“Oh, how she scoons!” – Adventuress wins $125k Partners in Presevation Grant

Great news today for the tall ships / sail training world!

Schooner Adventuress won the Seattle/Puget Sound Initiative of the Partners in Preservation $125,000 Grant. The program is sponsored American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. People were encouraged to visit the website and vote every day for one of 25 special historic sites, many of which have maritime significance.

The final vote was extremely close with Adventuress edging out Town Hall Seattle by a single percentage point (20% to 19%). Recognizing the incredible support that both organizations received in the competition, and as a demonstration of solid corporate social responsibility, Partners in Preservation decided to award two full $125,000 grants, the first time in the program’s history.

Sound Experience did an amazing job using social media to engage stakeholders and mobilize support. From Zachary Simonson Bond’s fantastic introductory YouTube video with it’s clear calls to action …

…to Frank DePalma’s screencast

…to the daily Twitter and Facebook follow-ups which often pointed us to their creative blog (My Fair Vote, Romeo and the Vote,  Gone with the Vote).

All of this made it fun to be involved. Of course, they sweetened the pot by giving voters the opportunity to win a daysail for 45 on the historic schooner. Who wouldn’t want a chance at winning that?!

It takes passion for the cause, creative ideas and lots of hard work to pull off something like this. Hat’s off to Zach and Sound Experience Executive Director Catherine Collins for charting and sailing a proper course that other nonprofits would do well to study and follow.

By the way, here’s a link to an article from February 25, 1897 that appeared in The Day (New London) explaining how the term schooner came about.