Looking for angels

Bill, rail preservation was always notoriously underfunded until recent times. The FCT does well because it has a very good member base. What really helps are "angels", i.e. interested donors with money. One generous donor gave us the money to build a new tender for 315. Ultimately the big money for refluing and appliances came from institutional grants, mostly from the Colorado Historical Fund. We found that the "Catch 22" is a group has to accomplish a big part of a restoration before it is considered for institutional grants. We found once the tender was completed (and it was a total rebuild with new frame and cistern) the institutions who blew us off at first started to give us grants. Needless to say, fundraising takes a great deal of patience, diligence, diplomacy and a skill at grant writing. We are very fortunate to have these qualities in the president of our group. The competition for grant money is intense, and a close look will show that most of the competing grants have some merit. Finally, it is important to keep complete account of the money and not have board meetings at Cancun! With the FCT's excellent track record for restoration, it has attracted some big donors. Unfortunately I believe the problems the C&TS has experienced in the last 10 years has cast some shadows on the FCT. As we have found with the 315 restoration, many outiders mistakenly asssumed we were somehow affiliated with the D&SNG. We found out early, the less we mentioned the D&SNG in grants, the better it went for us.