Schultz & Williams

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April 2010–Schultz & Williams (S&W) integrated services help Tin Can Sailors, Inc. advance their entire development function to meet the organization’s patriotic objectives.

Founded in 1976, Tin Can Sailors, Inc. (TCS) is led by Navy veterans who have been working to preserve memories and promote camaraderie among the sailors who served their nation aboard a destroyer ship. The organization has over 20,000 active members from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War and peacetime.

TCS’s service to the country endures in their vision to assist with the restoration and operation of America’s historic destroyer museum ships through the Thomas J. Peltin Destroyer Museum Grant Program. Although the program had given over $1.8 million in grants to seven destroyers and two destroyer escorts since 1992, the future of the program was in doubt. With the impact of the economic downturn in 2008, rising operational costs for its quarterly newspaper, and the loss of its oldest members to age, TCS was left without enough revenue for grants to the museum ships. The Board halved funding in 2008 and halted it in 2009. Determined to support these living memorials without raising membership dues, TCS resolved to take bold steps forward to restore their annual grantmaking ability indefinitely.

In the spring of 2009, TCS engaged S&W to help them to explore options. After developing and refining the case for giving, and analyzing their support base, S&W designed a comprehensive and integrated plan that would enable TCS to reach their goal of an investment fund to provide annual grants from income.

The S&W Development team is helping TCS to ramp up their development activities by addressing database management needs as well as implementing major, annual and planned giving efforts, including communications. To support the organization’s vision to save the ships, American actor and Navy destroyer veteran Ernest Borgnine, a longtime member of Tin Can Sailors, recently agreed to lead the way as the Honorary Chairman of this fund drive, and to appear in a video to promote the cause. S&W Direct is also working with TCS to develop and execute two innovative fundraising mailings this spring and fall, signed by Mr. Borgnine, that will help to raise awareness, bring in current funding, and identify major gift prospects. In addition, S&W is serving as a resource for grant research and proposal preparation for TCS’s industry prospects. S&W is sailing into new waters with Tin Can Sailors to ensure that its objective is realized: lasting support for the living memorials to brave sailors who defended and served the country.

Founded in 1987, Schultz & Williams is a national consulting firm headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Today S&W works with nonprofits throughout the United States and continues to exemplify its legacy as one of the first firms in the country to combine the principles of development, management and marketing into our consulting services—an approach that proves successful for nearly every client challenge.