BRISTOL, VA/TN -- The Birthplace of Country Music Alliance announced that it had reached an early fundraising milestone in its capital campaign, meeting a $100,000 local challenge by the J. Henry Kegley Foundation.
The J. Henry Kegley Foundation trustees had challenged the organization to raise $100,000 in local funds with a matching grant. "We were able to not only meet the challenge, but to meet it before the deadline of March 31," commented Fred McClellan, President of the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance. McClellan added that theorganization has received the matching funds as cash in hand, as part of the terms of thechallenge agreement. "In addition to these funds on hand, we also have additional pledges for future commitments that will aid us in our ongoing capital campaign."
"This is a great start to our campaign," noted Kevin Triplett, Campaign Steering Committee Chair, adding that the funds raised to meet the challenge came from those involved in the project: Birthplace of Country Music Alliance staff, the board of directors, campaign steering committee and advisory council members. "This makes a statement about the commitment of the people involved in this campaign and project. We believe meeting this challenge through commitments from within our organization and collecting these matching funds will have a tremendously positive impact on the lead and major gift phases of the campaign."
"The funds received as part of the Kegley Foundation challenge and its match will help us leverage additional state funding," commented Bill Hartley, Executive Director of the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance. He noted that those funds will be used to match an appropriation received from the Commonwealth of Virginia in the 20072008biennium, resulting in over $400,000 in funding for the project.
The Birthplace of Country Music Alliance is a nonprofit organization dedicated to telling the story of the living musical heritage of the Appalachian mountains and the cultural traditions that sustain it. The Birthplace of Country Music Alliance is funded in part by grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the Tennessee ArtsCommission. For more information, call (276) 645-0111 or visit online at www.birthplaceofcountrymusic.org.
