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Raising Awareness: key options open to those eager to sustain assets
Theme 1 — Sustainable assets require a sustained case to be made for them
Pro-actively and continuously make the case around why an asset is worthy of funding or volunteer time.
This is in contrast to the typical short-term response when public spending cuts loom or when pushing a
specific fundraising appeal. We all read constantly of 11 th -hour campaigns to save assets but seldom of ongoing
promotion that starts when public finances are healthy. In the United States, several successful campaigns to
secure additional money have taken many years—usually because these campaigns required legislation at city or
state level.
Make the case to anyone that can help with money or time. The case can be made to those that can deliver public
money — politicians and voters. These can reached through sustained lobbying. For example, in St. Paul the
Advocacy Committee of the Friends of St. Paul Public Library meets annually with the mayor and councilors
to present a concise case for the library and its needs in the budget process. The case can also be made through
protest or marches, public meetings, door-knocking by teams of volunteers, media features, and legal action.
Prospective donors and supporters also need to be approached; this can include individuals, potential donors
and volunteers, local businesses, unions, and foundations.
A case for assets needs to stress how they can support mainstream civic concerns such as crime reduction,
improved race relations, and improved educational performance by school pupils (particularly for underserved
and low-income students). Ideally you can show how assets can deliver a return to the funder by saving money
in the medium-long term. In St. Paul, a small non-profit called Frogtown Gardens produced a strong evidencebased
case, and the City of St. Paul government duly agreed to materially support the group’s efforts to secure a
new neighborhood park and urban farm. The case was made using a framework provided by national non-profit
The Trust for Public Land and was prepared by a local volunteer university student. The toolkit highlighted,
among other things, the reduced water pollution clean-up that would result from the trees and plants that the
park and urban farm would bring.
Make the case concise, visual, and human. Make the case for your asset using concise summaries of the benefits
and demonstration of need for an asset. This, in turn, can benefit from good easy-to-grasp visuals such as maps
to show how some areas or cities compare against others in terms of investment, levels of assets, and need.
Also desirable is a “killer stat,” one bit of short, easy-to-grasp data that greatly helps a case. You could also use a
human dimension with quotes from supporters, pictures of people using the assets, and audio/video testimonies.
In their effort to restore a public pool in a city-owned recreation center, a small non-profit called Minneapolis
Swims has used all these efforts to make the case for funding. As a result, they have secured financing from the
state and are well-placed to secure the remaining money they need.
A range of people can help you make the case. Your community can make the case itself. Politicians and voters
can see a human angle to a case if it comes from those likely to benefit. If you are making a case to government,
you also need allies that know their way around the corridors of power, likely a current or former civil politician
or civil servant. In Minneapolis, local State Representative Karen Smith has played this role for the East Phillips
neighborhood group, which has successfully lobbied for state money to build a new public recreation center.
Unions can also help you make the case to their members, as occurred with votes on dedicated property taxes
for the Detroit Zoo and Detroit Institute of Arts. If you (or your supporters) can afford to, you might need to
bring in lobbying expertise. If very large amounts of money are at stake, you might want to hire a professional
advertising and public relations/affairs outfit.
Asset supporters have the greatest impact when they jointly make the case for assets. A classic case in point is the
non-profit Minnesota Citizens for the Arts (MCA) that joined forces with other groups and coalitions to get an
amendment to the state constitution that funds the arts and “the great outdoors” from a state-wide sales tax, the
first of its kind in the United States.
9 | The New Barn-Raising