Tech Talk: Virtual Fundraising

When the National Constitution Center broke ground in Philadelphia, one organizational challenge was to get people from around the country to invest in something that they had never seen before, nor could readily conceptualize. At first, the organization was having trouble communicating to the public exactly what this building was all about. Many donors presumably wondered: What is a Constitution Center, anyway?

NCC partnered with Philadelphia-based creative agency AEI Digital — whose offices overlook the Constitution Center — to create a 3-D “fly-through” of the museum that would give viewers a virtual picture of the new historic destination. The goal was to build the Constitution Center, digitally, before it actually existed. Employing video-game technology, AEI created a seven-minute video that would take prospective donors and visitors through a tour of the building.

“We started from two-dimensional blueprints and construction documents,” says Michael Schuldt, president, AEI Digital. “Our challenge was to create a detailed, realistic, digital model of the building — both the site, the exterior and all the interior spaces, including the multimedia exhibits.”

All said, it took the agency three months to create different versions of the video for NCC: one for public relations, one for group sales (used to distribute to schools looking to take students on field trips to the Center) and one for development (used for fundraising).

To take the virtual tour, visit http://www.constitutioncenter.org/visiting/ExhibitExperience/VirtualTour.shtml.