The Rensselaer County Historical Society in Troy, NY owns a
significant early-19th century building, the Hart-Cluett Mansion,
which we operate as a historic house museum.  Since RCHS acquired
the building in 1952, we have not expended any significant amounts
of money in the building's maintenance or restoration.

We are currently examining the long-term needs of this building,
prompted to some extent by a major roof leak that has forced us to
close the second floor to visitors.  An extensive roof restoration
project is slated for this summer, and we are in the midst of
raising $100,000 to pay for it.

Our architects have worked with us to develop the outline of a
renovation/restoration plan for the entire structure that will cost
about $1.5 million.  Although RCHS has a track record for raising
large amounts of money, $1.5 million in one campaign is a real
stretch for us.

We are a bit unsure of how we move a large project like this forward
and we are anxious to talk with other organizations about how they
handled the logistics of similar large-scale capital/fundraising
projects.

--
Anne Ackerson
Compuserve 103604,2054