With little to show but enthusiasm, the development staff at the National Constitution Center managed to fund a dream.

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

Finally, Seiter pulled in the reins and began to focus almost exclusively on Philadelphia and its immediate vicinity. In January 2003, she stopped mailing nationally and buying national lists.

“We had in no way saturated the Philadelphia market with members,” she says. “So we pulled in our borders and, boy, we shot up. It didn’t make sense to recruit members from Nebraska; they just didn’t know who we are. Some people believe in our mission and never need to visit (the center), but that’s not the majority.”