Great Lakes Aid supports conservation

THANK YOU! The Gund Foundation has become our first sponsor with a $10,000 seed grant.

The Challenge:

To raise awareness about Great Lakes environmental conservation, funds to support community conservation/preservation/cleanup efforts, and visibility for the growing coalition of nonprofit, governmental and corporate partners involved in the Great Lakes sustainability effort.

The Event:

First-Ever international concert to benefit the Great Lakes Environmental Coalition. Part of an annual series working with the support of individuals from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Great Lake NGO’s, foundations, governments, sponsors, and others. Summer, 2006 will be our inaugural year.

The Location:

Rotating through the major communities of the Great Lakes Basin (Toronto, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago) with possible spin-offs of smaller events in other key constituent areas (such as Erie, Toledo, Duluth, etc.). Neither the first location nor the rotating order has yet to be determined.

The Opportunity:

Make Great Lakes History, protect our community’s future! By becoming a sponsor of Great Lakes Aid (GLA) you will not only raise awareness for your organization and demonstrate your concern for the Great Lakes watershed, but you will set in motion a continuing pattern of self-reliance for the conservation groups which work to protect our precious places. Once launched, the concert series is designed to be self supporting, spinning off tens of thousands of dollars each year to support Smart Growth and conservation efforts.

The Organization:

A biNational coalition (with members from both the US and Canada), GLA is dedicated to the sole purpose of managing events and concerts for Great Lakes environmental conservation and sustainability. As a non-profit corporation and a member of the Alliance for Sustainable Communication (ASC), GLA will work closely with community, state and international organizations which are leading the charge for Great Lakes protection and Smart Growth.

The Need:

Even with donated talent, our team members estimate such an event will cost more than $500,000 to produce. Clearly, the profit from ticket sales alone will make this investment well worth it (not to mention corporate sponsorships, TV broadcast/documentary rights, and merchandise) — but we need to get there. The first step will be supporting our core team during the pre-concert planning process — estimated at 6-12 months — so that this level of partnership support can be secured. That’s where you come in.

The Justification:

You know how important the environmental and cultural quality of the Great Lakes is — you’ve been a strong supporter of our causes for years. You also know that most community conservation groups work in a "stovepipe" model — almost totally separated from their counterparts around the Lakes and living (usually) mainly on foundation support. Through the work of GLA and ASC, these groups will have access to collaborative information and communication tools, and a completely independent, renewable source of funds…that can also provide a template for more local concerts and events to support their community. We know this will work — Farm Aid has been doing it for 20 years - all we need is the opportunity to showcase the strength of our Great Lakes Basin community!

The Value:

As a pre-event sponsor, you will help us build a valuable and highly viable organization - one your brand will be proud of. Although the value to your organization includes many intangibles (good PR, fulfilling social conscience aims, a sense of doing what's right, etc.) we have tried to include a short list of the tangible benefits to your company for providing this "pre event" support. One of these is a "permanent promotional position" with GLA, as your logo will be perpetually included on our "founding sponsors" website page.

The Details:

Our goal is to raise approximately $100,000 (US) to support the development of the GLA concert series. Already we have secured agreements for in-kind and promotional support from individuals and organizations - your financial support will help ensure GLA's ability to serve the Great Lakes community. The packages outlined on the following page outlin the options as we view them, though we invite you to contact us and develop a support structure that best suits your company's needs.