The Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau voted Monday to hire a dedicated fundraising coordinator for the planned children’s museum.
The CVB board tapped Holly Wagner, president of Jackson-based Projects Consulting, Inc., to oversee fundraising for the $5 million project. CVB will pay Wagner $18,500 for the three-month contract — half of which is due at the beginning of the contract on July 1 and the other half of which is due at the completion of the contract on Oct. 1.
Board members voted 6-0 to approve the hire. Nadia Colom and Rissa Lawrence were absent from the meeting. Mark Castleberry, who was not physically present, dropped from his call in to the meeting before the vote.
“She’s not just instrumental, she’s the person who is responsible for the Civil Rights Museum and the Museum of Mississippi History raising $17 million,” Carpenter said. “We’re very excited to have Holly on board.”
Carpenter said the board and CVB administration will continue to be involved throughout the fundraising process. She said Wagner will develop fundraising documents the CVB board must approve and help identify former, current and prospective fundraising sources.
Wagner will meet with CVB staff through the summer, Carpenter said, and present recommendations for fundraising at an August board retreat.
“She said we need to have several big donors,” Carpenter said. “She said ‘I know that in the end this will be made up of a lot of $1,000 donors, or $50,000, but you really need a million-dollar donor, or a $500,000 donor.’ We’ve had a lot of interest, but we haven’t had anybody (donate that much), so she’s going to help us find some of those.”
Carpenter said Wagner, in addition to finding capital fundraising donors, will help identify operational funding sources to help keep the museum going once it is open.
Before the vote, board member Whirllie Byrd asked if hiring Wagner would ruffle any feathers locally.
“Will she be checking for donors outside of a wide area of Mississippi?” Byrd asked. “So it won’t hurt anybody’s feelings in this area who could do fundraising — we won’t lose any money, is basically what I’m saying?”
Carpenter said she does not believe that will be a problem.
“There really isn’t anyone here that does what we need her to do for us,” Carpenter said.
The museum will be housed in the old Elks Lodge downtown. CVB purchased the Elks Lodge, located on Main Street across from the Tennessee Williams home, from Frank and Dean Loftus in December 2015 for $450,000, with the Loftuses donating $200,000 of the total $650,000 purchase price.
CVB has worked with the Jackson-based Dale Partners architect firm and Dublin, Ohio-based designer Roto to plan the museum.
The museum’s first floor will be divided into three main rooms that should be large enough to accommodate 10 to 15 people at a time. The top floor will have a catering kitchen and a ballroom that can be used for events independent of the children’s museum.
Carpenter has said the museum will tie all of its themes to Columbus and Lowndes County, and it should have enough material for visitors to spend about 90 minutes.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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