
|
 |
Funding Sources
: Community Fundraising and Creative Partnerships

 |
In
Ashtabula, Ohio the local trail organization raised one-third of the
money they needed to buy the land for the trail, by forming a "300
Club." Three hundred acres were needed for the trail and they set
a goal of finding 300 folks who would finance one acre each. The land
price was $400 an acre, and they found just over 100 people to buy
an honorary acre, raising over $40,000.
In Jackson County, Oregon they had a "Yard Sale." The
Bear Creek Greenway Foundation sold symbolic "yards" of the trail
and placed donor's names on permanent markers that are located at
each trailhead. At $40 a yard, they raised enough in private cash
donations to help match their $690,000 Transportation Enhancements
program award for the 18-mile Bear Creek trail linking Medford, Talent,
Phoenix and Ashland.
Selling bricks for local sidewalk projects, especially
those in historic areas or on downtown Main Streets, is increasingly
common. Donor names are engraved in each brick, and a tremendous amount
of publicity and community support is purchased along with basic construction
materials. Portland, Oregon's downtown Pioneer Square is a good example
of such a project.
In Colorado Springs, the Rock Island Rail-Trail is being
partly funded by the Rustic Hills Improvement Association, a group
of local home-owners living adjacent to the trail. Also, ten miles
of the trail was cleared of railroad ties by a local boy scout troop.
A pivotal 40-acre section of the Ice Age Trail between
the cities of Madison and Verona, Wisconsin, was acquired with the
help of the Madison Area Youth Soccer Association. The soccer association
agreed to a fifty year lease of 30 acres of the parcel for a soccer
complex, providing a substantial part of the $600,000 acquisition
price. |
|