With the arrival of the troop sleeper car, I have been asked numerous times how do you guys pay for all this?. So, I figured I would post this on here so our followers know how we make things go. The answer, Donations and digging deep into our personal bank accounts is how we pay for it all. The membership of the Haley Tower Historical & Technical Society provides the funding for normal operating and business expenses for the Wabash Valley Railroaders Museum. We dont charge admission to the museum, although we have contemplated it, but we ask for donations from visitors to help defray operating expenses etc. We receive no government funding and are NOT affiliated with or funded by any railroad. Its all privately funded. We receive monetary donations from individuals and other historical groups for various projects they wish to assist with, but those donations rarely cover it all. In many cases the officers and directors of the Haley Tower Historical & Technical Society (all of whom are unpaid volunteers) pool resources and personally fund the big stuff. None of us make any money off this. Major projects such as the acquisition/rescue of this troop car (a $10,000+ project), are funded separately from our museum operating expenses. Each project or acquisition has to fund itself. By that I mean if the organization says they want to acquire an item, funding for acquisition, transport, etc comes from fundraising just for that item/project. We dont borrow from one item or projects funds to fund another project and try not to dip into our general operating account to fund major acquisition projects either. Each major exhibit piece (like the cabin car) also has a fund to provide for maintenance of that item. So, when people ask us why dont you go get that? or Why have you done this or tell us we should be doing something and so on they dont understand what it takes to make something like this all go... its free to them but not to us. So, how do we pay for all this? Now you know. Bill P.S. we are soliciting funds for the restoration of this troop sleeper car. Every little bit helps. Gotta get the plug in there. :)
Posted on: Wed, 25 Jun 2014 02:26:50 +0000
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