Funding option? - Advice needed!!!

I am new to Steel Soldiers and seek the knowledge & advice of more experienced military vehicle collectors. ALL COMMENTS WELCOMED, positive or negative.
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My ambition is larger than my bank account, but I have a plan. I am organizing a military collector's club in my area with the main (long range) goal of establishing a permanent military museum. Our first goals will be to increase membership & get organized as a not-for-profit 501.c3 corporation. There is a lot of real estate with nice, big buildings that are sitting empty in our area which have great potential for the start of a museum. We just recently learned that one of our major employers is going to shut down and eliminate almost 200 really good American jobs (production will be sent to Mexico.) Their property will probably be up for sale after they move everything South, perhaps they'd like to make a good will gesture towards the community and donate the property (would save them a ton of property taxes & utility bills) for use as a museum?
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If anybody has ever tried to organize a club, start a museum, do the paperwork on a 501.c3 corporation or seek major donations, I would really appreciate your comments. Maybe I'll never own any of the military vehicles I desire, but would it be so bad to help restore stuff that would be on display close to home? Maybe get to drive MVs in parades, maybe be a museum director someday with a budget & authority to purchase MVs for the museum? A journey of a 1,000 miles starts with a single step!
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My MVPA membership number is 33636

Incorporating a 501(c)(3) is a no brainer. Write up some bylaws submit the paperwork to the IRS (and don't forget your STATES non-profit laws).

Buying a used manufacturing plant is iffy... you would also inherit and soil/asbestos/electrical code etc etc issues that the original owner may have gotten waved (or not have been discovered). Also if the ground is damaged by chemical/metal etc you get that to.

Begging for money is easy... but a list from an number of list agencies and start calling mailing. Get ready to be underwhelmed as now is not a good time to ask for donations due to the economy.

Thank you for the input! The plant in question was built in the mid 70's, so hopefully soil contamination will not be an issue. The company was originally Berg Manufacturing (a division of Echlin) and over the years became Midland-Berg and then Haldex. The property has very little exposed soil (basically a small strip of grass in front of the building) and the entire building has a thick concrete floor. Employee parking lot is paved with asphalt. Don't know the exact dimensions, but it's big enough to have a bunch of loading docks that are at ground level with concrete ramps for semi's to back down.
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Realize the economy stinks, I personally got laid off for the first time in my life at the end of last year & expect to be laid off again in a few more months. Just trying to make lemonade out of lemons!

pawnee, I don't have any advise or experience to share but I do want to wish you well on your exploration of a perfectly good idea. I believe the internet will be your friend in researching the formation of a museum and certainly discussing your ideas with MV curators will be helpful.

Rick

Rick, Thank you for the positive input! I probably should mention that my community is located almost in the middle of nowhere. East/West we're about half way between Wichita, KS and Joplin, MO. North/South we're about half way between Tulsa, OK and Kansas City, KS/MO. The closest serious military museums to us are the Air Combat Museum & Kansas National Guard Museum in Topeka at the old air base.

location, location, location

just my two cents, since you had asked.
I looked up your area, La Harpe, on the Kansas map in the Rand McNally.
Appears you are located in the Southeastern part of the state of KS.
Is that where you wish to put a military vehicle museum, at 40th and Plum?
(40 miles from nowhere and plum out in the sticks)
If it is, I think investors would question that location. I can see maybe setting some kind of museum up if it were along a major interstate, or; in, near, or on the outskirts of a large city. Just something to consider.
The military museums and exhibits I have been to are always
near large cities.

Thanks for the input! I love the "40th and Plum" bit! We usually just refer to ourselves as "hicks in the sticks!" Actually, the museum will probably wind up being located in Iola, which is the intersection of US169 and US54. Iola is the birthplace of General Frederick Funston & there is a small museum dedicated to him that includes his childhood home which was relocated from north of town to intown a few years back. 40 miles east of us on US54 is a really nice national park, the old fort at Fort Scott, KS. One plus Iola has is the headquarters for a KS National Guard Engineering outfit that survived the recent closings of KS National Guard Armories.
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Another plus is everything is cheaper here & there's plenty of volunteers available!
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Just thought of something I should mention, the mind set on driving is a little different here as we don't think anything of driving 2 or 3 hours to go somewhere for a day trip. Our roads aren't quite as straight or flat as they are in Western Kansas, but for the most part 2 hours driving = 130 miles and 3 hours driving = 195 miles. It's a 1.5 hour drive to Topeka, Lawrence or the Kansas City area. It's a 2 hour drive to Wichita, KS or Joplin, MO. Tulsa, OK is a little farther. I know I don't think anything of driving 60 miles to Nevada, MO to look at the M4A1 with HVSS at the National Guard Armory or driving 3 hours to visit Fort Riley for a day. You'd really be surprised at the amount of people from the Kansas City area that already come down to our little town on day trips.
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Maybe someday Iola, KS will be as well known in MV circles as Iola, Wisconsin!

