WASHINGTON - Restoration is an expensive business - and a popular one.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has learned exactly how popular since kicking off its Campaign for America's Historic Places comprehensive fund-raising effort in October 1999.
''We had originally set a goal of $105 million,'' National Trust President Richard Moe said, ''and we have now raised that by $20 million.''
The increase came after the program achieved unexpected levels of success, Moe said, adding that there are several possible reasons for that success.
''The economy clearly helps, when people have the means to support their causes,'' he said. ''And more people are seeing this as a cause they believe in.''
So far, the campaign has brought in over $70 million, said Nadja Gutowski, the National Trust's marketing communications manager. This represents more than half of the original goal, in less than half the time allotted to reach it.
''We want to take advantage of this momentum,'' Moe said. ''Success is not yet assured, but we are confident.''
The organization is even more confident because it has gathered this much momentum in its first major fund-raising effort, Gutowski said.
The National Trust was chartered by Congress in 1949 in an attempt to preserve the nation's historical sites, Gutowski said. Until 1995, the group received a large portion of its funds from the federal government.
In 1995, Moe said, Congress cut half of the National Trust's funding, leading the group to branch out on its own.
''We decided after they did strip half of (our funding) from us that we wanted certainty in our lives,'' Moe said. ''We wanted to be independent.''
Since that time, the National Trust's operating budget has expanded. This year, the budget is about $41 million, Moe said, none of which comes from the government. The money goes toward several programs, including the Main Street program, which helps cities revitalize their main street areas, and the Community Partners program, which helps communities preserve their neighborhood atmosphere.
But the bulk of the added $20 million will go to the preservation of the Trust's 20 historic sites across the nation. These sites, which include the Woodrow Wilson House in Washington, D.C. and James Madison's Montpelier in Virginia, are very significant to America's past, of museum quality and are open to the public for touring, Moe said.
Some of the funding also will go to preserving the President Lincoln and Soldier's Home in Washington, D.C., which is not owned by the National Trust. The site, where the former president drafted the Emancipation Proclamation, may soon be added to the Trust's collection, Moe said.
To purchase new sites like the Lincoln Home, the Trust is hoping to reach its fund-raising goal by the end of 2002, Moe said. In the meantime, it is consolidating all of its programs in an attempt to increase the effectiveness of continuing preservation efforts.
''When you have historic sites,'' Moe said, ''there is always the need for maintenance.''
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)