front of more prospects. To that end, the Development staff has worked hard to present to as many new corporations as possible over the past few months, meeting or speaking with: UPS, Altria, AARP, Toyota, PEPCO, Honeywell, Bank of America, Ford Motor, and UnitedHealth Group to name a few. Two significant challenges have risen to the surface in the course of recent interactions with prospects: ● Board Composition: As noted by several recent prospects, our Board, while distinguished, does not include active corporate executive leadership whose participation in our programs could encourage other c-suite executives to join. In addition to limited peer-to-peer solicitation, a regular presence by corporate leadership at our events would encourage greater engagement with our program by members. This strategy has been successfully used by the Kennedy Center, Smithsonian, and other institutions. ● Events must also present a connection to Capitol Hill or other business leaders: At present, one of our main benefits are invitations to exclusive NAF events, but we have received internal and external feedback that government affairs offices are invited to more events than they (or their staff) could possibly attend, and as such, only those events that could also be classified as useful to their work warrant consideration (i.e. if members of Congress or the administration, or industry leads, are present.) To address these concerns, we are hopeful to welcome additional corporate Board members in the future, and in the meantime, staff is taking a more active role in the engagement of Members of Congress in an attempt to attract more Members to our events as participants or guests. We have also annualized the Congressional Open House each summer, which has already been an attractor for corporate members and sponsors. Budget Projection for FY17 ($155,000) FY17 YTD ($30,000) Renewals New Members Renewals New Anticipated Members Renewals $15k 7 3 2 0 4 Level $5K Level 1 0 1 0 0 Current Corporate Council Members: Bronze Level ($5,000) ● History Associates Incorporated ● Florida House* ● GEICO Silver Level ($15,000) ● American Apparel & Footwear Association* ● BMO Financial Group* ● First American Title Insurance Company* ● The Home Depot ● International Paper ● Mars, Incorporated ● Procter & Gamble ● Texas Instruments ● UnitedHealth Group Gold Level ($25,000) ● AARP (expected this month as Vietnam sponsorship benefit) *members joined in FY16 exclusively to host an event Exhibitions Remembering Vietnam FY2017 Goal: $565,000. Raised year to date: $450,591 (Our Goal for the full initiative is $750,000 and we have raised a total of $667,591 toward that goal so far) Since our last report, we are pleased to share that several of your fellow board members have stepped up to help fund the exhibition, most notably Larry O’Brien who contributed $100,000 and issued a matching challenge for an additional $50,000.