September 11

SHANKSVILLE, Pa. (AP) ― A two-year-old campaign to raise $30 million for a permanent memorial for the victims of Flight 93 has fallen far short of its goal, netting only $11 million, and organizers say they are shifting their strategy to close the gap.

A coalition of groups, including relatives of passengers and crew members who died when the flight crashed into a Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, 2001, have been planning the $58 million memorial for years.

In 2005, they embarked on what was supposed to be a two-year campaign to raise $30 million. But so far, the campaign has raised only about a third of that from individuals, corporations and foundations, according to John Reynolds, chairman of the Flight 93 Federal Advisory Commission.

"We'd hoped to raise more money by now," he said, adding that an ongoing direct-mail campaign is proving unusually successful. "We were concerned we were not doing a good job, but the philanthropic world tells us we did."

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, a Washington-based nonprofit group handling the funds. He and others involved in the project are scheduled to attend a public meeting in San Francisco on Saturday.

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 over time.

"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 nonprofit organization, and that it simply takes time to build momentum.

They also overestimated how quickly the donor community would respond to appeals, though there has been no shortage of generosity, they say.

Among the challenges is that 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.

As a result, fundraisers expect to shift their focus toward soliciting donors directly rather than appealing to traditional sources of major gifts.

That approach has been shown to be particularly effective, according to Reynolds, the Advisory Commission chairman.
"We've been getting a series of $250 donations," he said.

"That's been a bit of a surprise to us."

The campaign has mailed more than 1.9 million letters seeking donations, signed by former Gov. Tom Ridge, the honorary co-chairman of the memorial. Those have yielded tens of thousands of responses, Reynolds said.

The capital campaign is only part of the funding for the memorial. The public-private project has received $5 million in federal funding 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 the parcels are in the process 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 in 2011.

Patrick White, vice president of Families of Flight 93 whose cousin, Louis "Joey" Nacke II, was a passenger, 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."

(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)