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Elements of successful community tall ship programs.
Successful tall ship programs bring a desired service and pride to the
community, which is the up side. The down site is, the tall ship business is
extremely sensitive to organization and location. It is more so with non-profit
organizations, because they do not have the flexibility that profit ships have.
Many promoters do not understand the concepts behind a tall ship program, they
think of it as a neat idea. For this reason, startups have a high failure rate.
Critical elements in the organizational phase.
Before a formal organization is established, there is an ad hoc phase where
critical organizational decisions are made. This phase will establish the
operational mission and the type of leadership needed to carry it out such as,
educators, import/export people or boat builders.
The critical elements are:
- A clearly defined operational mission, supported by scientific or quantifiable data.
Very often, this is the missing link to attracting major financial supporters.
Passion for the mission and/or creating an image, is not enough.
- A primary sponsor that believes in the mission and will support it. Finding a primary sponsor is the reward
of a clearly
defined mission, and where the promoters got it RIGHT.
- Establish an organization that meets the needs of the primary sponsor and
the operational mission.
A tall ship project is promoted to two different groups, the public and
sponsors. To the public, windjammers inspire romantic dreams of life under
bellowing sails. This attracts large groups of people; the problem is, they do
not bring money. Money comes from sponsors who support the mission, they do not
support romantic dreams.
Sponsors have limited interest in the
ship per se; they are interested in the mission, people who will carry out the
mission and the its goals. For this
reason, it is important that the mission be able to stand on its
own, without a tall ship. For example, if the mission is an educational program based on race
relations, then the promoters' must offer scientific or quantifiable evidence on
how the ship can be superior to other forms of race relation programs. This is
how the Amistad was organized.
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The public's primary interest is the ship.
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The sponsor's primary interest is the operational
mission.
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Additional elements of successful tall ship programs.
- The project must be sponsored by a financially strong organization.
- The mission must provided a needed service to the community.
- The ship is a tool to help the organization enhance its mission.
- The primary mission must have a financial benefit to someone.
- Leadership is dedicated to the operational mission.
- The shipbuilding phase is contracted out.
The organization and ship construction.
During the construction phase of the ship, it is easy for the organization to
lose control of its mission, because the focus is on the shipbuilders
and they are the current heroes. The easiest way to preserve the mission and the people who
support it, is to contract out the construction. There are shipbuilding companies that will come to a community and
build a tall ship.
If the organization loses control of its mission, shipbuilders will take
control and the construction
becomes the
mission. When the ship is
completed, if it gets that far, interest, supporters and money disappear, because
the shipbuilding mission has reached its goal. There are tall ships rotting at
their moorings because the organization lost control of its operational mission,
if they had one in the beginning.
Examples of benefits
Youth-at-risk program: It cost state governments about $18,000 per
year to keep a teenager in jail. The government would rather pay this money to an
organization that has proven programs that keep teenagers out of jail. It is
highly profitable for state governments to support programs that motivate
teenagers to become taxpayers instead of tax burdens.
Diplomatic tall ships are, in reality, traveling salesmen. They
usually are supported by large manufacturing companies. Advance shore parties
are coordinated with ship's ports of call. While the ship is in
world ports, customers are invited aboard where contracts are signed. This technique has been
proven to be a huge financial benefit to its supporters through increased
sales.
The Amistad theme is race relations.
"Its mission is to promote
reconciliation and harmony among races." Everyone associated with the
organization has an interest in supporting race relation programs. Crew member
selection is based on their commitment to the mission and
ability to fulfill it. Ship construction was contracted out to
Mystic Seaport, which means, the organization was controlled by
educators, not shipbuilders. United Church of Christ is the primary sponsor
and they have little
interest in tall ships, as an organization. The Amistad organization displays all the elements of
a successful tall ship
project.
Mission Summary
Successful tall ships start with the ship's mission, where the organization
did extensive research, including
who will benefit and who will finance the operations program. Once supporters are in place, the organization then makes plans to acquire a
ship, either purchase or build. A successful tall ship is a tool to achieve the
primary mission, not a ship in search of a mission. This is true for any
type of business; the tall ship business is no different.
| If the mission is for youth character development, the
organization could start with a donated ship. A successful pilot program would
attract funds for building a first class ship. |
| If the mission is diplomatic, the ship needs to be
unique with the ability to stand out in a harbor of high-class sailing vessels.
A vessel that is first rate in its homeport may appear to be a poor man's boat
in another harbor, anchored next to high-class ships. The Pride of Baltimore
is a unique diplomatic ship, that stands out in any harbor. This uniqueness makes
the diplomatic mission possible. |
| If the intended mission doesn't attract desired sponsors, then the ship will
become a fulltime charter vessel and compete with other tall ships for the
same market. A three million dollar vessel will have to charge double the
going rate of a one million dollar vessel to meet expenses. |
Financial Supporters
| The largest group of financial supports are from people and
organizations who have no interest in tall ships. Their interest is in the
goals and objectives of the mission, therefore, the program must be
designed around their interest. They are the major supporters that get
projects off the ground. |
| The smallest group of financial supporters are people and organizations
that have a great deal of interest in tall ships. Funding from them is
limited. |
| The operational mission will determine volume of potential supporting
organizations that may have an interest in the program. Race relation
programs have a huge network of activist. Maritime history programs have a
limited network of activist. The number of potential supporting
organizations is a factor that needs to be considered. |
Note: Finding support for a tall ship is compounded by the ship's high
operational cost, while serving only a small number of people. This cost has to
be justified in the operational mission's report.
Leadership Summary
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If the operational mission is to be educational, then project leadership
must be made up of educators.
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If the operational mission is to be diplomatic, then project leadership
must be made up of import/export people.
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If leadership is made up of shipbuilders, then the ship will be a full
time charter vessel. Success of the vessel will depend on homeport interest
and competitors.
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My experience with a tall ship that rotted at its moorings.
In 1977, I was captain of the Panama
Canal Zone's training schooner
Chief
Aptakisic. At first, there was spontaneous community interest and the
program was able to raise money to complete the ship. Once the ship was
completed, community interest and money to maintain it, faded. The ship soon died,
because there was no physical owner and no money. I and some others kept it going
for four years, and then it was scuttled. With no resources for major maintenance, you can imagine the condition it was in.
Promotional interest was in the ship, not the training program. I believe, if
the primary interest was the training program, the ship might still be operating
today.
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The above information is based on my experience with profit and non-profit
tall ship organizations. It is also based on research of highly successful
non-profit ships, primarily, Pride of Baltimore and Amistad. The
research also included the Los
Angeles Maritime Institute's, Top Sail program and Living Classroom Foundation's maritime
program. At the Living Classroom, I was given a half day tour of their
facilities with the opportunity to interview five staff members. This tour
convinced me that a meaningful tall ship program must have an active shore
program. The Living Classroom program reaches out to 30,000 students in the
state of Maryland. This inspired my concept of the
Self-discovery
Program.
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