All over the world, parks and attractions engage in a host of activities designed to benefit charities and other needy persons. But when they invest time and resources into such worthy causes, they want to make sure the recipients receive the greatest reward possible for the efforts. One way to better these odds is to implement these campaigns during holidays.
Clear Benefits
There are a couple of important benefits to conducting charity events and other fundraising efforts in association with holidays. First, park and attraction attendance during holiday periods such as Christmas, Easter, national independence days, and memorial days is often considerably higher than at other times, resulting in the possibility of greater donations from guests. Also, the sheer number of press stories about charities around holidays indicates the media is more receptive to covering such campaigns.
 Peggy Morrison Outon, executive director of the Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a recognized expert in charitable fundraising and gives one more important reason why charitable drives are more effective around holidays: “One of the things we’ve learned is that human service nonprofits raise much more money around those times of the year. Certainly, [in the United States], holiday giving is an American tradition.”
Ways to Give
Attractions use various methods to capitalize on holiday generosity. Donating a portion of admission receipts to charities, setting up kiosks where guests can give donations, holding high-profile holiday events, and allowing exclusive park access to the needy and their families are just some of the strategies employed.
Liseberg Park in Gothenburg, Sweden (www.liseberg.se), exercises the latter approach with an event in August that celebrates a children’s holiday. The park closes to the general public for a day so children with serious illnesses and their families—numbering 3,000 to 4,000 people—can enjoy the park. Though the special event would certainly bring positive press to Liseberg, Mats Wedin, Liseberg’s CEO and former IAAPA Chairman of the Board, says the park doesn’t advertise it to the media, and for good reason. “If we marketed it,” he says, “we would get everyone on our doorstep wanting something [similar].”
Splash Country waterpark in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (www.dollywood.com), does something similar to Liseberg’s children’s day, but with a twist. Dollywood’s waterpark dedicates the Saturday of Memorial Day to raising money for the Ronald McDonald House that serves East Tennessee Children’s Hospital in Knoxville. The park is open to the kids of Ronald McDonald House, but it’s also open to other guests who receive admission to the park by making a donation.
Pete Owens, the park’s public relations manager, says the excitement around the opening of the waterpark for summer and the Memorial Day holiday weekend serves the fundraising event well and brings a light atmosphere to the serious situations many of these kids face. “It’s really evolved into a fun day,” he says. “Ronald McDonald comes out in a swimsuit, and it’s all positive. Radio personalities are there, and it’s a very busy day.” Owens notes the Memorial Day weekend event has grown tremendously and has become so successful that it’s now the single largest standalone fundraising affair in East Tennessee.
Christmas Charity
Dollywood has been successful in helping a local food ministry by holding a fundraiser in conjunction with Christmas. During the first week of the park’s “Smoky Mountain Christmas” celebration, Dollywood allows people who live or work in Sevier County, where Dollywood is located, to get into the park for just $5, and then the money is donated to the food ministry. Owens tells FUNWORLD the fundraiser earned nearly $80,000 last year.
Because of the economic downturn and increased unemployment last year, Lisa Rau, director of public relations at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri (www.silverdollarcity.com), says the direct tie to the Christmas holiday of her park’s “Care For Kids Christmas” is crucial to its success. “This past year’s increase in need was so great, and the park and [our guests] got behind it in such a big way,” she says. “Christmas certainly gives people an incentive to give.”
Silver Dollar City runs radio promotions for the campaign for a month and provides Christmas gifts for children of area families through the massive drive. Recipients apply to, and are qualified by, Love INC (Love In The Name of Christ, www.loveinc.org), the park’s partner in the operation. “We were able to give three or four presents to every single kid of 600 families,” says Rau.
She acknowledges such holiday campaigns unquestionably bring positive media coverage to attractions but says that’s not the reason for doing it. “The charitable givebacks are done for the right reason—it’s not done for media coverage,” she asserts. “We say that unabashedly.”
Robert Morris’ Outon confirms this is the right philosophy to have: “Where you get into trouble is when you look like you’re exploiting the unfortunate situation of others.”
Employees Get Involved, Too
Effective holiday fundraisers don’t have to involve just guests. Morey’s Piers in Wildwood, New Jersey (www.moreyspiers.com), holds a staff dinner in December to which employees are asked to bring undergarments to donate. “I know from being on the local board of the United Way that people give donations of clothes or food, but usually not underwear, which is really needed,” says Kristel Fillmore, the park’s events and entertainment manager. “But it’s hard to ask guests ‘Please bring underwear.’”
She says the park also does a December holiday charity drive called “Matt’s Stockings,” in which employees bring in toys and other gifts. “Children are chosen through the schools, and each child asks for three things,” says Fillmore. “The holidays definitely get our employees thinking about helping others.”
Contact News Editor Keith Miller at kmiller@IAAPA.org.
Choosing the Right Partner
Peggy Morrison Outon of the Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management at Robert Morris University says the holidays are a great time for charity fundraising drives, but parks and attractions need to choose their charity partners carefully. She stresses thorough research and suggests asking around town if a charity has a good reputation and is easy to work with. She also advises making certain a large portion of donations goes to helping the people the charity represents.
“A responsible charity will protect the people they serve,” Outon says. “Where these fundraising events get into trouble is when there’s not a good understanding of what’s expected of the charity, like obtaining their mailing list. You should have a conversation with the charity as to what’s expected of them and what resources they have, like the number of people they have in their database, and both sides should agree to what the other is expected to do.”
Outon notes many nonprofits have staffs of 10 or fewer, so they can be “crushed” under the expectations of a large business, and then the money raised might not justify the effort involved for the nonprofit. |
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