Non-profit to lead Flight 93 fundraising
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SOMERSET, Pa. (AP) "” A Washington-based non-profit group will take over efforts to raise funds for a permanent memorial for Flight 93 victims after a two-year campaign led by a consulting firm fell short of its goal.
The National Park Foundation, which already handles funds for the campaign, will become the main fundraising agency for the project, taking over from Dallas-based Ketchum Inc., said Patrick White, vice president of Families of Flight 93.

A coalition of groups, including Families of Flight 93, hired Ketchum two years ago to raise $30 million for the memorial, but the campaign had netted only $10.4 million as of April 12.

The groups held a public meeting in San Francisco on Saturday.

Construction of the $58 million memorial is tentatively scheduled to begin in late 2008 or early 2009. A ribbon-cutting ceremony has been planned for the 10-year anniversary of the attacks.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Sept. 11 | Foundation | World Trade Center Terrorist Attack | Reynolds | Flight 93 | National Parks | United Airlines Flight 93 Hijacking
United Airlines Flight 93 was en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco when it was hijacked during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The plane crashed into a field near Shanksville, killing all 40 passengers and crewmembers.

The capital campaign for the memorial was started by a coalition of groups, including relatives of the 40 passengers and crewmembers killed when the United Airlines flight was hijacked during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, crashing in a field.

"We'd hoped to raise more money by now," John Reynolds, chairman of the Flight 93 Federal Advisory Commission, said earlier this week. "We were concerned we were not doing a good job, but the philanthropic world tells us we did."

With a mail campaign underway since last year surprisingly successful, the fundraisers expect to change their focus and rely more on direct solicitation of donors nationwide than on continued appeals to traditional sources of major gifts.

The planners of the memorial, established by an act of Congress in 2002, are "absolutely dedicated to raising the rest of the funding," said Reynolds, who works for the National Parks Foundation.

Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy in Chicago, said the Flight 93 memorial project was "certainly operating reasonably," but may face difficulties as enthusiasm wanes for such memorials.

"The question is, why weren't they more aggressive closer to 9/11?" he said. "It would have been easier had they tried to do it earlier."

Officials involved with the project say it took longer than expected because it was akin to starting a new non-profit organization, and that it takes time to build momentum.

They also overestimated how quickly the donor community would respond to appeals, though they say contributions from individuals, foundations and corporations have been generous nonetheless.

Large donors are more accustomed to giving to better-established organizations. Potential donors also have been hard to identify, because those who have given so far have not fit a particular description.

But direct solicitation has proven particularly effective, and the basic plan will be to grow from doing regional fundraising events to a national campaign directed at a wide range of donors, Reynolds said.

"We've been getting a series of $250 donations," he said. "That's been a bit of a surprise to us."

More than 1.9 million letters signed by former Gov. Tom Ridge, the honorary co-chairman of the memorial, have gone out. Reynolds said they have yielded tens of thousands of responses.

The public-private project has received $5 million in federal funds for land acquisition. It is seeking another $5 million for next year.

A state senator, Jane Orie, raised more than $1 million through a steel bracelet campaign following the Sept. 11 attacks. That money has been placed in a trust and eventually will be used for the memorial's construction, she said.

Universal Pictures, which released the film United 93 last year, donated more than $1 million, some of which was used to acquire land near the crash site.

Organizers still must buy the vast majority of the 1,300 acres needed for the memorial, though Joanne Hanley, the park's superintendent, said all of the parcels are in various stages of being acquired.

"I think we're on a very accelerated, very aggressive schedule, which is very unusual," said Hanley, who supervises four other national parks in Pennsylvania.

Construction is tentatively slated to begin in late 2008 or early 2009. A ribbon-cutting ceremony has been planned for the 10-year anniversary of the attacks.

Patrick White, vice president of Families of Flight 93 and the cousin of passenger Louis "Joey" Nacke II, said the memorial is "not like a manufacturing operation where you know what your labor and your material costs are going to be."

"Our figures could change drastically," he said. "All it would take is a couple of major gifts and, boom, things fall into place."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-04-29-flight93_N.htm?csp=34

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I don't at all understand why so many people want memorials built after a terrible disaster. Why not a 'living' memorial that would benefit those people that could appreciate it? A scholarship program, donations to the less fortunate, etc. In this case maybe money towards world peace. That's always been my thought about swissair 111, and I guess I feel the same way about all of them. I honestly don't understand the interest in this, although I certainly respect that other people feel differently.

30 million could go a long way towards something good for the living, in memory of the dead.

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I absolutely agree with you Barbara! Why a piece of granite - that yes, can be moving since I feel very emotional when I drive by or go to pay my respects at the memorial here - but I do think the money and energy and time spent in constructing that could benefit so many more people in a useful manner. Like education about airline safety even or scholarships for students who are studying subjects that can lead to peace or a program that brings students from different cultures together. Anything but yet another memorial!

Incidentally, in regards to Somerset, PA- I was driving through there a few years ago, and noticed a sign on the turnpike. Apparently the farmer who's land the plane crashed on, was charging people money to come and see where the plane crashed on his property. Nice, huh?