My fundraising focus now and at the new year

My fundraising focus now and at the new year

The American Legion’s 100th Anniversary Commemorative Coin series was released on the Legion’s centennial birthday, March 14. However, the sale and production of the coins will cease after Dec. 31.

With “A Foundation for the Future” as my theme, preparing for the future should never mean we should forget who we are or where we come from. So let’s not forget what an honor this coin series has been. We should maximize the esteem and recognition that this country has bestowed upon our American Legion in honor of our centennial.

The centennial coins make a great fundraiser, a gift for the upcoming holiday season and a conversation-starter to share about the Legion’s Four Pillars, programs and advocacy efforts.

So don’t wait. Get your centennial coins now at  www.legion.org/coin.

At the start of the new year, I will shift my emphasis from the centennial coins to The American Legion Veterans and Children’s Foundation, which has a fundraising goal of $25 million. Auxiliary National President Nicole Clapp made a significant contribution to the foundation during NEC Fall Meetings last month by handing me a $10,000 donation from the Auxiliary.

What a great life-changing resource this could be for future generations of veterans and their families. While $25 million is a lot, a goal of that nature was achieved by Legionnaires in 1924 with a membership of 800,000. And they raised $5 million for the Endowment Fund, which is about $30 million in today’s dollars.

As our Marketing Commission Chairman Mike Rohan of Wisconsin said to the NEC and Legion leadership about this fundraising goal, we can do this. And we owe this to our veterans and our children. 

We are all stakeholders in our American Legion. We are the future of this organization. We hold the future for this organization. And we and all of our brother and sister Legionnaires are its foundation.

So let’s count on each other as we build a Foundation for the Future to ensure that The American Legion can have a second century that our founders would be proud of.