Antietam Partners-Western Maryland Interpretive Assoc.

Electronic Memorandum 

August 6, 2003

To: Regional Director

Deputy Regional Director

From: Superintendent, Antietam 

Subject: Antietam Partners-Western Maryland Interpretive Assoc.

As Antietam and Monocacy National Battlefields continue to move forward in our successful partnership with the Western Maryland Interpretive Association we continue to look for new and innovative methods to support preservation and education oriented programs. Several months ago, I along with several other Superintendents received an e-mail from Julia Washburn of the National Park Foundation recommending a person who was being laid off from NPF and have served as a fundraiser for them. I passed the resume on to Bob Casey, Executive Director of WMIA. 

Several days later he came to see me and we discussed the resume of Kurt Redenbo, Kurt has worked in the fundraising arena for NPF, Sierra Club, and National Wildlife Federation and had grown tired of the commute to DC. As luck would have it he lives in Hagerstown. A decision was reached that WMIA would interview Mr. Redenbo for a position with WMIA as an Outreach/Fundraising Coordinator. The interview was successful and Kurt started working for WMIA in late May, 2003. 

Since then he has developed a campaign through WMIA known as “Antietam Partners” which has several formats: 

1. Marketing of National Park Pass through WMIA. Purchasers of the National 

Park Pass at Antietam NB will become an “Antietam Partner”; they will receive a membership in WMIA, a 10% discount in the museum store, and newsletters of battlefield information and updates. The goal of this portion of the program is to increase 70% Fee Demonstration Receipts for Antietam. 

1. Enhancement of the Adopt A Monument: Since 1997 Antietam has 

Had a Adopt A Monument Program through the Cultural Resource Division. Since then we   have raised approximately $32,000 dollars from individual donations. This portion of the program calls for more active donor recognition, and information distribution through WMIA concerning projects completed or undertaken through the program. In addition several local corporations/banks/commercial endeavors have contacted WMIA concerning funding projects. 

1. Enhancement of Adopt a Cannon: Since 1998, Antietam has had an Adopt a Cannon program managed through the CRM division, $17,000 dollars have been raised through individual, group donations and one grant. The idea here is similar to #2, but will concentrate more on Civil War Roundtables and other organized groups. 
2. Cooperative Efforts with Washington County Travel and Tourism groups, economic development councils, local businesses to promote the National Battlefield & surrounding Federal and State sites and to increase the benefits of Heritage Tourism in Central and Western Maryland. This portion of the program has shown limited success with an area soft drink distributor and the local Holiday Inn Express. Each group is exploring options with WMIA to provide donations to the National Battlefield in support of the Education and Interpretive Programs. 
3. Also in development is a “Education Program Wish list”, obviously this is not he final name but it will provide visitors to the Antietam Partners/WMIA web site the opportunity to support small projects for the Education Program. 

(Example: 1000 copies of the Flags that Talk Program-$50.00) This will become a part of the enhanced WMIA-Antietam Partner’s Web Site.

1. Volunteer in the Park recruitment. Using the Golden Gate Model, WMIA will 

work with local companies to create volunteer work teams to take on specific projects at the Battlefield. (Trail Maintenance or Construction, Exotic Vegetation Removal, Fence Construction, Painting, etc…) 

1. Finally the development of the above mentioned “Antietam Partners” Home 

Page and Web Site with links from WMIA and the National Battlefield.

Although the “Antietam Partners” program is in its infancy we feel quite strongly that it will provide additional revenue and in kind services for the continued preservation and interpretation of Antietam. Sometime this fall I would like to offer to provide a detailed briefing on the entire program and hopefully some of its initial success. 

J.W. Howard

Superintendent