A remote location would work if you did things like in the UK.. rent a tank, team building for corporate events etc. There a lots of ways to make money, but getting that first $1 is the hard part.

I don't think a museum by itself, without a benefactor or patron/sponsor is going to last long without a 'hook'.

Look at outfits like the Confederate Air Force.... they make it work with rides, airshows etc.

Fundraising for everyday stuff is hard. Getting folks in the door is hard.


I would start small- with a traveling exhibt you take to airshows, fairs and such. A few vehicles and the means to move them. Work some events, see how much money you can raise, see how many volunteers you get that will actually work and dedicate time, not just talk. If you can make that work, start saving any proceeds you get above what it costs to work the show toward finding a permenant home later.

To raise money at these shows, you need to take donations, charge people to sit in the cooler vehciles and/or take pictures in them, sell t-shirts, sell souveniers like dummy grenades, models, and dog tags (dog tags are high profit and sell fast. I rebuild and sell the dog tag machines and have provided many to groups like the CAF who use them just like this at air shows). You know what all this takes- dedicated people.

Work the fairs. Work airshows. Work car and truck shows. Take your traveling museum everywhere it can go. See if you can make it work and pay for itself. Then if it does, start looking for real estate- it takes even more work and people to have it open all week long, and costs even more to keep the lights on, heat on, and insurance up.

paulfarber, Thanks for the input! I agree with everything you said. Interesting that you called them "Confederate Air Force" as I have always hated the name being changed to the more "politically correct" "Commemorative Air Force." My oldest son is a Sergeant in the U.S.M.C. with 12 years service & two tours in Iraq (2003, 2004.) When he was younger we use to go to air shows every chance we got. Two shows that really stick in my mind: First was at Forbes field in Topeka - got to see a He111 that was used in the filming of the "Battle of Britian" and got to tour the cockpit of a Boeing B-29 Superfortress. That was special as my grandfather's older brother flew them in the Pacific. The other was at Richards-Gebaur near K.C. where we saw A-10 Warthogs perform complete with pyrotechnics & the Blue Angels.

Chief_919, I really appreciate all the suggestions. We have an annual event in Iola, KS called Farm / City Days coming up this fall. Iola claims to have the largest town square in the U.S.A. and they fill it with a car show & vendor booths. I plan on setting up a booth with stuff from my personal collection to draw attention & recruit members. I've got some plastic model kits ordered that I'll sell as a fundraiser at the booth. So far the club promotion has just been me reaching out to individuals on a 1 to 1 basis & I've got several verbal commitments for memberships, but no takers yet on board of directors for the not-for-profit corporation.

To everyone:
I feel I should mention that I make my living as a diesel / heavy equipment mechanic for a large cement company (not a concrete company, we mine the limestone, crush it to dust, melt the dust into clinker, grind the clinker with gypsum into the dust called cement that is the binding agent in concrete.) I spend most of my time working on the mining equipment, big haul trucks that weigh 160,000 lbs. empty and can haul over 100 tons of rock at a time. We have two loaders with 16 cubic ft. buckets. I also do repairs on a D8H dozer, a 65 ton switching engine, two 110 ton switching engines, a Terex RT90 crane, a Broderson carry deck (small crane,) a Geni 125 ft. manlift, a Snorkelift manlift and numerous other smaller pieces including Cat 966, 980 and 988 loaders.
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Even though I've spent most of my life selling auto/truck parts & turning wrenches, I do have a bit of a flair for promotions. From 1984 through 1995, I was in the travel business and spent most of my time managing four small travel agencies located in Iola, Fort Scott, Pittsburg & Chanute (all S.E. Kansas towns.) One of my biggest promotions was done in conjunction with 8 Wal-Mart stores located in our area. Grand prize was a trip to Hawaii provided by World Airways, who at that time offered direct service from Kansas City to Honolulu. At the end of the contest we had a cement mixer truck from Consolidate Oil Well services in the Chanute Wal-Mart parking lot & dumped all the entries into the mixer. The grand prize winner was from Quawpaw, OK and had placed their winning entry at the Baxter Springs, KS Wal-Mart location.

There is a Museum just down the road from you is Augusta, KS. They held a SteelSoldiers Rally there last May.

Contact them and they should be able to provide invaluable data/info.

Here is the Rally thread from last May.

