Marketing Sustainable Energy
Marketing sustainable energy best practices at Taliesin West celebrates Frank Lloyd Wright’s legacy for sustainable architectural design. In addition, this campaign is funding the historic preservation of Taliesin West, Mr. Wrights early 20th Century school of architecture and laboratory.
The Challenge
When I went to work with the staff at Taliesin West, this profoundly historic property was facing three daunting challenges:
- First, there was a pressing need to create a fundraising campaign that would generate an additional $100,000 in annual revenue.
- Second, the campaign had to celebrate and elevate Mr. Wright’s legacy of sustainable architectural design, and
- Third the campaign had to promote sustainable energy best practices consistent with Mr. Wright’s legacy of sustainable architectural design.
Frank Lloyd Wright & Apprentices
Research
As a first step to increasing fundraising capacity, I researched the potential to expand the existing donor base. Unfortunately, research findings indicated that doing that was not a viable option. Next, I researched grant opportunities and, once again, found that seeking new grants to support the envisioned program was not a viable option. Finally, it became evident that achieving our goals would require creating a variety of partnerships with for-profit organizations involved in the sustainable energy field.
Strategy
Working as a team with Foundation staff and board members, I created nonprofit marketing marriages with First Solar, Power One and Osram-Sylvania. The Energizing Taliesin West program provided these state-of-art sustainable energy product manufacturers with an opportunity to install, demonstrate and promote their products at Frank Lloyd Wright’s historic living laboratory.
Our goals for the program included 1) Seeking donations of sustainable energy products valued at $2.0 million, 2) Utilizing the installed energy products to reduce Taliesin West’s then almost $200,000 annual energy bill by at least 50%, and 3) generating a continuum of stories promoting sustainable energy best practices in concert with advancing our partners’ marketing objectives and Mr. Wright’s legacy of energy efficient architectural design.
Results
Revenue generated by the Energizing Taliesin West will approximate $4.2 million over the life of the donated solar system which included donations of $1.4 million in solar energy products and installation, $400,000 in LED lighting products, $200,000 in lighting design services, and more than $200,000 in program development and management consulting services donated by yours truly.
Additional revenue will result from annual grid energy cost savings approaching $100,000 over the approximate 25 year life of the solar energy and LED lighting systems.
Please Contact Me
Please do contact me if your organization needs a little (or maybe a lot of) help taking your marketing campaign to the top of the Internet.