Class:
Not-for-Profit Promotion

Type:
Under $10 Per Recipient

Objective:
To raise funds and generate anticipation for the township's tricentennial celebration.

Strategy and Execution:
Planning for the September 1993 anniversary observance began 18 months before and featured ways to involve most residents. City officials worked with the counselor in enlisting corporate sponsors and developing commemorative products to sell to pay for aspects of the anniversary celebration. Local retailers could buy and display window decals, a Tricentennial Golf Tournament was staged, with each of the 18 holes assigned a historic name (and made available to a sponsor for a donation). Wearables from t-shirts to caps and glassware with the tricentennial logo and drawings of historic sites helped raise funds. Cloisonne lapel pins and embroidered patches were presented to city personnel with some to be sold as collectors' items at the birthday event in late September.

Results:
The original goals were surpassed with $100,000 raised, it was reported, with 20-30,000 persons expected for the birthday celebration, "largely attributable to the outstanding planning, promotion and products provided," said the mayor.