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/steel-soldiers-rally/37174-2010-kansas-steel-soldiers-rally.html

pawnee1959 said:

Chief_919, I really appreciate all the suggestions. We have an annual event in Iola, KS called Farm / City Days coming up this fall. Iola claims to have the largest town square in the U.S.A. and they fill it with a car show & vendor booths. I plan on setting up a booth with stuff from my personal collection to draw attention & recruit members. I've got some plastic model kits ordered that I'll sell as a fundraiser at the booth. So far the club promotion has just been me reaching out to individuals on a 1 to 1 basis & I've got several verbal commitments for memberships, but no takers yet on board of directors for the not-for-profit corporation.

Click to expand...

For your first "exhibit" I would buy an 818 tractor and one of the expandable van trailers. Gut the trailer, and make it a museum with exhibits they can walk through. Ask for donations for entering, and put some nice displays about local military history inside. At the same time ask for $1 donations to take a picture sitting in the cab. Have your entrance at the front of the cab on the drivers side so one person can watch both the cab and the trailer entrance.

One neat thing I have seen done is an OD painted truck, with veterans asked to sign thier name, branch and dates of service on it- you might do that with the expando van.

You can have a museum on wheels cheap. Very cheap.

I have dealt with a lot of museums and display groups over the years. I sit on the board for a nonprofit with a multi million dollar budget. The #1 mistake is growing too large too fast, and not having $$$ reserves. You need money on hand and lots of it to survive when income is down. Start small, just on your own. You will quickly learn that maybe 1 in every 50 people who talks to you about helping actually does to any extent.

Once you are established and have shown you can set these exhibits up, partner with local VFFW and American Legion posts.

i say build it and people will come. it's just getting them to come back over and over again to experiance new things. some people love history and lots of people are too busy or down cause of the economy. this may sound dumb but it is my two cents. look at the movie "night at the museum" with ben stiller in it. You have to make a profit in order to take care of expenses with the museum. for example tp ain't cheap if you have one or two bathrooms. lights, water, even lawn care and personel is expensive. it maybe a non profit gig. but you are going to need something like grants or some very generous people to donate. i wish you the best of luck. start a donation link somewhere on the internet and a profile of plans, ideas and hopefully progress. good luck

Good advice form Chief 919.

listen to him

now this man knows what he is talking about. listen to him. great ideas that could go far. start small and work up great idea.

Chief_919 said:

For your first "exhibit" I would buy an 818 tractor and one of the expandable van trailers. Gut the trailer, and make it a museum with exhibits they can walk through. Ask for donations for entering, and put some nice displays about local military history inside. At the same time ask for $1 donations to take a picture sitting in the cab. Have your entrance at the front of the cab on the drivers side so one person can watch both the cab and the trailer entrance.

One neat thing I have seen done is an OD painted truck, with veterans asked to sign thier name, branch and dates of service on it- you might do that with the expando van.

You can have a museum on wheels cheap. Very cheap.

I have dealt with a lot of museums and display groups over the years. I sit on the board for a nonprofit with a multi million dollar budget. The #1 mistake is growing too large too fast, and not having $$$ reserves. You need money on hand and lots of it to survive when income is down. Start small, just on your own. You will quickly learn that maybe 1 in every 50 people who talks to you about helping actually does to any extent.

Once you are established and have shown you can set these exhibits up, partner with local VFFW and American Legion posts.

Click to expand...

I remember seeing an He111 at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (Avoca) airport in the 90's. It needed paint, and IIRC it was a Spanish AF one (could be wrong, but I know lots of 109s that are around now are Spanish AF models.. not many German aircraft survived).

I also agree that you gotta bring the folks back with new items, and annual event etc.

paulfarber said:

I remember seeing an He111 at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (Avoca) airport in the 90's. It needed paint, and IIRC it was a Spanish AF one (could be wrong, but I know lots of 109s that are around now are Spanish AF models.. not many German aircraft survived).

I also agree that you gotta bring the folks back with new items, and annual event etc.

Click to expand...

The He111 I saw at Topeka was from the Spanish AF also, I believe all those used in filming the "Battle of Britain" were. The shape of the engine cowlings is the easiest way to tell the difference. I believe I read somewhere a few years back that it was destroyed in a crash. Thanks for the input!

Warthog said:

There is a Museum just down the road from you is Augusta, KS. They held a SteelSoldiers Rally there last May.

Contact them and they should be able to provide invaluable data/info.

Here is the Rally thread from last May.

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/steel-soldiers-rally/37174-2010-kansas-steel-soldiers-rally.html

Click to expand...

I was not aware of a museum in Augusta, is this a different museum than the one in El Dorado? I've been following the progress of the El Dorado bunch & I know they're getting very close to purchasing the building their museum is currently housed in.